Max Verstappen issues statement Christian Horner will love after clinching fourth world title in Las Vegas
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Max Verstappen has insisted he won't be taking his foot off the gas in the final two races of the season despite sealing his fourth Drivers' Championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Dutchman got the job done in Las Vegas by finishing ahead of Lando Norris to seal his fourth consecutive world title.
But there's still work to be done for Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship if they want to close down Ferrari and McLaren.
Verstappen has almost single-handedly kept Red Bull in the fight with Sergio Perez picking up just a fraction of their overall points.
Max Verstappen is a four-time world champion
GETTY
And the newly-crowned four-time world champion insists he plans to finish the season strong for Red Bull in a huge boost to Christian Horner.
"If you look at it right now, I think next year is going to be a proper battle between a lot of cars," Verstappen said.
"But I'm hungry. I'm going to enjoy this, but there are still two more races where I want to do well.
"Then we take a little break and we try to go at it again next year."
The Dutchman looked on course to ease to his fourth world title after winning seven of the opening 10 races.
But his rivals managed to catch up in the summer months with Verstappen going on a run of 10 races without a victory.
That streak ended in style last week in Sao Paulo, which effectively secured Verstappen his fourth consecutive world title.
There was still work to be done in Las Vegas, but all he had to do was finish ahead of Norris.
He did the necessary at the start of the race by keeping out of trouble and staying ahead of the McLaren and then putting some daylight between his rival by overtaking both Ferraris.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc got back past Verstappen at the end, but Norris was too far back to mount a challenge to Verstappen, who crossed the line fifth to clinch his world title.
Max Verstappen was congratulated by his peers
REUTERS
Verstappen praised his team after the race for helping him through a difficult part of the season.
"It’s been a long season. Of course, we started off amazing, it was almost like cruising but then we had a tough run," Verstappen added.
"But as a team we kept it together, we kept working on improvement and we pulled over the line.
"I’m incredibly proud of everyone, what they have done for me.
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Max Verstappen finished fifth in the race
REUTERS
"And to stand here as a four-time world champion is of course something that I never thought was possible. So, at the moment just feeling relieved, in a way, but also very proud.
"For sure, it was a very challenging season. I think also as a person, at times it’s very challenging and I had to be calm.
"In a way - I still prefer last season, I enjoyed that a lot, but I think this season definitely again taught me a lot of lessons that I’m very proud of how we handled it also as a team. So, in a way that also makes it a very special and beautiful season."
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