Becoming a member of Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Alain Prost and Lewis Hamilton in being a driver with probably the most victories in a season with out profitable the championship, the place does Max Verstappen’s 2025 efficiency rank when it comes to seasons with out profitable the title? – Alan
Any matter like that is all the time going to be subjective.
There are a selection of examples of drivers who arguably, on benefit, ought to have received the title however did not.
Stirling Moss in 1958, Niki Lauda in 1976, Gilles Villeneuve in 1979, Ayrton Senna in 1989 and Lewis Hamilton in 2007 are simply a number of the years up for dialogue.
Arguably the height instance of this was Fernando Alonso in 2012, when he drove a season of exceptional consistency and excellence to maintain a Ferrari that was on common the fourth quickest automotive within the title combat till the ultimate race.
He ended up shedding out to Purple Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. However had solely one in every of two incidents for which he was fully innocent not occurred, he would simply have been champion.
He was taken out by the cartwheeling Lotus of Romain Grosjean at first in Belgium, and his tyre was punctured by the opposite Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen into the primary nook in Japan.
There isn’t any doubting Verstappen’s excellence this season. How his 12 months has in contrast with Alonso’s then is a matter for debate, however his Purple Bull was definitely extra aggressive than that Ferrari.
As for Verstappen himself, he says he has “no regrets” about his season.
“I’ve hated this automotive at instances,” he mentioned in Abu Dhabi, “however I’ve additionally beloved it at instances. I all the time tried to extract probably the most from it, even within the tough weekends that we have had.
“Fortunately, the final, I’d say, eight, 9 rounds on the whole have been much more gratifying. And in addition, within the group, we’ve an ideal environment. We’re actually on a roll – optimistic vitality, perception, confidence – and that is precisely what you need heading into subsequent 12 months.
“After all, disgrace to overlook out on the title, however on the similar time, for an extended time frame I used to be not even serious about the title. I by no means felt like I used to be in it till just a few rounds in the past. That is fairly loopy.
“You are taking your satisfaction in numerous methods. I am proud of myself, and going into subsequent 12 months I am not in a state of getting to fret about my abilities or no matter.”
