Max Verstappen savours champion feeling after Red Bull’s ‘messy’ start to season

The 27-year-old finished fifth at Saturday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix,

Max Verstappen celebrates his fourth world title (Matt York/AP)

Max Verstappen hailed his fourth successive world crown as his most impressive yet and revealed he did not believe it would ever be possible to join Formula One’s pantheon of greats.

Verstappen finished fifth at Saturday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, one place ahead of British driver Lando Norris, to emulate Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel as a four-time world champion. Only Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher (both seven) and Juan Manuel Fangio (five) lie ahead of him in the record books.