And so the curtain falls on a Formula One season dominated by Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team, with the Dutchman securing a record-extending 19th victory of the year at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Never before has the sport seen a driver win with such regularity and ease, the three-time world champion again comfortably crossing the finishing line first at the season-ending race at the Yas Marina Circuit.
The 26-year-old’s victory moves him to third on the all-time list of career F1 wins with 54 overall, behind seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has 103 victories, and Michael Schumacher on 91.
Verstappen led from start to finish to secure his fourth win on the trot in Abu Dhabi. Ferarri’s Charles Leclerc was the only driver to attempt any sort of challenge, doing so unsuccessfully into the first corner.
After accumulating a record 575 points this season – and the largest ever winning margin in a championship with 290 points between him and teammate Sergio Perez – it was perhaps no surprise to hear Verstappen say post-race that he felt emotional.
“It was an incredible season,” Verstappen told reporters. “It was a bit emotional on the in-lap, it was the last time I was sitting in the car which has of course given me a lot.
“It will be hard to do something similar again but we definitely enjoyed this year.”
Such has been Red Bull’s superiority that Verstappen wrapped up the drivers’ title at the beginning of October.
At one point, it seemed probable rather than possible that the team would win every race of the season, an outcome that faded away when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix.
But Red Bull sealed its second consecutive constructors’ championship at the Japanese Grand Prix in September, with six races still remaining, and its car has been widely hailed as one of the greatest ever built in the sport, somehow proving even more successful than last year’s model which won 17 of 22 races.
At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the team achieved a single-season record 20th race win and it was perhaps fitting that on the final race of the season even more records were broken, as Verstappen became the first driver to lead more than 1,000 laps in a season.
Issy Ronald contributed to reporting.
