Newly crowned double World Champion Max Verstappen has been tipped to dominate the World Championship for the next five years, with effectively the same cars being used at least for the next three seasons.
Verstappen wrapped up his second consecutive crown at the recent Japanese Grand Prix, which was taking place for the first time since 2019.
The Dutchman incredibly, managed to win the race by a record-breaking distance of 27 seconds, despite only 52-percent of the race having been completed.
However, it was looking for all the world that he’d have to wait until this weekend’s United States Grand Prix to seal the championship, but a late mistake by Charles Leclerc gifted Verstappen the title.
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Whilst defending from Sergio Pérez on the final lap, Leclerc cut across the chicane at Turns 16 and 17, which resulted in a five-second time penalty.
This penalty demoted Leclerc to third and promoted Pérez to second, which gave Verstappen the points gap needed to secure a second consecutive championship.
Brilliantly, pubs in the Netherlands were given permission to open early for Verstappen fans to celebrate his title glory, given that he was crowned champion around 10am in the country.
Verstappen’s father, ex-F1 driver Jos, has already predicted that his son could go on to win the next five titles, with the rules remaining “largely the same” with the exception being the new engine regulations in 2026.
“The rules will remain largely the same, the field will therefore come closer together and we will have better races,” Verstappen senior explained, quoted by talkSPORT.
“But the strongest driver always floats to the top. If Red Bull continue like this, we will certainly have a nice five years.”
Jos was actually not present in his son’s garage at Suzuka for one of the first times this season, due to a lot of travelling.
He revealed, though, that the emotions were “very different this year” compared to 2021, where the title went down to the very last lap of the season finale.
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“I’m usually on site but I’ve been travelling for quite a while and entering Japan wasn’t the easiest,” he said of not being able to attend the recent round.
“The pressure last year became unbearable and when it was all over, we were overcome with incredibly powerful emotions.
“It was very different this year as we knew the title would come sooner or later, we just didn’t know when.”