Max Verstappen recently claimed he would have defeated Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 F1 season with a different car. This claim was made after he clinched his fourth consecutive world championship at the 2024 F1 Las Vegas GP.

2021 was one of the sport’s most competitive seasons when Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton faced off against Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

Both drivers fought each other right from the start of the season on the first lap to the very last lap of the last race.

The entire fan base witnessed a tantalizing final lap of the Abu Dhabi GP as the battle for the drivers’ title came down to it. However, a few dubious choices by race officials right before the end of the race led to the entire title fight being quite controversial.

Even though the points gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was minimal, the Red Bull driver feels that he could have won his maiden championship irrespective of the car he was driving. He added that winning the 2022 and 2023 F1 seasons with a different car would have been more difficult compared to 2021, even though his first title fight was the most challenging.

“In 2021 I would have also won the title in a different car (the Mercedes, ed.). In 2022 that would have been more difficult, because Ferrari was perhaps a bit too fragile then. And last year? Well, that would have been a bit more difficult,” Verstappen told De Telegraaf.

Max Verstappen took a cheeky jibe at McLaren by claiming he would have won a world championship with them

Max Verstappen recently claimed that he would have also won the drivers’ world championship with McLaren. This was a subtle jibe towards the British team’s CEO, Zak Brown.

During the 2024 F1 season, McLaren tried to fight hard with Max Verstappen and his team for both championships. Zak Brown also made some bold comments about how the Dutchman was only dominating because of the car he was driving, which was Red Bull’s.

Responding to this, Verstappen said that these comments only fuel the fire in him to perform even better on the track. He then boldly said that he would have won a drivers’ championship with McLaren in 2024 and wrapped up the title way earlier than he did with Red Bull.

“Things like that only motivate me. If people are critical and think that I can only win in the best car, then I prove the opposite. If I don’t get credit for this now, then I don’t know what else I can do. Would I have become champion in the McLaren? Yes! And much earlier too,” Verstappen said.

Max Verstappen continues to lead the table with 403 points after the Las Vegas GP. Meanwhile, McLaren’s Lando Norris remains second with 340 points.