Why Verstappen won't emulate past F1 champions who let up once the title was over

The grand prix at Qatar concluded what we'd all known had been a long time coming, as Max Verstappen produced the final stitch to sew up his third Formula 1 championship crown with six (full) races to spare. Although the remaining quintet of grands prix post-Qatar are hardly dead rubbers, as there's championship positions and prize money among the other constructors to settle, driver interest is limited beyond who finishes as runner-up.

Does anyone actually care if Sergio Perez or Lewis Hamilton finishes in second, given their presence in the title race range from mere cameos to non-existence? Maybe Perez and Red Bull do, if only to stat-pad an already impressive season brimming with crowning achievements.

As for Verstappen, the priority in Qatar was to get the job done - and he only needed to not bin it to seal the deal. He's now had the past week-and-a-half to celebrate a third title and fight off a series of presumed hangovers, but further antics will have to be delayed to the post-season as a triple-header of races in the Americas ensues. There's not a lot left to play for, other than to support Perez's bid to limp over the line for second in the drivers' standings, so the hope among the other teams is that Verstappen may be sufficiently lacking in motivation and retreat from the metaphorical gas pedal over the final part of the year.

After all, the Dutchman has completed the hard work and now has the dilemma of where to store his championship trophy at home when he receives it at the FIA end-of-year gala. Red Bull has its gaze firmly fixed upon 2024, so the perception may well be that Verstappen may not treat the final five rounds with quite the same rigour as he had done previously.

Except, that's not really Verstappen's style. With four to go last year, he did not let his standards slip going into the United States Grand Prix - where he'll once again perform his victory tour - and he reeled off three more victories after his Japan coronation. Brazil was the only outlier, as wet qualifying and a sprint race weekend served to favour Mercedes and George Russell.

Racing is Verstappen's raison d'etre, with or without stakes on the table, and it would be unlikely to see him take his eye off the ball simply because the championship is over. This is a man who turns up to a race weekend, dominates, and then goes home to race on his sim rig. He was born to race, and born to win. Red Bull may be pouring its resources into next year, but it doesn't mean that the race team will stop in its pursuit of squeezing every last drop from the bountiful RB19.

Verstappen relishes winning, and isn't likely to throttle back while he has a car capable of adding to his huge 2023 roll of honour

Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

Although Red Bull and Verstappen's intent will be to not let standards slip under less pressure, it's not totally out of the question that performances could drop. There are instances where drivers have, to some degree, phoned it in after clinching the title - or at least, built a massive lead and taken a step back. That may be intentional in some cases but, in others, attempting to maintain the same level of performance may not produce the expected result. It's all psychological after all, and how a driver responds to a change in circumstances will differ across the grid.

Over F1's history, there are plenty of examples where a driver has sewn up the title ahead of time, and had to find ways to occupy themselves over the final array of races. For some, that competitive edge is enough to carry them through but, for others, a laissez-faire approach or simply counting down the races to retirement can yield a marked change in results.

Verstappen's title-clinching efforts in the Qatar sprint effectively matched Michael Schumacher's record for the earliest championship win, although doing it in the sprint race a day before the run of six season-ending grands prix begins isn't quite as impressive as Schumacher finishing the deed in the previous round back in July 2002. The German's triumph in the French Grand Prix was followed up with a comprehensive win at his Hockenheim home race seven days later, although one could charitably suggest that there was a small drop in expected results over the last five races when Schumacher "only" won two of them - team-mate Rubens Barrichello collected the remainder.

If Red Bull faces tougher competition in 2024 then Verstappen knows that he'll need to preserve his momentum, lest another team carries an advantage heading into next year

But there are caveats here: Hungary favoured qualifying results which Barrichello edged by 0.059s, while Schumacher got boxed in at the start at Monza as Barrichello hounded the horsepower-laden Williams-BMWs on a lighter fuel load. Then, there's Barrichello's win at Indianapolis, which was handed to him on a plate by Schumacher in a staged photo-finish that the Brazilian just nosed ahead of by 0.011s. So, hardly a drop in form in his case - merely a series of unfortunate circumstances.

That's also applicable to Nigel Mansell, who had put the 1992 title beyond doubt with five to spare after grabbing second at Hungary. He collected pole in all following races that year, but a sudden nosedive in Williams' previously bulletproof reliability ensured that he took just one win from them having roared to victory in Portugal.

Mansell, who was sometimes prone to revelling in his own misfortune, could wallow in a Belgian Grand Prix exhaust breakage, a loss of hydraulic pressure at Monza, a Suzuka engine failure, and Ayrton Senna's clumsiness at the Adelaide finale. All unfortunate, but nothing to suggest that Mansell had leaned back after tying up the title.

An argument could be made to the contrary for Alain Prost's title dominance in the following season. Prost did not find the active FW15C to his taste, but managed to get enough out of it to record seven victories in the first 10 rounds of the season, and opportunities to have the title tied up by the Belgian Grand Prix went begging after a stall in Hungary and a slow pitstop at Spa that ensured Damon Hill could chalk up back-to-back wins. Prost's attempts to seal it at Monza came to an end through his Renault V10 expiring, but this could hardly be attributed to him.

Rosberg hit form at the tail end of 2015 after Hamilton clinched his third title which he parlayed into a successful 2016 bid

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Prost took a risk-averse approach to the Portuguese Grand Prix as he could finish the job with second, and duly cemented his fourth and final title having decided not to chase after Schumacher for victory. Although there was, again, misfortune towards the end of the year as Prost had to wait, the Frenchman arguably did not attack the final part of the season with the same gusto. His retirement from F1 was well known before he eventually got the title over the line, so he likely knew that he just needed to bank the points. Sure, that was always Prost's MO, but it was heightened in his final year.

But, to this writer's memory, the biggest foot-off-the-gas approach post-title clincher has to be Lewis Hamilton's 2015 season. After grabbing the title in Texas, Hamilton arguably let things slide enough for Nico Rosberg to pounce on the opportunity to win the final three races. The German took pole in all three races and successfully converted them into victories, which gave him the momentum heading into 2016 where he won the opening four races to lay the foundations of his title-winning season.

Perhaps that was a cautionary tale for Hamilton, and his future early title wins were usually appended with a couple more wins on the other side. Of course, the exception was his COVID-enforced absence in 2020 after the title had been wrapped up, but this did not stall momentum heading into 2021; after all, Hamilton won three of the opening four races, but Red Bull and Verstappen grew into that championship to set up that finale at Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen may not be the keenest F1 historian, but he's been around the block enough to have learned from those stories of bygone seasons. If Red Bull faces tougher competition in 2024 then Verstappen knows that he'll need to preserve his momentum, lest another team carries an advantage heading into next year. As mentioned, it's a psychological battleground - and if the cars are close, sometimes mindset is enough to split the difference.

Verstappen will be eager to keep up his momentum and be prepared to face a stiffer challenge in 2024

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images