Move over Alain, there’s a new professor in town. He goes by Max Verstappen.No disrespect to Prost’s legacy, his achievements, or his approach, but this Dutch-Belgian amalgam of skill, fortitude, hubris, discipline, and ruthlessness is already better than the Frenchman at doing what the Frenchman was lauded for (and occasionally berated for) being and doing.After Juan Manuel Fangio’s five titles pre-1960, Prost was the most triumphant Formula One driver spanning between the late 80s and early 90s. Fangio wore his Argentinian swagger while manually switching gears and taking corners as if being chased. Prost, however, wasn’t an emotion—he drove as if dictated by advanced algebra, the basics of geometry, and a keen sense of what needed to be done and when.Prost—again, no offense—was boring, until he intentionally caused accidents to ensure his opponents wouldn’t have a chance to catch up to the points available toward the drivers’ championship. In those moments, he was just a poor sportsman.This is why, when Ayrton Senna came along, the greater racing community gravitated toward the Brazilian’s magnetism—not just as a driver, but as a personality. He seldom intentionally caused accidents; they happened because he didn’t know his own limits.Then came Michael Schumacher. More Prost than Senna, but with a good—maybe even healthy—dose of emotion on his sleeves. After him, there was and is Lewis Hamilton. More Senna than Prost, but beautifully in the middle until the years rolled by and his liberal activism became a tad distracting. Still an exceptional driver, though.For that six-season period between 2014 and 2020, the Briton was largely unstoppable, save for the 2016 title which Nico Rosberg won. In this interim, Mercedes’ Hamilton had won six titles to add to the maiden one in 2008 with McLaren.A strange-looking boy with plenty of promise was looking at greatness, dreaming perhaps that one day he might win a singular title. “At 17, I was just happy to be there and dreaming of potential victories and standing on the podium, just normal things that are already very difficult to achieve,” Verstappen had said a while ago.Hamilton, though, knew this boy would come for his throne once he got the hang of things. Verstappen was too avant-garde with his racing lines, and it led to quite a few accidents early in his career. It took him a while to figure out the curves and the edges of his car, the tracks, and his psyche, but when he did, he owned it all.Hamilton was in the rearview mirror suddenly. Four years have passed, and almost everyone else has been there since.In this process, Verstappen has been as visceral as Fangio, as proficient as Prost, as telepathically connected with the car as Senna, as metronomic in decision-making as Schumacher, and as blessed as Hamilton. This special cohesion of all things magic is what allows Verstappen to now sit at the table with the greats and actually have a say.Surely, you would have noticed that Sebastian Vettel’s name was left out of the conversation, and that’s because the German was exceptional in an exceptional car. Four titles, sure, but his car setup was so far ahead that all anyone saw between 2010 and 2013 was the back end of his Red Bull.Vettel is a quality driver, but rarely was he pushed to showcase his skill in its entirety when sitting in a bad car. Verstappen had to do that all this season, and the man still came away with a title. That is an impressive feat, considering how poor this Red Bull car has been.Verstappen went more than four months without a win between Spain and Brazil, but he always managed to pick up double-digit points to remain within touching distance of a title. With that car and its fangled side skirt, no reasonable person would have assumed that possible. And then, São Paulo happened.Verstappen went from 17th on the grid to winning the race. In the rain. Under pressure. Title on the line. That’s the kind of stuff Senna would do. Magic.Also, think about it: he is most likely going to become only the third driver in history to win the title for a team that isn’t in the top two in the constructors’ championship. Red Bull are currently third behind McLaren and Ferrari, meaning his teammate Sergio Pérez is feeling the full trauma of a difficult car, while Verstappen squeezed whatever was left of the car with whatever he has left to get these results.This, surely he will admit, must be the most rewarding triumph in his career. Last season, he won 19 races, including 10 in a row, so that could again go down to it being a good car (remember, Vettel?). But this season, he has won a title after only eight races. This, if anything, is a career-defining season, one which puts him surely above Vettel.As for Prost, he went ahead of him at Las Vegas. After being told by his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to hold his horses and only do enough to finish ahead of Lando Norris, Verstappen took his foot off the accelerator evidently so and slid from second place to fifth and stayed there.When the chequered flag came out on Lap 50, Horner jumped on the radio, saying: “That is a phenomenal, phenomenal achievement. You can be incredibly proud of yourself, as we are. Amazing. Well done.”Verstappen chuckled. “Oh my God, man, what a season,” he said. “Four times! Thank you, thank you, guys, thank you to everyone. It’s a little bit more difficult than last year, but we pulled through and gave it our all. Thank you so much, guys.”All Verstappen wanted to do after was down a couple of beers and go for more. He never imagined he would win a title, let alone four. More so, this season has been a tough one for him personally and for Red Bull at large, what with all the controversies. But here he was, craving a beer, diving into a smile, beelining for his backroom staff and Horner.“We’ve been through a lot and this is special—but it will be a proper battle next year with a lot of cars involved, so I am going to enjoy this. For me, I’m just very proud to be part of the team and we are now celebrating our fourth world title together. There’s definitely nothing else on my mind,” he said.Verstappen had won with the car running at less than okay for close to 70 percent of the year. All this while, the other drivers and teams grew fangs and even made a show that they could quell this once-in-a-lifetime driver.
