George Russell takes jab at Lando Norris after Max Verstappen seals fourth F1 title | F1 | Sport

It was Russell himself who took the chequered flag in ‘Sin City’, holding off team-mate Lewis Hamilton. And afterwards, he voiced his ambitions to challenge the Red Bull man next season, implying he had cruised to his latest crown.

“I just want to make sure we get in that fight now, because it’s about time somebody gave him a proper fight,” he said. “That’s my plan, that’s what I want to do.

“He’s a fierce competitor and Red Bull have done amazing. But this championship should’ve gone down to the wire, you could argue it shouldn’t have gone….Max probably wasn’t the favorite at one point, yet he wins it with two races to go.”

The gap between Verstappen and Norris now stands at 63 points, with Charles Leclerc in third, 21 behind the British driver. Russell now lies sixth, nine points ahead of Hamilton.

The pace of McLaren and Ferrari however, has undoubtedly been superior to Red Bull in the latter part of the campaign. And after celebrating his title success, Verstappen did predict a tougher fight in 2025.

“It’s going to be a proper battle between a lot of cars,” he said. “I’m hungry, but I’m going to enjoy this. We go at it again next week.”

Internal strife at Red Bull has also made for strained relations, with the 27-year-old’s father Jos calling for team principal Christian Horner to be removed from his position following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee. However, Verstappen praised team mechanics for not panicking this year as Norris fought back.

“It’s been a long season,” he explained. “We started off amazing, cruising, then we had a tough run. We kept it together, working on improvements. Incredibly proud.