Joining Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Alain Prost and Lewis Hamilton in being a driver with the most victories in a season without winning the championship, where does Max Verstappen’s 2025 performance rank in terms of seasons without winning the title? – Alan
Any topic like this is always going to be subjective.
There are a number of examples of drivers who arguably, on merit, should have won the title but didn’t.
Stirling Moss in 1958, Niki Lauda in 1976, Gilles Villeneuve in 1979, Ayrton Senna in 1989 and Lewis Hamilton in 2007 are just some of the years up for discussion.
Arguably the peak example of this was Fernando Alonso in 2012, when he drove a season of remarkable consistency and excellence to keep a Ferrari that was on average the fourth fastest car in the title fight until the final race.
He ended up losing out to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. But had only one of two incidents for which he was entirely blameless not happened, he would easily have been champion.
He was taken out by the cartwheeling Lotus of Romain Grosjean at the start in Belgium, and his tyre was punctured by the other Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen into the first corner in Japan.
There is no doubting Verstappen’s excellence this season. How his year has compared with Alonso’s then is a matter for debate, but his Red Bull was certainly more competitive than that Ferrari.
As for Verstappen himself, he says he has “no regrets” about his season.
“I’ve hated this car at times,” he said in Abu Dhabi, “but I’ve also loved it at times. I always tried to extract the most from it, even in the difficult weekends that we’ve had.
“Luckily, the last, I would say, eight, nine rounds in general have been a lot more enjoyable. And also, in the team, we have a great atmosphere. We’re really on a roll – positive energy, belief, confidence – and that’s exactly what you want heading into next year.
“Of course, shame to miss out on the title, but at the same time, for a long period of time I was not even thinking about the title. I never felt like I was in it until a few rounds ago. That’s pretty crazy.
“You take your pride in different ways. I’m happy with myself, and going into next year I’m not in a state of having to worry about my skills or whatever.”
