Max Verstappen ends remarkable F1 streak with failure to win in Austin

Max Verstappen was unable to take victory in the United States Grand Prix from second on the grid, tumbling out of F1 drivers' championship contention, as Kimi Antonelli triumphed from pole.

Verstappen needed to win at the Circuit of the Americas to stand any chance of clinching a fifth title, although realistically, his hopes never really began in earnest this season.

Nonetheless, he remained in contention, in large part due to his recent flourish, with wins in Sepang and Singapore.

However, the result in Austin means the Red Bull driver is out of the F1 drivers' championship fight for the first time since 2020, when he fell out of contention after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with four subsequent rounds remaining.

That ends a streak of 2,184 days, just shy of six whole years, such has been the Dutchman's dominance of F1 over that period.

Although it does pale in comparison to the run Verstappen's old adversary Lewis Hamilton went on between the Japanese Grand Prix in 2013, his first season at Mercedes and the Italian Grand Prix in 2022.

That record covered 179 races and 3,256 days, and is the longest run between falling out of title contention in F1 history.

Michael Schumacher would likely have held the record, had it not been for breaking his leg at Silverstone in 1999.

If that did not come to pass, it is reasonable to assume he would have either won the title that year or at least pushed Mika Hakkinen all the way.

In that hypothetical, his run would have started when he surrendered his crown at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 1996 and continued until the Italian Grand Prix in 2005 — a timespan of 3,311 days.