'Superhuman' Verstappen mentally managed Red Bull 'crisis' – Brundle

Former F1 driver Martin Brundle has described Max Verstappen as "superhuman" for claiming four consecutive drivers' titles, and how he "mind-managed" Red Bull's early season drama.

Verstappen finished fifth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix to become a four-time world champion, an achievement which only five drivers prior to him had achieved. 

The Red Bull driver has joined an illustrious group of drivers to have won four championships, featuring: Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.

As pointed out by Brundle, it takes a staggering effort to perform at such a consistently high-level for a long period of time.

"The mental and physical commitment for that consistent level of performance and achievement, through good times and bad, while risking your life for a prolonged time, is superhuman," Brundle wrote for Sky Sports F1.

"A few racing drivers achieve F1 status, some of us scored points, others stood on the podium, some won races, and a few won championships. 

"Only six have won four or more titles and the list of Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen is quite something.

"Other greats like Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna could well have joined them if they'd survived longer."

Surviving Red Bull issues

Verstappen battled hard to claim his fourth crown, with Red Bull's car having been third in the pecking order for much of the season. 

Much of the 27-year-old's title success is down to his early season dominance, with Verstappen having won four of the opening five races. 

He did this at the same time that all the chaos was unfolding within the Red Bull camp, involving team principal Christian Horner and his father, Jos Verstappen.

"The Red Bull was the car to beat early in the season and by winning seven of the first 10 races Max created a great springboard for this title," added Brundle.

"During that phase he also somehow mind-managed the very public potential crisis which hit team boss Christian Horner, the spat between his dad Jos and Christian, endless rumours of who might be leaving the team, and then Adrian Newey actually leaving. That took some navigating while still delivering on track.

"In the second half of the season, he had the third-best car but outperformed that with important damage limitation, racking up eight race victories but crucially 13 podiums so far this season."

As highlighted by Brundle, it was Verstappen's stunning victory in São Paulo which really sealed the title. 

The Dutchman's ability to extract the most from a difficult car has also highlighted the weaknesses of Sergio Perez.

"He has been extremely strong in the point-scoring Sprints too," continued Brundle. "The killer blow for Lando Norris' hopes was in Brazil when Verstappen delivered his masterclass from 17th to first. 

"And Max has outscored team-mate Sergio Perez 403 to 152 points which sums up several things."