Max Verstappen has claimed that for "70%" of his fourth F1 title-winning season, his Red Bull team did not have the fastest car.
The Dutchman wrapped up his fourth world championship with a fifth-place finish in Las Vegas, defeating McLaren's Lando Norris - who later labelled Verstappen as the "best driver in the world."
Verstappen's championship comes after a rocky period for Red Bull in which its RB20 machine suffered an alarming drop in form after his Spanish Grand Prix victory in June - his seventh from the first 10 races.
He did not win again until round 21 in Brazil, but scored an average position of 3.8 in the races since, including podiums in Britain, the Netherlands, Singapore and the United States - with a sprint win at Austin.
Reflecting on his latest title success - that Red Bull boss Christian Horner felt was his most impressive - Verstappen felt proud at having extended his lead despite the car disadvantage.
"I think so too, I mean, last year, I had a dominant car, but I always felt that not everyone appreciated what we achieved as a team," Verstappen told media including RacingNews365 in his world champion press conference when asked if he agreed with Horner.
"You know, winning 10 [races] in a row [between the 2023 Miami and Italian Grands Prix], of course, our car was dominant, but it wasn't as dominant as people thought it was.
"So that's for sure, my best season, I will always look back at it because even in places where maybe we didn't have the perfect setup, we were still capable because our car was always quite strong to win races.
"But I'm also very proud of this season, because for most of the season, I would say for 70% of the season, we didn't have the fastest car, but actually, we still extended our lead.
"So that is definitely something that I'm very proud of."
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Verstappen explains remark
When pushed on the 70% comment, Verstappen heaped praise on his team for the way in which it had managed to turn its performances around, especially after the nadir of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza where he branded the car "a monster" after finishing sixth.
"You always have to believe in yourself, but at the end of the day, a lot of people and a lot of things have to come together, especially in the middle of the season where we had a lot of issues and didn't really understand what was going on," he added.
"But I'm also very happy and proud of how the team reacted, responded, and turned it around, at one point it seemed like we were a little bit lost.
"Vegas, I feel like it's a very one-off event where it's very cold and the track layout is also quite special. But in general, I do think that since Austin, we have turned it around a little bit, and we are a bit more in that fight again.
"All credit to the team for that, because I know that's been quite a tough season for us overall, but at least we still won one championship."
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