Max Verstappen was clear all season he wanted to win the Formula One world title with a dominant car, just as he had the previous two years.
Much as he might have enjoyed more of a canter, the fight for his fourth title, secured in Las Vegas, was not only far greater sport but also showed how complete a driver he has matured into.
Beating him in future is going to be a fearsome task, as his title rival Lando Norris acknowledged.
In the early stages of the season Verstappen appeared to be having it all his own way again. With the Red Bull quick out of the blocks, he was bossing it on track. At the opening round in Bahrain his confidence and pace was intimidating, with an advantage at some points between eight-tenths and a second a lap, an extraordinary chasm as he almost flippantly asked his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase if he needed to push.
He seemed unfazed by the controversy which had unfolded at the start of the season when his team principal, Christian Horner, was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee, a complaint subsequently dismissed by an independent investigation but which was destabilising nonetheless.
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