Kelly Piquet drops four-word reaction as Max Verstappen seals his 4th F1 world title
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's girlfriend Kelly Piquet was overjoyed after the 27-year-old sealed his fourth F1 world championship at the end of the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Dutch driver needed to finish ahead of his championship rival Lando Norris in the race to secure his fourth successive title in the sport.
The Dutchman managed to finish in P5, a place ahead of the McLaren driver and took the title on Saturday night. Verstappen was relieved after crossing the chequered flag as he had been under pressure from the middle of the season as the RB20 was not as competitive as the MCL38 for the majority of the year.
But Max Verstappen methodically maintained his lead over the British driver to claim the achievement in Sin City. Verstappen's girlfriend Kelly Piquet, who he has been dating for the past four years, too, was ecstatic with the feat. She gave a four-word response on her Instagram Story, to sum up her emotions:
"4 in a row Baby."
In the post-race press conference, Max Verstappen echoed his team principal Christian Horner's words and termed the 2024 season as his "most impressive", saying:
"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, winning 10 in a row. Of course, our car was dominant, but it wasn't as dominant, I think, as people thought it was. That's for sure my best season [2023].
"I will always look back at, it because even in places where maybe we didn't have the perfect set-up, we were still capable, because in the race, 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."
Max Verstappen previews the 2025 season after Las Vegas
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said he was expecting a "proper battle" in the upcoming 2025 season given that four teams won races this year.
In his post-race interview with F1TV, the four-time F1 world champion reflected:
"Yeah, I mean, of course, if you look at it to next year right now, I think it's going to be a proper battle between a lot of cars. But yeah, I'm hungry. Of course, I'm going to enjoy this, but there are still two more races that I want to do well at the same time. And then, of course, we take a little break, and then we try and go at it again next year."
Max Verstappen would look to become only the fourth driver in F1 history to win five titles and the second after Michael Schumacher to do it in successive years next year.