JONATHAN MCEVOY: Max Verstappen’s racing genes selected him for stardom, and after sealing a third Drivers’ Championship, he looks to be a potent fighter for years to come

For a genius capable of defying belief with audacity and drama, Max Verstappen became world champion for the third time without fanfare.

Instead, his crowning achievement in the greatest individual motor racing season ever came when Sergio Perez, his only surviving mathematical challenger, hit the gravel eight laps from the end of the sprint in Qatar.

So, under the floodlights of the Lusail International Circuit, with six Grands Prix remaining, the inevitability that has been staring us in the face since Verstappen annexed the opening race in Bahrain in March has come true.

The Dutchman joined luminaries such as Sir Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna as three-time title holders, all achieved in succession since his controversial maiden victory in Abu Dhabi two years ago. Since then, aided by a lightning-fast Red Bull, he has held the sport in a coconut-crab grip.

Let’s not forget that Perez is his teammate, a competent driver of the most reluctant evaluation, and yet he was destroyed. This is due to Hurricane Max, whose damage is inevitable. Verstappen has won 13 of 16 rounds this season; Perez two. Trust is bomb-proof; the other’s shot.

His boss, Christian Horner, may be biased, but he says he has never seen a driver perform at such a high level. It’s hard to argue even though yesterday he failed to come out on top in a chaotic sprint race won by McLaren’s impressive Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen, aged just 26, started third, having lost a time in qualifying earlier in the day. He was pushed back at the start and fell back to sixth, managing to finish second despite three safety car periods. It wouldn’t have been a fitting conclusion without an over or four.

“Quite a few sparkling waters tonight,” Verstappen promised, “but everything will be fine for tomorrow.” He was referring to today’s Grand Prix itself and its 57 laps of honor. As for water? Tonic perhaps.

“It’s the best,” he mused. “The first one was the most emotional because my dreams came true, but it was my best year. The car is in its best shape and I am proud of my consistency.

Yes, consistency. Think about his 10 perfect races, from Miami to Monza, from May to September. If he had never done anything else, that would rank him high in any pantheon. Others have already been blessed with dominant machines – Lewis Hamilton and Schumacher among them – but none have achieved this feat flawlessly.

We wonder when his reign will end. Not as long as Red Bull remains the team to beat, with Mercedes in trouble and Ferrari in trouble. Victory made him sharper and more lively.

But its dazzling success is hardly a surprise. His ideal racing genes pre-selected him for stardom.

His mother Sophie Kumpen, born in 1975 in Hasselt, Belgium, was an extremely talented karter. “A fantastic talent,” confirmed Jenson Button, 2009 world champion and former teammate of Sophie, whose uncle and cousin competed brilliantly in rallycross, endurance and sedan racing.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, was another to take on Sophie, during the 1989 Junior World Kart Championship. “She was in the top 10 in the world, that’s for sure,” he recalls .

Indeed, she was often as good as any boy, but there was a glass ceiling for girls in those days. Formula 1 was not a serious option.

As for Jos, he spent 10 years in Grand Prix, notably as a teammate of Michael Schumacher at Benetton, en route to two podiums.

The couple married on May 24, the Friday after the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, during a small service at Godsheide, a Flemish Catholic parish in Hasselt. He was 24 years old; she was 21 years old. The marriage would eventually dissolve in acrimony, but, importantly, before that, Max Emilian Verstappen was born on September 30, 1997 (Victoria’s older brother).

Jos’s F1 career, which had promised more than it delivered, ended when Max, already crazy about karting, was seven. Jos was thus able to devote his energy and his know-how to protect and nourish his son’s genius.

Showing intense love at times, Jos and Max worked from their base in Maasbracht, a half-hour drive from Maastricht, where their intelligent workshop was the focal point of Max’s young life, the place where he learned about engines and racing skills from his mentor.

“I took the best of my father’s talent and left out the not-so-good ones,” said Max, alluding to Jos’s enthusiasm, when I visited their old ‘HQ’.

Jos was here in the garage, more relaxed than he could afford to be two years ago, as Max lived up to the hype surrounding his Toro Rosso debut in 2015, aged 17 years and 166 days, the youngest rookie of all time. As a result, the FIA ​​changed its rules: 18 was introduced as the minimum age for competitors.

A raw and rare talent was evident from the start. Verstappen has since added complete reliability to his burgeoning genius. Yet he remains willing to stick his neck out when necessary. His maturity has particularly developed over the last two years. He has adapted as much as necessary, risking only what he needs to.

An expert witness to Verstappen’s flourishing is Nico Rosberg, who works here in the paddock for Sky. The German measured himself against the best of his era – Schumacher was his first teammate at Mercedes before facing Hamilton. He learned from the first to equip himself to face the second.

He was never going to be Hamilton’s equal over this period, but the German heroically steeled himself to triumph in 2016 in what was essentially the Briton’s team.

Where does Rosberg place Verstappen? “One of the five greatest of all time,” he told me. “He’s up there with Fangio, Schumacher and Senna.”

He then mentioned Hamilton. But what makes Verstappen so good? “A natural talent – ​​phenomenal,” Rosberg said simply. “And a high degree of trust.”

Rosberg referred to Verstappen backing himself to deliver on his promises, regardless of the odds. He could have added how it simplifies the art of driving. “Just two pedals and a steering wheel,” reasons the champion, watched last night by his girlfriend Kelly Piquet, daughter of another triple legend, Nelson.

Even Bernie Ecclestone, the wise man whose memory goes back further than anyone’s, tore up his list of the best. He attended the first Formula 1 race, at Silverstone in 1950, and has seen them all since. He told Mail Sport: “Max is the best driver of all time. Without a doubt. I said Alain Prost. Now I would say Max. He’s not joking. It goes straight into the program.

“In my list he is above Lewis (Hamilton). Lewis is obviously super-super brilliant, super-super talented. Lewis understands people and gets the best out of them, while Max gets the best out of the car. He is very different from Max. When Lewis stops racing, he may enter a different world – entertainment or otherwise – but that won’t be the path forward for Max. Max is one of us. In our field of Formula 1, no one has a lifestyle or a vision like Lewis.

“At school I was a little short, so I was a little different. Just like Lewis, in a different way. When you’re a little short, or whatever, you have to take care of yourself. You have to be a fighter.

Yes, there is a simplicity to Verstappen – a complete focus and rejection of the trappings of stardom, which suggests he will remain the strongest driver for seasons to come.

He is on the books – for £40m a year – until the end of 2028, beyond which date he makes no promises, hinting at racing for fun, out of the spotlight.

These five years can seem like an eternity in the eyes of his rivals.