Champion crowns Verstappen 'star of the year': 'He's the real deal!'

After a stunning comeback, Verstappen finished just two points behind Lando Norris in the drivers' standings, after trailing the championship leader by 104 points after the Dutch GP.

The Dutchman won the final three rounds of the season, putting continuous pressure on McLaren during the second half of the 2025 season.

1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve explained that Verstappen is the 'star' of the previous year.

He told a betting site: "No doubt, Verstappen was the star of the year. He’s been on it all year. The only time he threw points away was Barcelona, which weren’t that many."

The Canadian continued: "He was always there, he out-drove that car so well that he put himself in the championship picture when he shouldn’t have been. And that’s after winning four championships, three of them easily."

Therefore, Villeneuve believes he is among the best F1 champion. He concluded: "It didn’t put him to sleep; so he’s showing that he’s the real deal. He’s in a different league. He’s in the league of all the great champions that there have been. Not every champion has been a great champion."

Verstappen has already received a massive boost for the upcoming year: his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, will stay with the Austrian squad. Click here to read more!

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