Verstappen: Never thought I'd win 14 races in a year

Verstappen set himself up quite well for a win on Sunday's Mexican race with a dominant pole one day earlier, but the race was not straight forward as he had to make a one-stop strategy work, as Mercedes seemed to be threat early on before it turned out the Silver Arrows got their sums wrong with the tyres.

In the end, the Dutchman won his 14th race in 2022, breaking Michael Schumacher's and Sebastian Vettel's records of 13 wins per season, on his way to scoring 416 points, a record number of points as well for an F1 driver per season.

"Yeah, I mean another great race, I think," Verstappen reflected with Formula 1's official website. "We knew that the first stint was going to be the crucial one for us to keep that soft tyre alive long enough, which seemed to work.

"I mean, I did struggle a bit towards the end, but luckily the gap was big enough to extend a few laps and yeah, once we put on the medium tyres, everything was working quite well," he added.

"I think quite early on, we figured that we could make it to the end," the Red Bull ace went on. "Another great race but also, it’s just an incredible season for us as a team.

"I never thought I would be able to win 14 races in a year, but of course, incredibly proud," the 2021 and 2022 F1 World Champion revealed.

Asked about his point-scoring record, Verstappen responded: "I mean, we have a Sprint race in Brazil, and hopefully we can score a few more.

"But I mean, it’s not about that," he pointed out. "At the end of the day it’s about trying to win a championship and it doesn’t matter by how many points you do it – but it does show we are having an incredible year."

As for Mexico and it's grand prix, Verstappen said: "It’s amazing. It’s an incredible atmosphere and we love to come here.

"I mean, they put on a great show, the atmosphere in general is incredible with the fans, they are super passionate about Formula 1 – but of course about Checo – but it also helps a lot that you have that whole stadium.

"It makes it look incredible. It’s a great atmosphere," the 25-year-old concluded.

Christian Horner hailed his star driver's performance; he said: Max was truly remarkable. Frankly, Max is racing to another level.

"He's raised the bar so high all season and to break the record with 14 race wins is extraordinary, especially with a couple of races still to go.

"He deserves all the plaudits that are coming his way and his drive today demonstrates his maturity and ability to read a race and control it in a very convincing manner," the Briton insisted.