Although Max Verstappen was criticised last season for his on-track, or best to say off-track, antics, Will Buxton believes he got into his rivals’ heads with his ability to “flirt with the law”.

Verstappen wrapped up his fourth consecutive World title last season, beating Lando Norris to the title which he secured in Las Vegas with two Grands Prix to spare.

Did Max Verstappen occasionally cross that line? “Yes.”

But his success wasn’t without controversy.

It was by far his hardest-fought victory since the 2021 championship as he had to overcome Red Bull’s balance issues while holding off the fast-charging Norris. The two protagonists had three notable clashes.

The first was in Austria, where Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty for being “predominantly at fault” he collided with Norris as the Briton tried to take the lead around the outside at Turn 3.

The second was at the Circuit of the Americas where Norris was penalised for passing Verstappen off the track with his punishment mitigated to only five seconds given Verstappen had run himself off of the track in order to force Norris off.

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They were at it again one week later in Mexico, this time Verstappen the recipient of the punishments, two 10-second penalties, as he forced Norris wide and then overtook the McLaren off of the track a few corners later.

It has former F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle cautioning Verstappen that his “legacy will be tainted” while 1996 World Champion Damon Hill dubbed his antics “Dick Dastardly stuff”.

“It is possible to race fairly,” Hill added, “and that is something I am not sure Max is capable of. It is not in his repertoire, it is not in his philosophy. His philosophy is you are not coming past.”

But while Buxton accepts there were times during the F1 2024 championship that Verstappen did cross the line, his knowledge of Formula 1’s rule book means he’s toeing the line more often than not.

And that allows him to get into his rivals’ heads.

“Max takes a step every weekend,” said Buxton in an interview with F1Maximaal.co.uk. “That is most worrying for his rivals.

“Every race weekend Max comes back, has learned something new, has improved further, has developed further, has become more and more the complete package.

“Did he put out his elbows in 2024 like he did in 2021 and manage to push everything to the limit of acceptance? Yes. Did he occasionally cross that line? Yes, but for the most part…

“You know, Max has so much capacity left. He knows the rule book inside and out.

“He has the ability to flirt with the rules. He has the ability to flirt with the law in a way that Senna and Schumacher used to.

“He has so much capacity and ability to get into the heads of his rivals. Even in Abu Dhabi, he was nestled in George Russell’s head. He is a phenomenon.”

As for the Qatar incident with Russell where the Briton shouted “dangerous” over the radio when he came up behind Verstappen on a cooldown lap in qualifying, an argument that continued into Abu Dhabi, Buxton applauded Verstappen for speaking his truth.

Verstappen initially accused Russell of throwing him “under the bus” with the stewards and, after Russell stated his case with his team principal Toto Wolff present in Abu Dhabi, continued to say that Russell hadn’t been fair.

“It’s great,” said Buxton of Verstappen’s outspokenness. “It’s also something you need. Lando put it best on Friday in Abu Dhabi when he said: ‘Max is nobody but himself’.

“He is always himself. He loves racing, and if you try to take that joy away from him, he’s going to do something else.

“I love watching Max because of the purity of the way he races. I love listening to Max because of the purity of his emotions.

“It is a joy to watch him race. We have to remember that we are witnessing greatness at the moment. We should be appreciative of that, because it could also be over soon. He could go on to do something else, and then we might never see Max Verstappen in Formula 1 again. So I enjoy seeing one of the greatest drivers of all time do what he does.”

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