Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner has revealed Max Verstappen was "more sensitive" to the criticism of his aggressive driving than he let on in public.
Verstappen clinched his fourth straight title with two rounds remaining in Las Vegas, having been the year's standout driver aboard a Red Bull that hasn't the quickest car for significant parts of a season it began in dominant fashion.
Verstappen came under pressure from closest challenger Lando Norris, with the pair fighting a series of intense wheel-to-wheel battles.
They tangled in Austria, which terminally damaged Norris' McLaren and landed Verstappen a 10-second penalty, before the Dutchman caught flak for various aggressive moves against the Briton in Austin and Mexico.
Verstappen appeared to brush off any criticism from media, fans and his peers at the time, but according to his team boss he was more affected than it appeared.
"He's more sensitive than you think," Horner said. "Inevitably he's aware of the criticism and some of it, I think, is very unfounded.
"He's a driver that drives aggressively; he's an attacking driver. But so was [Ayrton] Senna, so was [Michael] Schumacher, so was [Lewis] Hamilton, and they all came under the same kind of spotlight at various times in their careers."
Verstappen and Red Bull dragged themselves through a difficult second half of the campaign, in which the hunter became the hunted.
The Dutchman and his team dug deep to develop their way out of the RB20's crippling handling problems during a 10-race winless spell, which he snapped with a storming victory in the Brazilian GP to put the title realistically beyond Norris.
Along with the criticism he dealt with, that all-out effort to hold off Norris and McLaren goes some way towards explaining Verstappen's emotional release at the chequered flag in Vegas.
"It really means a huge amount to him," Horner added. "He's not a guy that fame sits comfortably with.
"He doesn't [crave] adulation. He just loves driving fast cars.
"Behind the scenes, he was putting a massive amount of effort in with the engineers and designers and on the simulator, and more than in any of the previous years.
"The way he's conducted himself, the way he's worked with the engineers and all the technical staff has been phenomenal.
"He's been head and shoulders the best driver on the grid in Formula 1. And what he's really done this year has absolutely cemented his position amongst the greats in the sport."
Watch: Why Verstappen's 2024 Title Success is His Greatest Yet - F1 Las Vegas GP Analysis
