Max Verstappen was both taken aback and impressed as Sky F1’s Craig Slater showed off his fresh haircut inspired by the Red Bull driver’s latest title triumph.

Verstappen ensured his status as a four-time World Champion last time out in Las Vegas, his P5 finish to Lando Norris’ P6 officially ending the title race and seeing Verstappen match Sebastian Vettel as a four-time World Champion in Red Bull colours.

Max Verstappen reacts to Craig Slater’s title-inspired haircut

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The relationship between Verstappen and the British press has not always been too healthy in recent times, the Dutchman joined by ex-Red Bull F1 design guru Adrian Newey in claiming bias exists, but the actions of Sky F1’s Craig Slater do not align with that.

As Formula 1 reached Qatar for the penultimate round of F1 2024, Slater unveiled his new trim to commemorate Verstappen’s fourth straight title, with ‘M4X’ shaved into the back of his head.

And he got the chance to show it off to Verstappen ahead of the on-track action getting underway.

“Oh, my God! That is… You’ve done a great job!” Verstappen responded.

“That’s actually very impressive! Oh my God! That’s a nice touch.

“I mean, I’m not going to take that myself, but I appreciate that. Well done!”

F1 2024 head-to-heads going into Qatar GP

The title may be in the bag for Verstappen with two rounds to go, but the Dutchman still sees value in the Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs as an opportunity for Red Bull to learn with an eye on F1 2025, after a season which saw the dominance they had enjoyed come to an end.

Put to him by the media, including PlanetF1.com, that retaining the Constructors’ title now seems unlikely for Red Bull, who are 53 points behind McLaren, Verstappen was asked whether his focus is on next season for these last two races. He replied: “Yeah, I think so.

“I mean, just trying to learn more about the car. I mean, some things we already know that we want to change for next year, but yeah, maybe we find some other things in the car that can be better for next year.

“Because, of course, looking at the last races that we’ve had, we’ve not been the quickest. I don’t expect that to suddenly change here, but hopefully, we can be a little bit more competitive around here with higher speed corners, but I’m not sure.”

Verstappen emerged victorious at the Qatar Grand Prix last year, as the event made its return to the calendar.