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Red Bull star Max Verstappen won the 2025 ESPY award for Best Driver. The 2025 award made it a three-peat for the Dutchman, who was also awarded as the Best Driver in 2023 and 2024. Fans have reacted to Verstappen beating the other nominees to the ESPYs.
The ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) is an annual award show produced by ESPN where the greatest athletes of the year are awarded. Max Verstappen has now won his third consecutive ESPY for the Best Driver, as he's won the last four F1 World championships.
Joey Logano (the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion), Álex Palou (2024 IndyCar champion), Max Verstappen (2024 F1 champion), and Oscar Piastri were the nominees for the 2025 ESPY Best Driver award.
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Fans reacted to Max Verstappen winning the 2025 ESPY Best Driver award. They detailed how the Dutchman was clearly off the other nomination, as one wrote:
“He is miles clear of oscar lol”
“McLaren i can hear you people cry !,” commented another.
A fan wrote, “Oscar WHOOOOOOOO?”
Some fans came out and detailed Joey Logano’s nomination for the ESPY as the 2024 Cup Series champion.
“Joey Logano in the conversation was hilarious,” commented a user.
Another mentioned, “lol they setup nascar for failure having Joey logano represent us, guy lucked into a mickey mouse championship and was the arguably worst champ since chase elliot”
Some fans hailed Max Verstappen’s performances in the subpar Red Bull.
“Max is arguably the greatest driver of all time…sometimes his machine matches his ability and then championships are automatic…this year he’s driving a garbage truck to 3rd place,” wrote a user.
Verstappen took his RB20 to the 2024 F1 World Drivers' Championship despite having a car inferior to the McLaren in terms of performance. The Dutchman's sheer ability to extract the most out of the car has been the highlight for the last year and a half.
Even in 2025, with the RB21, which is miles behind McLaren in terms of performance, Verstappen has been able to keep Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris honest and within arm's reach.
Max Verstappen's unreal performance in 2024 and the first half of 2025
Max Verstappen began the 2024 F1 season as the defending champion. However, just a few races into the season, McLaren brought the Miami GP upgrades, which put the Papaya team in front. Both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were in the prime seat to challenge the Dutchman for the title.
However, the Red Bull driver was able to put his early-season lead to good use and won races in a car that was second-best. He won the 2024 title with a 60+ points gap to Norris, and nine wins and 14 podiums to his name.
The 2025 season started with McLaren creating an even greater performance gap, yet Verstappen has managed to win a couple of races this season, and most recently took the pole position at the British GP.
