The newly crowned first-time world champion, Max Verstappen, left words of thanks to his people even before getting off his RB16B at Yas Marina, praise for Lewis Hamilton and a poisoned dart for the Mercedes leadership.
The tension reached throughout the 2021 season has been in crescendo as the two contenders for the title, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, have met on several occasions on the track, with fights that have ended with one of them against the protections and in the direction of the hospital or with one above the other as neither of them yields.
The last lap of the last race of the year ended up deciding where the drivers’ championship fell, with a Safety Car that let the cars that were sandwiched between them unfold in extremis for a final confrontation, a fight that led to the first title of # 33.
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“It is clear that there was an incredibly happy side and a disappointed one,” Verstappen acknowledged of the situation in Yas Marina. «I felt sorry for Lewis, he did everything right throughout the race, but Formula 1 can be very unpredictable and of course it can fall from either side.
On the track yes, in the offices no
To the extreme but cleanly: this is how the new world champion defines his rivalry with Hamilton, the frustrated eighth champion for Red Bull’s first sword, an antagonism that ended up making the scales fall on his side.
“It could have been the other way around too, with me controlling the race and then losing it on the last lap. That is, unfortunately, part of racing, ”Verstappen acknowledged. Lewis is a great athlete, but as I said racing is like that and we all have to deal with itEither positive or negative, but he will come back again, very strong, because he is an incredible rider ».
Lewis is a great athlete; He will come back again, very strong, because he is an incredible pilot »
However, Verstappen did not forget Mercedes, Toto Wolff and the two protests that they challenged them as soon as the last race of the year finished, with the firm intention of getting the drivers’ title in the offices to go to Hamilton.
“It is quite typical if you look at the season. It is what it is, we are still happy and enjoying, we did nothing wrong as a team. We competed and there was a green light, a green flag, so we went for it and did it on the track », Verstappen closed.