‘He did everything right’ - Verstappen feels for Hamilton after F1 title loss
Hamilton looked on course to land a record-breaking eighth world c🐠hampionship having controlled the season finale in Abu Dhabi until a late safety car flipped the race and tit🍬le battle on its head when Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams.
The safety car wiped out Hamilton’s 12-second advantage and also enabled Red Bull to pit Versta🐷ppe💙n for fresh soft tyres, with Mercedes keeping its driver out to retain track position with only a few laps remaining.
Verstappen went on to pass🐈 Hamilton during a controv💞ersial last-lap sprint to the flag to clinch his maiden F1 world championship.
“There was one side that was incredibly happy, and one side that was disappointed,” Verstappen said during a chat with select media including mahbx.com on Monday.
“Of course, I felt for Lewis. He did ever𒀰ything right throughout the whole race.
“But F1 can be very unpredictable and i꧙t can go either way. It could have been the other way around as well, where I would be controlling ꧟the race and then I lose it on the last lap.
“Unfortunately, it’s also part of racing.”
Verstappen✨ admitted he did not have the pace to challenge Hamilton without the intervention of the safety car but stressed he was determined not to give up despite the outlook appearing bleak for his title prospects.
“Of course I🅰 saw that I was not catching enough,” he explained. “So I told 🐻myself to just keep pushing until the end, because I'm not gonna give up. And that's what we did.
“The safety c𝄹ar came out of course. We neཧeded a miracle and it did happen, but you still need to then capitalise on that.
“You need to go for the overtake. That's what we did. And yeꦆah, it was a dramatic end for sure.”
Verstappen revealed he was congratulated by both Hamilton and Mercedes tea🎃m boss Toto Wolff after winning the title.
Thꦇe Dutchman also tipped Hamilton to bounce back strongly from his title disappointment next season.
“Lewis is a great sportsman,” he said. “It’s🌠 racing and we all have to deal with it, if it’s positive or negative.
“But he will comꩲe back again very strong b꧟ecause he’s an amazing driver.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who mat🌼t🐻er in the sport.
