“Couldn’t recall a time I had spoken to him so freely,” Will Buxton sheds light on 2021 Abu Dhabi GP interview with World Champion Max Verstappen
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Max and Will
Will Buxton, the official presenter of F1, has recently talked about the interview that he took with Max Verstappen when the Dutchman became the 2021 F1 World Champion.
Max Verstappen has again won the Championship this year, and Buxton has indicated that during 2021 he had two sets of questions ready for whoever became the Champion between Hamilton and Verstappen.
While looking back at the Abu Dhabi GP of 2021, Buxton said, “I had two sets of questions, one for Lewis Hamilton and one for Max. None of us knew who would walk up the steps as world champion.”
“Eventually he came, Red Bull cap pulled in place, no bounding triumphalism, a polite shake of hands and with some trepidation, I began.”
Buxton has made it clear that he was not sure as to who was going to win the Championship back then, and just to be safe, he had two sets of questions ready for both drivers.
Ultimately, it was Verstappen who took the top step after a controversial ending, and Buxton took out the Verstappen set of questions that he had prepared ahead of the race.
In Abu Dhabi, a huge burden fell off the shoulders of Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen, before 2021, had tried many times to get near Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers Championship, however, because of a lesser package he just wasn’t able to get the better of the Brit.
That all changed in 2021 when Red Bull produced a livery that was able to go wheel-to-wheel with Mercedes and Verstappen was presented with the opportunity of taking the fight to Hamilton.
Buxton further added, “Max wasn’t always the easiest of interviews. His answers could be short, pointed, and unemotional.”
“From the first answer he gave, the walls collapsed, as though a lifetime’s pressure had suddenly lifted. I couldn’t recall a time I’d spoken to him so freely and honestly on camera since his Grand Prix debut six years and nine months earlier.”
Will Buxton has revealed that Max Verstappen was a relieved man at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he had finally got what he had been trying to achieve for years in the sport.
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Rishabh Negi
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