“You don’t earn a title based on one race,” Max Verstappen understands Lewis Hamilton’s Abu Dhabi GP disappointment but asserts he deserved the title
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Max Verstappen
The hype for the 2022 season is real, thanks to the ever-so-dramatic finale of the 2021 season. After a season full of inconsistent decisions and unfortunate accidents, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton headed to Abu Dhabi on equal points.
And as Lewis Hamilton headed for his record eighth F1 world championship and Christian Horner hoped for a miracle, Nicholas Latifi crashed into the barriers. This allowed for the safety car to come in, race director Michael Masi to take a controversial call, and the next thing we know was that Max Verstappen became the F1 world champion by overtaking Lewis Hamilton down at turn 5 of the final lap.
The Dutch in a recent interview, while talking about this last lap in Abu Dhabi, said, “That’s right, but a championship is won over a whole season. Not by one decision in the last race. I also think I deserved the title, absolutely.”
While many people in the F1 community feel Max didn’t deserve the title, there are many in his support too. While understanding what happened in Abu Dhabi was unusual and disappointing for Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf said, “Yes, if you look at how things went in Abu Dhabi. But like I said, you have to watch the whole season. You don’t earn a title based on one race.”
Max Verstappen’s say on “that” last lap
The last lap in Abu Dhabi was a thrilling one to watch. With everything set on the line, it was possibly the single-most-important lap in a really long time, which also made it natural to be a highlight.
On being asked about what he thinks about the talk around the particular lap in Abu Dhabi, Max said, “There may be people who only watched the last Grand Prix. They may think I was lucky. But normally the championship would have been decided in my favor long ago. I lost a lot of points twice, after being knocked out by another car and I had that blowout in Baku. Because of all that bad luck it came down to the last race.”
The title race was fierce last season. Not only were the drivers battling it out, the teams and their principals, too, were in combat. The new season is bringing new regulations and new cars, but the rivalry carries on. Lewis will be out to win his eighth and Max to defend his first and win the second, and there can only be one winner amongst the two unless someone else, possibly from a red or an orange team, steps up.
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