Max Verstappen in tears in interview as he rewatches F1 title triumph vs Lewis Hamilton
MAX VERSTAPPEN was moved while watching back footage of his celebrations after beating Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 Formula One Drivers’ Championship.
Max Verstappen prevails in world title shoot-out
An emotional Max Verstappen was moved to tears during an interview as he watched back scenes of his Formula One Drivers’ Championship success against Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dutchman won his first ever world title at the Yas Marina Circuit after a last-lap overtake on his Mercedes rival which meant the Red Bull driver finished on 395.5 points to the Briton’s 387.5 points.
For much of the race it looked as though Verstappen would be made to wait for his first championship with Hamilton cruising out in front even on older hard tyres.
But good fortune and smart Red Bull strategy allowed the 24-year-old to get round Hamilton on the last lap after a safety car restart.
It secured Verstappen’s 10th race win of the season in a year in which he finished no lower than second in 18 of 22 races, suffering DNFs in three of the other four races in Baku, Silverstone and Monza.
It completes a remarkable rise for Verstappen who started out in F1 just five days after his 17th birthday back in 2014, becoming the youngest ever to start a full F1 season in 2015.
The following year when he was promoted to the Red Bull senior team during the season, he became F1’s youngest ever Grand Prix winner in Spain at 18 years, seven months and 15 days.
