Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Any future titles are a bonus - Verstappen
Max Verstappen says he has achieved his dream of winning the drivers’ championship, and any further titles from now on will be a bonus.
The Dutchman was crowned champion after a controversial end to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but had gone into the weekend with a slight advantage due to his greater number of victories in an impressive season. After having led for much of the year, Verstappen’s first title comes at the age of 24, and while he's sure he’ll win more if he has the car to do so, he says it's no longer a major motivation for him.
“After the win, I was relieved because that was always my dream, of course, to win once and everything that comes now is a bonus in the end,” Verstappen told Austrian TV show Sport und Talk. “But I think if I'm back in the first race, then of course I want to win again. And when I have the fastest car again, I will do it again.”
Verstappen’s father Jos was a big part of his journey to Formula 1, and the new world champion said it was special to be able to celebrate him immediately after achieving his ambition.
“When I got out of the car, of course, I quickly saw him," he said. "Everything comes back again, from the go-kart time, where we drove together all over Europe and for the dream to be in Formula 1, but then to win the championship as well. That was maybe 30 or 40 seconds or so, but that was really nice to have my father there.”
Despite claiming that he has never dreamed of winning multiple titles, Verstappen said he wants to stay with Red Bull for the next decade to try and replicate this year’s success.
“I am very happy where I am now and I hope that we can do this together for another 10, 15 years.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
Read Chris Medland's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.