Verstappen takes pride in title fight ending with another race win despite losing out to Norris

Max Verstappen says he is proud of Red Bull’s performance in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he dominated the race but lost out on the drivers’ championship to Lando Norris.

The defending champion needed to win the race and have Norris finish off the podium to retain his title, leading to expectations he would back the field up to try and create opportunities for others to get ahead of the McLaren. However, Oscar Piastri – starting on hard tires compared to the other two title contenders on mediums – overtook Norris at the start and Verstappen said it made it too difficult to try that approach.

“Honestly, we maximized everything that we could,” Verstappen said. “We put it on pole and we won the race. We had very strong pace, so there’s really not much that I could have done differently.

“What complicated it a bit was that Oscar was on a different strategy. You never know when he then pits, how much pace he has in hand to catch up again. That also complicates a bit trying to keep the pack together or whatever. Overall, just very proud again of the weekend that we had. We put it all out there and the car was actually enjoyable to drive.

“I had a lot of scenarios in my head [pre-race], but then [once] I knew the tires Oscar had on the car, that would be quite difficult. I think we were probably a bit too quick up front. The others couldn’t really follow that well.

“Charles [Leclerc] drove his heart out today to try and get onto that podium, so that was also impressive to see. They went for a two-stop. I think even that made it more complicated because if you stay on a one-stop, backing the whole thing up is tough. This new layout around here makes it even harder to do that compared to 2016 or whatever.”

Verstappen admits he was paying attention to what was happening behind him while extending his lead, as he wrapped up a third race win in a row but fell two points short in the championship fight.

“I just kept looking on the screen to see if something would pop up," he said. "The race itself went really well, and I was just enjoying sitting in the car and driving it. Every straight you keep looking if something happens, but at the same time, that's part of racing, so I was not really too fussed about it.”

The Dutchman had words of praise for Norris and McLaren after the season finale, four years on from his own first championship in Abu Dhabi. 

“Winning your first title is something that I think we all dreamt of when you get into the sport," he said. "You work for that since you're a little kid. It’s what you dream of, so when you win your first title, this is very emotional – I hope [it is] for Lando as well.

“I saw a lot of his family is here, so it’s important to enjoy this a lot tonight, [and] also with his team. I think, again, that’s another story where it showed that even when you have tough years, when you keep working hard, you keep adding good people to the team, you can overcome all of those things and you can become very successful again. They had an incredible season together, so it’s important that they enjoy it.”