The Formula One world champion reflects on the final-lap drama in Abu Dhabi that secured him a first world title at the expense of his fierce rival Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen has been quiet since stepping back from the wild drama and surreal shootout of the last lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which he overtook Lewis Hamilton and won his first world championship in December. After the elation, as well as the bitter controversy and angry appeals from Hamilton’s Mercedes team, Verstappen has needed time to recover. But now, on a tranquil afternoon in Milton Keynes, he is ready to slip back into the cockpit.
The new Red Bull car, RB18, will be unveiled on Wednesday afternoon but, first, Verstappen takes a fresh spin around the final lap of the race that brought such a gripping Formula One season to its tumultuous conclusion. The grand prix and the championship had been blown apart by the decision of Michael Masi, the race director, to allow a one-lap lottery between two great drivers who had been fighting for supremacy all season. Until Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams car with just five of the 58 laps of the race left, it had looked as if Hamilton would deny Verstappen and make history by winning his eighth driver’s title.