Max Verstappen has said strategy and the Yas Marina Circuit layout stopped him backing up the McLaren drivers in Formula 1‘s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
A resurgent run since the summer shutdown saw Verstappen minimise a 104-point gap and head to Abu Dhabi just 12 points shy of a fifth consecutive title.
The Red Bull driver needed to bag his eighth win of the season at Yas Marina Circuit and hope leader Norris finished outside the top three.
However, at the end of the 58-lap race, despite Verstappen winning, Norris’ third place secured the Briton his maiden World Championship.
With the Dutchman leading the race from lights to flag, however, many wondered why he had not slowed his pace down to back the pack up.
But Verstappen, who had expressed scepticism about adopting such a tactic, explained how circumstances conspired to prevent that scenario.
“I had a lot of scenarios in my head. But then, of course, I knew once the tyres Oscar had on the car that that would be quite difficult,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think, yeah, there was just we were probably a bit too quick, you know, up front. The others couldn’t really follow that well.
“I mean, I think Charles [Leclerc] drove his heart out today to try and get onto that podium. So that was also impressive to see.”
Norris and Leclerc executed a two-stop strategy, compared to Verstappen’s lone pit stop from the yellow-walled Medium to the white-walled Hard tyres.
The four-time World Champion surmised that with a tyre life deficit on his side, backing the pack up would never have worked.
Further, the inherent layout changes made to the track, with the removal of the Turn 9 chicane, repeating what Lewis Hamilton tried on Nico Rosberg in 2016, would never have worked.
“But of course, they went for a two stop,” he continued.
“Yeah, I think even, you know, that that made it even more complicated, because if you stay on a one stop backing the whole thing up, it’s tough.
“And I think anyway, this new layout around here makes it even harder to do that compared to 2016 or whatever.”
Verstappen was hoping for an Abu Dhabi GP twist
With nerves all around, it would have taken only one vulnerable moment on track to allow Verstappen to grab to a fifth F1 title.
The Dutchman himself had his eyes peeled on the big screens to see if that moment would arrive, but it was not to be his night.
“I just kept looking on the screen if something would pop up,” recollected Verstappen.
“Yeah, I mean, the race itself, of course, went really well. And I didn’t, I was not really, I was just enjoying sitting in the car, driving it.
“And yeah, every straight, you keep looking if something happens. But at the same time, that’s that’s part of racing as well. So I was not really too too fussed about it.”
The last 10 rounds saw Verstappen winning six of them – at Monza, Baku, Austin, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, respectively.
But his early-season lack of form with an ailing RB21 eventually decided his championship fate.
“Yeah, massive rollercoaster for us, of course, the first half,” he reflected.
“Some nice moments, but mainly tough moments, some really tough races and feelings. But I’m also very proud of how we never gave up.
“And again, that’s also a lesson for the future, for everyone, that even when it looks like you’re out of it, you never give up.
“You keep working hard to try and understand your issues and then you never know what can happen.”
Despite his 1,000+ days as an F1 Champion coming to an end at Abu Dhabi, Verstappen was adamant that he had no ill feelings towards how his evening panned out.
Instead, he would enter F1’s latest era in 2026 off these highs.
“Well, honestly, we maximised everything that we could,” he concluded.
“We put it on pole and we won the race. And I think also in the race we had very strong pace, so there’s really not much that I could have done different.
“I think what complicated also a bit was that Oscar [Piastri] was on a different strategy.
“So you never know, of course, when he then hits how much pace he has in hand to catch up again. That also then complicates a bit to try and keep the pack together or whatever.
“But overall, I’m just very proud again of the weekend that we had. We put it all out there and the car was actually enjoyable to drive.”
READ MORE – Yuki Tsunoda reveals what prevented him backing Lando Norris up more in Abu Dhabi
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