“It was an epic race and an epic championship,” said two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. “We had two rivals who went into the last race with the same number of points and were still fighting wheel to wheel on the last lap. That’s unbelievable.”
The 40-year-old Spaniard, who returned to Formula 1 at Alpine this year and finished tenth in the World Cup with 81 points, complimented Verstappen. “It was only a matter of time until he became world champion. Although he was a bit lucky in this race, in my view he is the deserved champion.”
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Verstappen gave Red Bull its fifth world title, after Sebastian Vettel had won the World Cup four times in a row between 2010 and 2013. “I’m happy for Max,” said the 34-year-old German, who now drives for Aston Martin.
“Lewis and Max both deserved to be champions. It came down to the last lap and it could have gone either way. It’s a shame for Lewis, he had a great end to the season.”
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Two former teammates of Verstappen, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, looked somewhat jealous at the Dutchman’s performance. “It makes me a tad melancholy,” said the Spanish Ferrari driver, who made his debut in Formula 1 with Verstappen at Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in 2015.
“We drove our first year in Formula 1 together and now he is world champion. I look up to him in a good way. I now know that it is possible to make your dreams come true.” Sainz finished third in Abu Dhabi, behind Verstappen and Hamilton.
‘Insane World Cup’
Frenchman Gasly, who was a teammate of the Dutchman at Red Bull in 2018 and 2019, said he is very happy for Verstappen. “We grew up together in the racing world. We knew he would become world champion one day and now he has done it. He deserved it,” said the 25-year-old driver of AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s ‘sister team’. Gasly finished ninth in the World Cup with 110 points.
Verstappen also received compliments from Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. “It was an insane World Cup until the last lap. Great for Formula 1, nothing better was possible for this sport. Congratulations to Max, he was incredible,” said 24-year-old Monegask.
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Latifi: ‘No intention to influence race’
Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi, who crashed five laps before the end causing the safety car situation, said yesterday that his intention was not to influence the outcome of the World Cup.
He told F1-TV that he was disappointed with the crash, which he said happened ‘after a fair fight’ with Mick Schumacher. In his own words, he would not have wanted to play such a big role in the battle between Verstappen and Hamilton. “It did indeed create this opportunity at the end of the race. That was not my intention.”
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