On the one hand, he made a remarkable recovery, from 104 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri with nine grands prix remaining, to just two points behind newly crowned world champion Lando Norris at the end of the season.
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On the other hand, Verstappen lost at least nine points at the Spanish Grand Prix when, after a Turn 1 crash with George Russell, the Dutchman became outraged when race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase asked him to let the Mercedes pass after cutting Turn 2.
Verstappen proceeded to slow down, but immediately collided with Russell at Turn 5, earning him a 10-second penalty that dropped him from fifth to tenth. That’s a loss of nine points.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes
Immediately after the Barcelona race, the Red Bull driver was dismissive and silenced questions about the incident. “Does it matter?” he replied. He was more open about it last month, acknowledging a “mistake” at Dutch TV channel Viaplay.
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But given the potential decisive impact on the title race, he was always going to be questioned about it at the post-race press conference in Abu Dhabi, and the guardianGiles Richards asked the bold question.
“Max, you lost to Lando by only two points,” Richards said. “What do you think now about the incident with George Russell in Spain? Do you regret that, in retrospect?”
“You forget all the other things that happened in my season,” Verstappen responded, becoming increasingly irritated as he went on. “The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would happen. Now you’re giving me a stupid smile. I don’t know. Yes, in the end it’s part of racing. You live and learn. The championship is a 24-round one. I’ve also been given a lot of early Christmas presents in the second half, so you can question that too.”
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Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
There is no doubt that McLaren wasted a lot of points this season and, most importantly, no one can say that that particular incident cost Verstappen the title. The butterfly effect means that, had the Red Bull driver not crashed into Russell, the rest of the season would almost certainly have been different, and no one can say how.
But Verstappen’s attitude, which is partly due to how he behaves with the British media in relation to Dutch journalists, contrasts greatly with that of the driver to whom he lost the world title.
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Also read:
Lando Norris is proud of “winning the F1 title my way” without having to be aggressive
Lando Norris has always been self-critical, possibly to an extent that sometimes amounts to self-flagellation. He is not the only one who has this philosophy, to which Charles Leclerc has also always dedicated himself.
Even after winning the title, Norris was well aware that his season had been far from perfect.
“If I look back, my first half of the season wasn’t the most impressive,” said the Briton. “I certainly made some mistakes at times, made some bad judgments. I made my mistakes, as I’m sure all drivers would admit.”
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Verstappen, though? You can only admire his self-confidence. That’s part of his cruelty. But will he really learn from the unnecessary mistake he made in Barcelona? He promised to do it in Dutch and was defiant in English. Only time will tell.
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