“Don’t give up, don’t give up” – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen reveals how he tackled the enormous challenge in the form of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen won the most-hotly contest F1 season in history, defeating then-reigning champion Lewis Hamilton in the last lap of the season.
The title race was a see-saw affair, with both drivers switching the lead of the points table throughout the season. This was much more difficult for Verstappen to handle, as Hamilton has already navigated this successfully for an incredible seven seasons.
But the Red Bull superstar is a fighter, and he is displayed that to the fullest. What helped him in his fight with the British legend is an inner desire to not give up, and keep pushing, until the end.
“Well, a lot of things go through your mind every single race, whether it is going well or not. You are thinking a lot in your head like ‘is this going to go well?’ and you see it is not going to go well.
“But I keep telling myself, ‘Don’t give up, don’t give up, just keep pushing, keep trying every lap to be smooth, hit apexes nice, try to be nice on tyres’.
“Constantly telling yourself don’t give up and keep at it… like at the last race, we didn’t look too great, we were slow and I couldn’t keep up.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘Something could happen’. You never know until the last corner of the last lap. So I just kept telling myself, ‘Do the best you can, keep pushing, keep pushing yourself’.
“These things come back quite often in the race. If you are in the lead our catching… second or third.”
