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“Luck came at the right time for me” – Max Verstappen admits good luck saved him from losing the title fight against Lewis Hamilton

Samriddhi Jaiswal
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"Luck came at the right time for me" - Max Verstappen admits good luck saved him from losing the title fight against Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen says that he got lucky at the Yas Marina circuit and that helped him outrun Lewis Hamilton to claim the title.

A safety car triggered by Nicholas Latifi towards the end of the race regained hopes for Max Verstappen in the final race of the season. The Dutchman had led the drivers’ standings for the most part of the 2021 campaign.

Although he could have had more points if the unfortunate crashes did not happen, specifically in three cases. Due to a tyre blowout, he crashed in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He later had a collision with his title rival Lewis Hamilton in Silverstone and the third one in Hungary when he hit the wall at the first corner.

Verstappen believes that all the good luck came back to him in Abu Dhabi following Nicholas Latifi’s crash and the safety car. This bought him some time to get a fresh tyre for one final lap of the race.

He said, “it’s always difficult to really use the right word for it but you need a bit of luck in your life, and I think up until that point I didn’t really have a lot of luck in the season – otherwise I think the championship would have been decided way earlier,” said Verstappen.

“Luck came at the right time for me and then of course you still have to take the opportunity, which we did as a team.”

Also Read: Former Red bull driver spots why Lewis Hamilton struggled against Max Verstappen in 2021

Max Verstappen knew his title chances were over

The 24-year-old knew that his chances to win the title were over until the safety car joined the track. Although he would not have given until the chequered flag.

“It looked very tough out there,” he added. “Of course, I could see they (Mercedes) were quicker. I think we tried everything as a team. Then I said to myself I’ll just do everything I can here, drive to the limit, give it all, not make it look easy for them.

“We took the tyres. Maybe in hindsight, you could say if they had taken the tyres I would have stayed out and then you have the scenario the other way around.”

The Dutchman also praised his team for providing him with a car to go in a battle with Mercedes. He said, “the team always had to try to be perfect.”

“That brings a lot of pressure and stress for everyone and I think that’s quite extraordinary. I had seasons before when I was on the podium but I wasn’t really tired because there was nothing to push for.

“They (Mercedes) were too far away from me and I was quite comfortably third or whatever. So to have a season like this was pretty intense.”

Also Read: Red Bull manager reveals the moment when he asked Max Verstappen’s father to ‘take a step back’

About the author

Samriddhi Jaiswal

Samriddhi Jaiswal

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Samriddhi Jaiswal is an F1 editor and writer at The SportsRush. She started her career as a business journalist but soon found her calling in lights out here we go! Samriddhi has been a Ferrari fan even when her interaction with F1 was occasional. Her first real experience with the thrilling sport came when Charles Leclerc clinched his iconic victory in Spa and Monza and painted the track red. Now, a Tifosi, Samriddhi is a hardcore fan of the prancing horse and can relate to the chaos within the Italian camp and also admires Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Off the track, she finds her home in books and musical instruments.

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