The new world champion Max Verstappen can relate to the pain of the defeated Lewis Hamilton after the undisputed season finale of Formula 1 - at least a little.
"I'm not sorry for him, but I understand that it hurts a lot," said Verstappen on Thursday evening at the closing gala in Paris.
"That's just racing, anything can happen right up to the last lap," added the Red Bull driver: "Lewis has also won titles this way, so he can certainly understand me."
Hamilton had confidently led the last race of the season last Sunday in Abu Dhabi and would have become world champion with one win.
It was only a late safety car phase that brought Verstappen back, during which the rules were laid out by race director Michael Masi in an unusual way that enabled Verstappen to win.
Mercedes initially failed with a protest against these events, on Thursday the team finally announced that it would no longer appeal for the benefit of the sport.
He was “happy” about the news, said Verstappen, “but I also expected it.” “We had a really good time because we knew we'd won it on the track.
Nobody can take that away from us, ”he said.
The Red Bull driver did not deal with the legal steps of the Silver Arrows and instead celebrated. "I had a drink on Sunday," said Verstappen, and after a pause followed up with a grin: "One too many." He woke up on the Monday after the party in Abu Dhabi in the afternoon with a "nasty headache" and needed after the exhausting one Season "now really a break".
His Red Bull team boss Christian Horner showed no sympathy for the excitement at Mercedes at the gala of the World Motorsport Federation FIA. “Safety cars are normal in Formula 1, and it's always about getting them off the track as quickly as possible. That is quite explicitly the task of the race management ”, said Horner. The sudden end of the safety car phase before the last lap had been one of the points of contention.
Hamilton and Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff waived the actually mandatory participation in the FIA gala in Paris.
Hamilton did not comment on the matter until Thursday evening, and his social media activities have also been suspended since the race weekend.
But Verstappen does not believe that Hamilton could even think about an early retirement.
“He should just look at what he has already achieved,” said the Dutchman: “He can still win the eighth world title, as early as next year.
There is no reason to give up. "