The dethroned Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen knows how to correctly classify the title decision to his disadvantage. The Dutchman shows greatness in the narrow defeat.
08.12.2025, 11:30
SDA
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- Max Verstappen wins the last Formula 1 race of the season in Abu Dhabi, but misses out on his fifth consecutive world championship title by a measly two points.
- In the moment of defeat, the Dutchman shows greatness and sincerely congratulates his successor Lando Norris.
- "I'm proud that we never gave up," said Verstappen after an impressive fightback that was not rewarded in the end.
It had to be a brief smile after all. He owed it to the legions of his fans. Second place was enough for him in his home race, the Dutch Grand Prix. But Verstappen knew that there was still a lot of sand in the gearbox of his company car, even in the dunes of Zandvoort. The RB21 was only good for winning in exceptional circumstances. Naturally, this was a blow to the success-spoiled driver - and was reflected in the overall world championship standings in a huge deficit to the leading Australian Oscar Piastri from McLaren.
The 104-point deficit on the last day in August allowed only one conclusion to be drawn. Verstappen was left with the realization that he was out of the running for good. The possibility of becoming Formula 1 world champion for the fifth time without interruption, the feat that only Michael Schumacher had previously achieved in the service of Scuderia Ferrari at the start of this millennium, seemed to be gone.
The 104 points were practically the equivalent of four Grand Prix victories. Verstappen, for his part, had not finished first that Sunday for the eighth time in a row. The doubts expressed before the start of the season about the competitiveness of the blue car had been confirmed. In any case, most observers agreed with the Dutchman on this point.
The return of the smile
Three months later, Verstappen's smile was back. Together with the engineers, helpers and assistants in the Red Bull team, he managed to catch up with his two rivals from the orange camp. In the end, it was somewhat fortunate thanks to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in Las Vegas and the strategic error of the McLaren team managers a week later in the Qatar Grand Prix. None of that mattered to Verstappen. All that mattered to him was that he had the unexpected chance to successfully defend his title once again at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi. Once again the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Again the circuit on which Verstappen opened his title series four years ago - and, as now, received outside assistance. A wrong decision by the then race director of the International Automobile Federation, Michael Masi, allowed Verstappen to make the decisive overtaking maneuver against the leading Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes on the final lap after the race had been neutralized following an accident involving the Canadian Nicholas Latifi in the Williams. The Australian Masi had to resign two months later.
Verstappen could confidently regard the special circumstances four years ago and on the two weekends before this year's finale in Abu Dhabi as the luck of the brave. Even if it came to nothing on Sunday with a fifth world championship crown, Verstappen had made a comeback in the title race in a way that only he could. He, whose self-image actually only envisages the role of the hunted, played the part of the hunter perfectly. He was able to play it thanks to his immense talent and his unrivaled skills at the wheel of a racing car.
The return of faith
Verstappen accepted the challenge. After initial skepticism, which had reached its peak after the performance in his home country, he also began to believe in the seemingly impossible again - in a season during which the Red Bulls had experienced climatic disruptions, not only due to the long period of inadequate car, after which even Verstappen's departure seemed a quite possible scenario. The hope that Helmut Marko, the motorsport consultant at Red Bull, had kept alive beforehand did not fail to have an effect on the Dutchman either.
The changes made to the RB21 every week or two weeks and the resulting steady increase in the car's performance gave Verstappen wings. For him, what the people in charge at the racing team's parent company have been promising customers for many years with the well-known advertising slogan was more or less true. Of course, the Dutchman was happy to take note of the fact that the span of the wings was also increased thanks to the failures of the McLaren team.
Of course, Verstappen will have felt a certain amount of anger that two measly points ultimately tipped the scales in his favor. But in the hours after his victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, pride dominated his thoughts, pride in the team and the staff, "who did everything in a sometimes difficult season to turn things around. I am proud that we never gave up".
These are sentences from someone who is at peace with himself, who naturally sets himself further goals in his career as a racing driver, but who also says of himself that he has achieved everything in Formula 1, that since his first title win, "everything that comes next is just an encore". These are surprising words from someone who actually loathes the lack of success and hates losing.
Nevertheless, they were sincere sentences. Verstappen's heartfelt congratulations to his successor Norris on Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi were not feigned, the smile on his face not fake.
