“Tough” Time for Lewis Hamilton Was the “Greatest Moment” in Max Verstappen’s Career as Red Bull Champ Opens Up a Can of Worms

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will always be a race to remember. With it being quite an infamous GP because of its controversial conclusion, the fans, the teams or the drivers are sure to remember it all their lives. No matter how the race was to everyone else, it has been the “greatest moment” for Max Verstappen.

As per Motorsport Total, Verstappen recently opened up about the same. The man who is now 2x world champion has told fans what was going on his mind at the time he won the Abu Dhabi GP win, “I think you could hear it on the radio. Everyone cried. That was the greatest moment in my career at the time.”

However, the greatest moment for the 25-year-old was also the tough time for Lewis Hamilton. The man who was pursuing his eighth world championship was a sitting duck and couldn’t hold back Verstappen from taking the chequered flag on the very last lap of the very last race.

Talking about this, the Dutchman stated, “Everything was looking great for him [Hamilton], and then something like this happens. It’s tough [the last lap Championship loss].”

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The Mercedes driver was in lead for most of the laps until the safety car jeopardized his race and eventually the season.

Max Verstappen connects his 2021 Abu Dhabi win to Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 Brazilian GP win

Lewis Hamilton lost the Abu Dhabi race on the very last lap. After being in contention all season for the win, the Briton lost the championship by the slightest of margins. Despite this being very tough to accept, Max Verstappen thinks Hamilton would understand his side. He also provided an example for the same.

The Red Bull champ stated, “The only thing I said to myself at the time was: He’s won seven titles and won one of them when it looked like he was going to lose – and then the situation turned around again on the last lap. So I hoped he would understand.”

The Dutchman was most probably referring to the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, where the 37-year-old picked up his first world title. Against all the odds and title rival Felipe Massa, the former McLaren driver incredibly clinched the title.

After almost losing the title for 39 seconds to the Brazilian, Hamilton made an important overtake on the last turn of the race and took home his first-ever world title with just 1 point separating him and Massa.

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So, Verstappen believes his Mercedes counterpart knows how it feels to win against all odds because Lewis Hamilton has been there.