Max Verstappen falls short of a comeback
From -104 to -2: Max Verstappen was just a hair away from completing what would have been a historic comeback. In Abu Dhabi, the Dutch champion maintained the lead into the first corner, squeezing Lando Norris, and then made no mistakes, winning his eighth race of the season. But it wasn’t enough, because Lando Norris, finishing third, claimed the Formula 1 World Championship. There was no blocking strategy from Verstappen; the Dutch driver won clearly and decisively.
Marko’s comment on Sky Deutschland
“Lando Norris is a worthy world champion. He had a very positive trajectory in the second half of the year, just like we did. And he made no mistakes. The last one I recall was in Montreal, but otherwise it is clear that he has mentally recovered.
Yuki Tsunoda tried to stop him, but he went too far. Max and the two McLaren cars dominated the race. Our hope was that Ferrari and Mercedes could get into the top positions, but unfortunately that did not happen. The factor that decided today’s race was that we were one Red Bull against two McLaren. We considered slowing down to close up the pack, but since Oscar OScar Piastri had started on the Hard tyres, he would have benefited the most. And in the event of a Safety Car, it would have been even more risky. In any case, given the pace of Charles Leclerc and George Russell, it wouldn’t have made any difference.” – he concluded.
While Lando Norris celebrated on the podium with McLaren, Marko’s words underlined the respect inside the Red Bull garage for the driver who pushed them to the absolute limit. Max Verstappen may have lost the crown, but he leaves 2025 as the driver who won more races than anyone and staged one of the greatest comebacks the sport has ever seen – falling just two points short of what would have been an historic fifth consecutive title.
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