The Dutch driver embraces a completely indifferent attitude on the eve of the decisive weekend that will determine the outcome of the Formula 1 World Championship.
“My parents aren’t coming. My father has a rally in Africa, and my mother is at home with the dogs, and I think she’s much happier there than here. She’ll light the candle as always and then she’ll be able to watch everything on television. I myself hadn’t even planned on being in the fight for the World Championship.” With these words, Max Verstappen fully slipped into the role of the ‘couldn’t-care-less’ employee during the press conference that opened the Abu Dhabi weekend, the final event that will decide who among him, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will become world champion.
While for the two McLaren drivers this is their first – and potentially last – chance to fight for the greatest achievement of their careers, Max Verstappen remains in contention almost by accident and thanks to what he calls “others’ gifts.” It is a concept he had already highlighted recently, adding that with a car like the McLaren MCL39, he and the Red Bull team would have wrapped up the title race long ago.
The final blow to any possible empathy for his two rivals came when the three drivers were asked who had the most to lose in Abu Dhabi. It was a golden opportunity for a polite answer, but Verstappen scored an open-goal shot with a remarkable dose of arrogance: “Who has the most to lose? I don’t know, not me. The trophy is always the same, and I already have four at home, my name is already on it.”
At Yas Marina, for Lando Norris it will be a purely psychological battle. As the championship leader, he simply needs to avoid crumbling under pressure and secure the minimum requirement: a third-place finish that would crown him Formula 1 world champion.
Ice-cold, ruthless and loving every second of the mind games. Classic Max.
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