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Former F1 world champion Damon Hill feels that it was the right way to end the 2022 season with Max Verstappen dominating the last race of the year in Abu Dhabi.
Max Verstappen started the race on pole position and was never in trouble as the Red Bull driver secured his 15th win of the 2022 season. Talking to Sky Sports after the race, Hill said:
"It was the right way to end. He has been dominant, fantastic. He really has looked so polished. You always learn, are always developing, but he has been so complete right from his very early days. He had the impetuousness a little bit when he first came in but he didn’t need to display that this year. He just needed to use his head, which he did."
Looking back at the race, Max Verstappen admitted that it was not all smooth sailing as he was a bit compromised on two-stops. He did not have two sets of hard tires and the run on medium tires was far from optimal. The Dutchman said:
"It was a good race. I knew that if I would want to do a two-stop, it was a little bit compromised because I didn’t have two Hard tyres, so my target was always to try and make sure that the one-stop was going to work. On the Medium tyres initially, I think we had very good pace – just my last three laps on that tyre was a little more tricky but I had to get to a certain lap, right? And I think we managed to extend that stint quite well."
Max Verstappen added:
"And, yeah, once I put the hard tyres on, I brought them in quite nicely because I had a good gap. And at one point, I wanted to go a little bit faster, but we were still not sure if the tyre was going to hold on for the whole stint to the end. So, it was a bit of management to see if you could make it but then at one point, I hit, kind of a crossover where then the two-stop is not going to work anymore. But luckily, at that point, the tyres were really good and I could just continue to the end."
Max Verstappen attributes the success to "great team effort"
When asked to summarize the season in which he has won a record 15 races, Max Verstappen attributed the success to the whole team's effort. He also focused on the importance of enjoying the moment and the success that one has. He said:
"It has been a great team effort, especially after our tough start to the year, to turn it around like that, I would have never imagined that, like nobody in the team. But it's been really enjoyable to be part of this team. We have a lot of fun. Of course, we focus on the performance but you also need to really enjoy the moment, appreciate the moment."
Max further said:
"And I think we definitely did that. We will do but we already also focusing on next year. You always say you try to do better. I know it's hard to do a lot better than this but you should always try to aim for that."
Max Verstappen is now a two-time world champion and on a grid that lost a four-time world champion in Sebastian Vettel, it's great to see that there will still be three multiple world champions on the grid.
