"People may be against you": Max Verstappen on his "never give up" attitude in F1

Newly-crowned F1 world champion Max Verstappen has said that despite facing trying moments throughout his career, he never stopped believing in himself and his dreams.

In an interview posted on his official YouTube channel, the Red Bull Racing driver spoke about how winning the 2021 F1 World Drivers' Championship looked "impossible" at times, saying:

“At the end of the day, anything is possible, for the young kids as well. You never give up; you always keep believing even when it looks almost impossible and that's what I did throughout the season. But of course, throughout that final race especially.”

Furthermore, the world champion advised young kids that are chasing their dreams to always believe in their abilities, by saying:

“And that should also be you know, from when you were a little kid. That's how you should approach it, because you know you will face tough times and you will face a lot of just, in general, difficult moments and people may be being against you, but you always have to believe in yourself, that you can do it.”

Max Verstappen became the fourth-youngest world champion in F1 history after beating title rival Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, his achievement has been marred by the controversy surrounding the final restart of that race.

While many feel that Verstappen is a worthy winner, others have opined that the FIA manipulated the outcome, “robbing” Hamilton of an eighth title by handing the Dutchman an unfair advantage.

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Max Verstappen feels his title victory wouldn’t have been possible without teammate Sergio Perez

Max Verstappen has expressed his gratitude to teammate Sergio "Checo" Perez for helping him win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and clinch his maiden world title.

In an interview posted on his official YouTube channel, Verstappen said:

“Checo is a legend. I mean, what he did for me in that final race... to cut the gap again [to Lewis Hamilton] and defend like he did was incredible. Without him, I wouldn't have been a world champion. So, I owe him a lot.”

Despite beating Lewis Hamilton to pole position in qualifying, Max Verstappen struggled to match the Mercedes driver's race pace. The Dutchman had fallen several seconds behind the Briton by the first pitstop.

In an effort to hold up Hamilton, Red Bull kept Sergio Perez out for a longer stint on old soft tires after both title contenders had already stopped for fresh tires.

Despite being on 20-lap-old soft rubber, the Mexican put in a stellar defense to successfully hold up Hamilton for two laps. That allowed Verstappen to make up his deficit to the seven-time champion.

During the final stages of the race, this played a vital role in deterring Mercedes from pitting Hamilton and risk losing crucial track position, thereby handing Max Verstappen a sizable, advantage.