Max Verstappen explains why he did not play Abu Dhabi games to win F1 title

Max Verstappen has offered an insight into why he did not back the F1 field up from the lead of the race to make life difficult for McLaren during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Starting from pole position for the title-deciding race, Verstappen retained his lead on the opening lap.

It was theorised by many that Verstappen would drive at a slower pace in order to create a strategy headache for McLaren by eliminating a clear gap to pit into.

However, Verstappen stretched out his lead over the course of the race en route to victory, but missed out on the title by just two points after Lando Norris crossed the line in third.

With McLaren splitting their tyre strategies between Norris and Oscar Piastri, Verstappen added that it also made his job more difficult.

“I had a lot of scenarios in my head, but then, of course, I knew once the tyres Oscar had on the car, that would be quite difficult. 

“I think we were probably a bit too quick up front. 

“The others couldn’t really follow that well. 

“I think Charles [Leclerc] drove his heart out today to try and get onto that podium, so that was also impressive to see.”

Another element that did not work in Red Bull's favour was Norris opting for a two-stop strategy, which made him significantly faster in the final stint of the race.

Verstappen also highlighted that changes to the track layout made it more difficult to back up the pack, something Lewis Hamilton tried nine years ago in his championship battle against Nico Rosberg.

“But, of course, they went for a two-stop,” Verstappen added.

“I think even that made it more complicated because if you stay on a one-stop, backing the whole thing up is tough. 

“And this new layout around here makes it even harder to do that compared to 2016 or whatever.”