Verstappen on final lap in Abu Dhabi: 'It was painful'

Max Verstappen conquered the world title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday afternoon. The Dutchman managed to overtake his competitor Lewis Hamilton in the last lap. That was for the driver of Red Bull Racing no easy task, he says in an interview with the official website of Formula 1.

Nicholas Latifi's crash forced all the teams to line up behind the Safety Car. It caused Hamilton to lose his lead, while Verstappen quickly had the red tyre put on his car. On the final lap, Verstappen then had much more speed than his rival, winning the 2021 World Championship.

Verstappen suffered from cramp

However, due to fatigue, Verstappen struggled during the final lap, he admitted in the interview. "The funny thing was that I was so close and I had a huge cramp in my leg. So when I went for the action, I had cramp. I was biting my teeth of 'come on, come on' because it was really painful," Verstappen said.

That wasn't the end of it for Verstappen, as just after his overtake there was another straight in which Hamilton did everything he could to regain first position. Despite the cramp, the Dutch driver managed to cross the finish line first.