Max Verstappen called his teammate Sergio Perez a legend after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He added that the Mexican was a decisive factor in capturing the world title. With his performance in the Emirates Perez more than made up for a disappointing season.

Fighting

Already legendary is the way Perez subdued the oncoming Lewis Hamilton for a long time at one third of the race. The Englishman had the utmost difficulty passing Perez. Just when he thought he had done it, the Mexican fought back. The fight took so much time that Verstappen was able to almost make up the deficit to Hamilton.

In the F1-podcast from the NOS Jan Lammers looks back on that moment. "Looking over the whole season, Checo failed," says Lammers. "Even if he had only finished second behind Max once, Verstappen would have been world champion a long time ago. But Checo made up for the whole season with what he did there. That overtaking back on Hamilton, I would not have seen Bottas do that. At the time it had to be done, Perez made up for the year. "

Sacrifices

In the podcast Lammers also looks back at the moment after the race, when Jos and Max Verstappen were together behind the scenes. "That really touched me. I can imagine what a journey they have been through. Jos was constantly on the road with Max and could not spend time with his daughter Victoria. Jos and Sophie also went through a divorce. And then at that moment everything comes together, this is what you did it all for. When I saw the picture of this later... Yes, it really touched me. Very beautiful."