Verstappen surprised his father: 'That's why I overtook Hamilton there'

In a new documentary 'Verstappen - Lion Unleashed', the Dutchman at Viaplay looks back on the final in Abu Dhabi. What went through Max Verstappen in the final stage of his championship race at the Yas Marina Circuit?

The title of Verstappen

A new documentary has been released by Viaplay featuring Verstappen. In it Verstappen, father Jos and Raymond Vermeulen look back on the final at the Abu Dhabi GP. From a chanceless position to a first world title.

Verstappen is first confronted with footage from five laps before the end. ''At that moment I tried to close the gap. I knew I wouldn't close an eleven-second gap in five laps, but I said to myself, 'I'm not going to give up now and drive slowly to the finish line. I'm going to give it my all to make it not look easy'. I wasn't really happy at that moment.'

Latifi lending a hand

On that lap, however, a yellow sign suddenly appears on his dashboard and also the sign of a safety car. Nicholas Latifi has run into the wall and when Verstappen drives past the Canadian, he actually knows enough. ''I was hoping for a restart. That car was at a tricky angle to get out of there,'' says Verstappen. Jos also saw the incident, sprang to his feet and immediately knew that the safety car would provide an opportunity for his son.

That chance indeed came, because in the much-discussed finale, the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen did pass the safety car and Verstappen on fresher tires had one lap to overtake Hamilton. ''They were very quiet (over the radio). They were I think also very nervous for the last lap,'' the Red Bull driver said of his team.

Verstappen surprises everyone

Where everyone was counting on an overtaking move on the straight, Verstappen did it already in the corner before the straight. ''He (Lewis) didn't expect me to overtake him there,'' states Verstappen, but Lewis wasn't the only one. Father Jos had not seen this action coming either. Max wanted to surprise his rival and knew he had an advantage on the straights.

''We had less downforce that weekend so we had more top speed. So I wanted to be up front because without DRS I can defend. Even if he came alongside me he could never overtake me because of the topspeed advantage. With the grip I had I went for that corner and defended those other corners'', concludes the single world champion.