Verstappen understood Hamilton: 'If you look at how it went in Abu Dhabi'

Max Verstappen starts the new season this month with a world title in his pocket. Where he will once again compete with Lewis Hamilton, it seemed for a while that the Brit might not return. Verstappen understood his anger, he told De Telegraaf.

Hamilton seemed to be on his way to his eighth world title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix until Nicholas Latifi drove hard into the wall. It triggered a safety car, giving Verstappen the opportunity to go in and change tyres. After race control decided to bring in the safety car a lap before the end of the race, the bomb burst for Hamilton.

The British driver was unable to keep Verstappen behind him and saw his world title slip out of his hands. Afterwards it caused him a lot of anger. Hamilton decided not to let himself be heard for two months and kept the rumours alive that he would stop racing.

Verstappen understands Hamilton's anger

This month Verstappen saw him return to Formula 1 after all. The Dutchman could understand Hamilton's train of thought somewhere. "Yes, if you look at how it went in Abu Dhabi you can," Verstappen revealed. "But like I said, you have to look at the whole season. You don't earn a title based on one race."