Verstappen on strange situation: "I felt no euphoria at that moment"

Max Verstappen managed to secure his second Formula 1 title well before the end of the season. This happened in somewhat confusing fashion: where Red Bull Racing insisted he could not yet be champion, the FIA announced him dead straight as world champion.

For Verstappen, the emotion felt completely different from his first world title the year before. "Immediately after the race, I did not know how many points I would earn, but I did know that I was not yet a world champion anyway with any points score," the Dutchman said in conversation with Formule1.nl.

He crossed the line as non-champion and he was fine with that, as the race went well for Verstappen. Immediately after the penalty imposed on Charles Leclerc, however, the maths was blown, but everyone assumed that half points were handed out and that Verstappen therefore fell just short.

Verstappen talks about strange situation Japanese GP

A remarkable exchange followed in the cooldown room, where Verstappen calmly proclaimed that he was not a world champion. He was then told by someone from the FIA that he was, but Verstappen and Red Bull Racing remained cautious. "At that moment I felt no euphoria, no ecstatic joy. It's also just a strange sensation to hear something like that after the race," he explained.

The 25-year-old Limburger adds that the relief he felt at winning his first world title in the final race in Abu Dhabi in 2021 was a one-off thing anyway. Moreover, there was no longer really an exciting battle: if it had not succeeded in Japan, it would have succeeded in America or Mexico. Verstappen stressed that none of this takes away from how happy he is with how the season went.