The Spaniard drew a parallel between what happened to him in 2010, when he lost the championship in Abu Dhabi due to a wrong strategic call, and last week’s events in Qatar with McLaren, also caused by a safety car.

“The last time that it was three drivers it was back in 2010,” he told GPblog. “The prediction is difficult. You always think that the leading guy has an advantage because he has some margin in terms of results and you can take it a little bit easier, but F1 is unpredictable.”

When asked to comment on Verstappen’s recent remarks, in which he claimed that the championship would have been decided much earlier if he were driving a McLaren, Alonso added: “You never know. It's always a guess, difficult to answer. I think we all know that Max is an incredible driver and extracting the maximum from the car and some of the races he has won this year maybe it was not really up to the car, it was up to him and also last year.

Speaking to media in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen has addressed the power unit he’ll run on his RB21 for the decisive Abu Dhabi weekend.

Red Bull grabbed attention after fitting a new power unit on the Dutchman’s RB21 between qualifying and the Brazilian GP, but ahead of Qatar they opted for a used engine, avoiding any penalties since the components had already been run.

Asked which engine he plans to use for the season finale, Verstappen kept things under wraps, maintaining an air of mystery. Read his full comments here.