Verstappen and Hamilton write history: 'It had never happened before'

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both had brilliant seasons. They kept the title fight exciting until the last race by travelling to Abu Dhabi with an equal amount of points. For Flavio Briatore it was therefore a pleasure, as he explains in an interview with Adnkronos.com.

The former team boss of Benetton and Renault had no expectations of Verstappen winning the race. Hamilton dominated the Grand Prix and seemed to be on his way to his eighth world title, until Nicholas Latifi's crash changed that.

"If there had been no Safety Car at the end of the race, Hamilton would have won by eight to ten seconds," Briatore noted in the interview. "Red Bull did well to get Verstappen into the pits early. Hamilton had used up the tyres by then. Let's say for Formula 1 it was something spectacular, it had never happened before."

The Italian businessman also comments on the performance of Ferrari. This season, the team managed to grab third place in the Constructors' Championship, but according to Briatore a lot has to happen before Ferrari will be among the top teams again.