Lewis Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes to Ferrari resulted in rookie Kimi Antonelli being selected to partner George Russell this season onwards, meaning it is the 26-year-old Briton who will be the more established of the pair. With 128 race …
Lewis Hamilton’s departure from Mercedes to Ferrari resulted in rookie Kimi Antonelli being selected to partner George Russell this season onwards, meaning it is the 26-year-old Briton who will be the more established of the pair. With 128 race starts under his belt, Russell says he feels ready to lead Mercedes, and although he turns 27 before the new season starts he still believes he’s young in terms of when most drivers have historically achieved their greatest success.
“I recognize my role as the more experienced driver,” Russell said. “There are a lot of great young drivers coming onto the grid and it makes you realize you are no longer the youngster. But this is not the beginning of the end, rather the end of the beginning.
“I am entering a new chapter in my career. I am ending my beginning and entering the mid-stage. Lewis was 29 when he joined Mercedes and started winning all those championships, and Michael [Schumacher] was early 30s at Ferrari.
“Nowadays everyone starts younger and younger — my debut came at 20. But I feel ready now to fulfill roles at the team, but the most important part of that is driving as quickly as possible, and I feel in a good place to do that.
“I’ll continue to want to learn and be open and take nothing for granted. You either have the speed or you don’t, but there is no doubt these guys coming in are going to be competitive.”
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Despite Antonelli’s lack of experience, Russell says the 18-year-old’s feedback will still be vital and needs to be listened to on an equal footing.
“He is such a fantastic driver. He does not have the experience yet, but I am sure he will be up to speed very quickly,” Russell said. “He has already integrated so well. We have both been racing from a young age and we know what needs to be fed back to the team. He is young, but his opinion will be just as valid.”
Alongside Antonelli, Mercedes has also welcomed back Valtteri Bottas as a reserve driver this season, and Russell says previous run-ins — accentuated by the eventual outcome of Russell replacing the Finn in 2022 — have not hurt their current-day relationship.
“His experience is going to be massive. Having someone with so much simulator and racing knowledge, and who fully knows the team is going to be great,” he said of Bottas. “Hearing about his last few years at Sauber with the Ferrari engine could be key too. You always have to keep an open mind as to what others are doing and he has all of that under his belt.
“Obviously years ago we were perceived to not have a strong relationship, but we are both professionals and our relationship has grown. We often travel together and see each other at hotels or in the gym.”
Max Verstappen calls George Russell a “loser” and “backstabber” after his recent comments about Qatar. Check out Verstappen’s full response!
[autotag]Max Verstappen[/autotag] and [autotag]George Russell[/autotag] are engaged in a media war. On Thursday morning, Russell spoke to the media and claimed that Verstappen threatened to intentionally wreck him at Qatar last week. The two drivers had an incident in qualifying that forced the four-time F1 champion to drop one place in the grid for the start of the event.
In response to Russell’s claims, Verstappen didn’t hold back and talked about the Mercedes driver to De Telegraaf. The war of words continued on Thursday morning, and the 2024 F1 champion is not happy.
“That’s not true; I didn’t say it like that,” Verstappen said. “[George Russell]’s exaggerating again. Do you know what I can’t stand? The way he attacks me unacceptably with the stewards and then acts like nothing happened the next day, patting me on the shoulder. I think, ‘Stay away from me.’ He invents all sorts of nonsense. With me, you always get the same: here, at home, with the stewards — I don’t change. You can’t say the same about everyone. But I’m not surprised by him.”
“George is a backstabber. The way he brings up all this nonsense — he’s just a loser. He lies and cobbles things together that don’t add up. I only voiced my opinion about his behavior with the stewards. Clearly, he couldn’t handle that. And his comments about 2021? That’s how he acted with the stewards, insinuating nonsense.”
This has been an all out back and forth, which has now spread into other members of the Red Bull and Mercedes camps. Verstappen and Russell have battled a lot on the race track in 2024, but this is the first time that it has truly boiled to this level. Verstappen and Russell’s rivalry is not going away and will only grow stronger going into the 2025 F1 season.
George Russell claims that Max Verstappen issued a threat towards him at Qatar in 2024. Find out what Russell said about Verstappen!
[autotag]George Russell[/autotag] and [autotag]Max Verstappen[/autotag] are going back and forth ahead of the 2024 Formula 1 season finale. In Qatar, Verstappen blocked Russell in qualifying and was forced to drop one spot in the grid. Both drivers went to the stewards, and it appears that emotions have boiled over. Needless to say, the drama in Abu Dhabi is through the roof.
On Thursday morning, Russell spoke to the media and made a big claim about Verstappen from Qatar. The Mercedes driver was unhappy and expressed his displeasure with the four-time F1 champion.
“I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night [Max Verstappen] said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my [expletive] head in the wall,’” Russell said. “So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.”
“People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity. Whenever anything has gone against him — Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21 — he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into [Lewis Hamilton], slamming his team…For me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary…he’s taken it too far now.”
These are major claims by Russell, as Verstappen allegedly threatened to wreck him intentionally. The 2024 F1 season might be almost over, but the drama is not getting any quieter. In fact, the drama might only be getting louder, as two of Formula 1’s best drivers are engaged in a massive rivalry, one that could translate onto the race track.
Max Verstappen has refuted George Russell’s version of the arguments between the two following qualifying in Qatar, describing him as a “backstabber” after further exchanges ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Russell hit out at Verstappen …
Max Verstappen has refuted George Russell’s version of the arguments between the two following qualifying in Qatar, describing him as a “backstabber” after further exchanges ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Russell hit out at Verstappen on Thursday after the world champion had said he had lost all respect for the Mercedes driver for lobbying the stewards over a potential penalty last weekend. In his response, Russell claimed Verstappen said “I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f****** head in the wall” ahead of the race, something the Dutchman denied.
“That’s not true; I didn’t say it like that,” Verstappen was quoted as saying by De Telegraaf. “He’s exaggerating again. Do you know what I can’t stand? The way he attacks me unacceptably with the stewards and then acts like nothing happened the next day, patting me on the shoulder. I think, ‘Stay away from me.’
“He invents all sorts of nonsense. With me, you always get the same: here, at home, with the stewards — I don’t change. You can’t say the same about everyone. But I’m not surprised by him.”
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Doubling down on his comments about Verstappen, Russell said later on Thursday that his rival has been enabled because nobody has stood up to him, citing his beliefs that Lewis Hamilton was the last driver to do so in 2021.
“Could you imagine the roles being reversed?” Russell said. “Max losing that championship in the manner that Lewis lost that championship. I mean, [Michael] Masi would be fearing for his life.”
Those remarks brought another firm response from Verstappen, who said: “George is a backstabber. The way he brings up all this nonsense — he’s just a loser. He lies and cobbles things together that don’t add up.
“I only voiced my opinion about his behavior with the stewards. Clearly, he couldn’t handle that. And his comments about 2021? That’s how he acted with the stewards, insinuating nonsense.”
With Russell also claiming Verstappen’s conduct in Hungary this year had led to 25% of his engineering team sounding out work elsewhere, the four-time world champion suggested there’s been a bigger movement of personnel in the opposite direction.
“It’s tough for them, especially since we’ve poached many people from Mercedes for our engine program,” Verstappen said. “That causes frustration. But we’re having the last laugh because we won the race last week.
“They started on pole because of their nitpicking with the stewards, but 300 meters later, they were already behind. Everything Russell adds is irrelevant. I was very relaxed with the stewards, having already secured the championship. But he had to be dramatic to start first.”
George Russell has launched a scathing attack on Max Verstappen following the world champion’s criticism of his conduct in the stewards’ room in Qatar. Verstappen said he lost all respect for Russell because, “I’ve never seen someone trying to screw …
George Russell has launched a scathing attack on Max Verstappen following the world champion’s criticism of his conduct in the stewards’ room in Qatar.
Verstappen said he lost all respect for Russell because, “I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard,” after the Dutchman received a one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly in qualifying. Verstappen made even stronger comments to Dutch television post-race, but Russell claims the four-time world champion then threatened to intentionally take him out of the race.
“I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my f****** head in the wall,’” Russell told select media including RACER. “So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.
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“People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity. Whenever anything has gone against him — Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21 — he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis [Hamilton], slamming his team…
“For me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary. Because what happens on track, we fight hard, that’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.”
Fully recounting the interaction between the two, Russell added: “[He said it] to me privately, straight out of the stewards. He said, ‘I don’t know why you would want to screw me like this. I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but now if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f****** head in the wall.’ So I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.”
While unaware of Russell’s latest response, Verstappen doubled down on his comments from Qatar during an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix press conference. But beyond the verbal exchanges, the Mercedes driver says he also takes exception to the way Verstappen races.
“[I’m speaking out] because he’s come out in the media, and I feel has disrespected me as a driver,” said Russell. “I’ve known him for 12 years, we’ve had respect with one another beforehand. We’ve never had any collisions. In the junior categories, he was always one [year ahead] — Max is a year older than me, so we only crossed paths once, in 2011, but we never really had any sort of comings-together. But we’ve got a guy who’s on the top of this sport who feels he’s above the law, and I don’t think that’s right.
“I admire his on-track battles, and when he’s hard and aggressive. But what we saw in the end of the season in ’21 or what we saw in Mexico with Lando [Norris], they weren’t hard, aggressive maneuvers. They were, ‘Do or die –I’m willing to take this guy out.’ Which I don’t think is the way we should go racing.
“I honestly just want to set the record straight. Because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else.
“So it’s not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It’s just somebody has come out and said that I’m a two-faced motherf****r, and he’s entitled to his own opinions but coming out and saying that publicly, and slamming me publicly, I’m just not going to accept it, and I’m going to tell people what the reality was.
“He pushes himself to the absolute limit week in, week out, and in 95 percent of the scenarios, that is incredible to see, and I respect him for that 95 percent. But there have been incidents that have gone unpunished. Maybe that is why he thinks he can get away with murder. But that is not the world we live in, and actions have consequences.”
Russell also says he lost respect for the way Verstappen has handled adversity at times this season, again citing the Hungarian Grand Prix where the Red Bull driver was extremely vocal on team radio.
“It can’t just keep going on like that. For me, it’s interesting, this whole regard with him and his own team,” he said. “They’re doing their utmost to get [Christian] Horner out of Red Bull, but at the very first race that he wasn’t competitive, he was absolutely slamming his team, and I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston.
“So I don’t respect somebody who doesn’t appreciate those who have given him the chance to perform, because these last 12 races, he has had a car that is of normal competitiveness, and he’s been in the fight the same way as myself, Lewis, Charles [Leclerc], Carlos [Sainz], Lando and [Oscar] Piastri have been. And that’s how it should be.
“I feel like we all need to lead by example here. He’s the biggest, most successful guy in the sport for the last couple of years. He can do what he wants in his own business, but when he starts throwing comments around like he did on Sunday night about me, I’m not just going to sit there and accept it.”
Max Verstappen says he “lost all respect” for George Russell for the way he pushed for a penalty to cost the Red Bull driver pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix. Russell came across Verstappen going slowly on the racing line as both drivers were …
Max Verstappen says he “lost all respect” for George Russell for the way he pushed for a penalty to cost the Red Bull driver pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell came across Verstappen going slowly on the racing line as both drivers were preparing to start their final qualifying laps in Q3, and complained the pace differential between the two was “super dangerous.” The stewards investigated the incident because Verstappen was outside the maximum lap time permitted during qualifying — designed to stop drivers slowing down significantly on track — and handed the Dutchman a one-place grid penalty, stating the normal three-place drop was mitigated by the fact neither car was on a flying lap.
“Honestly, I mean… I couldn’t believe that I got it,” Verstappen said after being demoted from pole position to second on the grid. “But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I’m not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. You’re not happy with it, but at one point or another, you have to just turn the page.
“It wasn’t very enjoyable to see that happen, because I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalized. Actually, I just tried to be nice, so maybe I shouldn’t be nice! But the thing is that being nice, because at the end of the season everything is more or less decided, for me especially, I didn’t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, being nice, basically you get a penalty.
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“That’s what I tried to explain as well, but I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall. There’s not much that was possible for whatever reason. I think I really spoke about valid reasons of what happened and it was clear cut that around me there were different scenarios going on as well, with people having colder tires and stuff, so they had to push anyway and I didn’t want to then cause a scene into a last corner and then no one had a lap. Very, very surprising.
“I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards’ room, what was all going on. Honestly, very disappointing because I think … we respect each other a lot and I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my career with people that have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me … I lost all respect.”
Verstappen went on to overtake Russell into the first corner and win at Lusail International Circuit, but speaking to Dutch television he was even more scathing of the Mercedes driver.
“How it was handled from the other side, so to speak,” Verstappen told Viaplay. “The other driver in question, during that stewards meeting — that really didn’t make any sense. I think I have a lot of respect for a lot of drivers, but after last night I completely lost that with him. I just thought it was ridiculous how he wanted to give me a penalty for that case.
“He always acts very politely in front of the camera, but when you meet him in person, he’s just a different person. I find it very difficult to cope. Then you might as well just [explaetive] off.”
Max Verstappen has lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell during qualifying. Russell complained that Verstappen drove in a “super dangerous” manner when he slowed to create a …
Max Verstappen has lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell during qualifying.
Russell complained that Verstappen drove in a “super dangerous” manner when he slowed to create a gap before his final attempt in Q3, with Russell having to take evasive action and nearly running into the back of the Red Bull. Russell proceeded to overtake Verstappen and start his lap, with the stewards investigating the Dutchman for “driving unnecessarily slowly.”
Following a lengthy wait, Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty three hours after the end of qualifying, demoting him to second place and promoting Russell to pole. The stewards explained the usual three-place grid drop was not imposed because Russell could clearly see Verstappen, and neither driver was on a push lap at the time.
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“Car No. 1 was on a different preparation strategy to that of car No. 63,” the stewards’ decision read. “Car No. 1 was well outside of the delta and the driver of car No. 1 explained he had let Cars Nos. 4 and 14 past. The driver of car No. 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect car No. 1 to be on the racing line. He stated that if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line.
“The stewards regard this case as a complicated one in that clearly car No. 1 did not comply with the race director’s event notes and clearly was driving, in our determination, unnecessarily slowly considering the circumstances.
“It was obvious the driver of car No. 1 was attempting to cool his tires. He also could see car No. 63 approaching as he looked in his mirror multiple times whilst on the small straight between Turns 11 and 12.
“Unusually, this incident occurred when neither car was on a push lap. Had car No. 63 been on a push lap, the penalty would have most likely been the usual three grid position penalty, however in mitigation of penalty, it was obvious that the driver of car No. 63 had clear visibility of car No. 1 and that neither car was on a push lap.”
The penalty also carries one penalty point, giving Verstappen six for the 12-month period. His last pole position in Belgium also came with a grid penalty for exceeding power unit components, meaning Verstappen’s last official pole remains the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
George Russell is expecting an exciting Qatar Grand Prix starting alongside Max Verstappen on the front row, after being infuriated by McLaren’s defensive teamwork in the Sprint. Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Russell by just 0.055s on …
George Russell is expecting an exciting Qatar Grand Prix starting alongside Max Verstappen on the front row, after being infuriated by McLaren’s defensive teamwork in the Sprint.
Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Russell by just 0.055s on Saturday night, turning around what had been a tough weekend up to that point as he was uncompetitive in the Sprint. Russell also started on the front row in the shorter race but saw the McLaren drivers work together to keep him at bay, and he wants a different type of battle on Sunday.
“I’m just excited,” Russell said. “Hopefully we can have a proper race rather than this team orders stuff. It’s going to be a good race. I think we’ll all be going for it.
“It’s actually great that Max is in the mix as well. I was really surprised at their turnaround because they looked really off the pace yesterday, off the pace this morning. And obviously they were both in Q3 and Max on pole, so I think we’ve got a good race on our hands.”
Oscar Piastri got past Russell at the start of the Sprint before leader Lando Norris give Piastri DRS for the majority of the race, helping defend from Russell on the pit straight. Russell says the approach was understandable but did not provide a good spectacle in his opinion.
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“It was obviously so frustrating every lap, Lando backing up, giving Oscar the DRS. I understand why they did that. But when you’re out here, you’re fighting, you want to give it everything, and you want to put a race on for the fans, it was just pretty infuriating. But nevertheless, it was P3 and this afternoon is going to be the important one.”
Russell was also critical of some of Piastri’s defensive driving in the Sprint and believes he could have fought for victory to back up his win in Las Vegas last weekend.
“Obviously, we went wheel-to-wheel and into Turn 1 on one of the laps,” he said. “I was on the inside and he closed the door pretty aggressively. We made contact. We were lucky to both stay in the race there, and then a few laps later I committed to the inside and he pulled across pretty late. When you’re doing, you know, 330kph, 320kph into Turn 1, and there’s a big speed difference and there’s a closing of the door so late, it’s pretty sketchy.
“But it’s just the Sprint. I take a lot of positives from the result because I think if Lando wasn’t being a team player, I think we’d have got past Oscar and could have had a good fight with Lando.”
George Russell believes the smooth track surface had a major role in allowing Mercedes to dominate as he comfortably won the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Mercedes has endured an inconsistent year, going on a run of three wins in four races mid-season but …
George Russell believes the smooth track surface had a major role in allowing Mercedes to dominate as he comfortably won the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Mercedes has endured an inconsistent year, going on a run of three wins in four races mid-season but following that with a return of just one podium in the seven rounds leading into Las Vegas. Russell qualified on pole position and took victory ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton — who climbed from 10th to finish second — and he says the team has identified what worked for it this weekend.
“It’s no secret that we struggle on the bumpy circuits and we have to lift the car quite a lot,” Russell said. “We’ve got to make it much softer. And then we’re in a downforce window where we don’t have any. It’s not that we just suddenly forget how to set the car up. It’s just certain circuits require us to put the car in a window it doesn’t like to be.
“On tracks like this where it’s relatively smooth, we can get the car quite low, quite stiff, with little or no bumps around the track, we fly.”
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Russell held off Charles Leclerc in the opening laps before pulling a significant gap over the field, and while Hamilton closed in for a spell in the late stages, the race winner says he was managing his pace in case of any curveballs that might come his way.
“I was just waiting for something to happen,” he said. “The two races I’ve been on pole before, it’s always been chaos, rain, dry and always something happening, the last race in Brazil with the red flag…
So, I was like, ‘I feel confident here, I’ve got a good gap but I’m just waiting for something to happen,’ and it didn’t. So I guess luck has turned and I’m just so happy right now.
“It’s been a real surprise seeing how strong our pace has been and securing the pole yesterday I was so pleased with. Then I think we won the race in stint one.
“To be honest, stint one was exceptional. I knew from there on in the only way we would probably lose the victory is if I grained the tires and opened them up. So it was just a case of managing my pace, managing in the right corners and bringing it home.”
Max Verstappen has won a fourth consecutive world championship after finishing fifth at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, won by a rampaging George Russell in a shock Mercedes one-two finish. Russell aced his start from pole position to fend off the Ferrari …
Max Verstappen has won a fourth consecutive world championship after finishing fifth at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, won by a rampaging George Russell in a shock Mercedes one-two finish.
Russell aced his start from pole position to fend off the Ferrari drivers at the first turn, with Charles Leclerc jumping from fourth to second beneath Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz to emerge as the Briton’s closest challenger.
The Monegasque wasted no time challenging for what had been expected to be a straightforward Ferrari victory. By lap 3 he was battling Russell side-by-side into the final chicane and then through the final sector before being forced to concede from the outside line into the first corner.
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A Leclerc lead appeared inevitable, but his duel with Russell had been toxic to his tires. Almost immediately his Pirelli rubber began to grain, and his pace rapidly devolved to almost 2s slower than Russell’s headline pace.
Sainz passed him easily, and Max Verstappen, up from fifth on the grid, made easy work of Leclerc too, the Red Bull driver emerging as an unexpected leader after a weekend of struggle, leaving vanquished title rival Norris in his dust.
The Ferrari drivers made early pit stops to move onto the favored hard tire, leaving Verstappen and Russell to size each other up in the battle for the lead, with 6.3s between them after their first pit stops.
There was no real competition, however. Despite expectations the Mercedes car wouldn’t have the race pace to got he distance, Russell never wilted in the lead. His pace was strong and consistent, and by lap 17 he had more than 10s on Verstappen, his victory all but assured.
Verstappen was content to play a supporting role in the race, giving way to the Ferraris but keeping enough in hand to ensure the title. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Verstappen’s focus instead had to turn to behind, where Lewis Hamilton was exhibiting similarly sizzling pace despite starting 10th.
Hamilton made up no places off the line but rose into the lead as the front-runners made their pit stops, giving him a chance to exercise his car’s virtues. His pit stop dropped him to net sixth behind Norris and within easy reaching distance of the podium.
Norris, who struggled badly with graining all weekend, was no match for Hamilton, and both Ferrari drivers came quickly into view afterwards as well.
Ferrari was caught in a strategic bind, unsure whether the race would unfold with one stop or two. By the time the team realized that one set of hard tires wouldn’t make it to the end, Hamilton was within undercut range, Mercedes pulling the trigger on lap 27.
Sainz and Leclerc followed him on subsequent laps, but it did them no good, the place lost to the rapid Mercedes.
Only Verstappen stood in Hamilton’s way of a Mercedes one-two, though the Dutchman was circumspect about his mission. Needing only to finish ahead of Norris to seal the championship, he put up no real fight ahead of his faster 2021 title rival on lap 31.
Russell made his final pit stop on the next lap but easily held the lead, and though Hamilton closed quickly on him, his margin was too large to be overcome, and he took the checkered flag a 7.3s victor.
“It’s been a dream of a weekend,” he said. “I don’t know how we’ve been so quick, but I’m just riding this wave right now.
“To get a victory here, pole position, a dominant weekend, one-two with Lewis as well – we couldn’t have chosen a better place to make this happen.”
Hamilton said on Friday night that his botched qualifying performance that left him 10th on the grid killed any hope of winning the race, but he was enthused by his comeback on a rare strong night for Mercedes.
“If I’d done my job yesterday, it would’ve been a breeze today,” he said. “But it’s OK. I had fun coming from 10th.
“The team did a fantastic job. We don’t know why we were so quick this weekend, but that’s the best the car’s ever felt, so I’m grateful to have been a part of it.”
Verstappen’s control of the podium slipped away as the race wore on, with Ferrari finally finding its expected groove late in the final stint.
Again he was only minimally defensive, with Norris almost 20s further back in sixth. Sainz scythed onto the podium down the back straight with DRS on lap 41, while Leclerc made it a Ferrari three-four with three laps remaining.
“It was a bit of a shock,” Sainz said of his car’s lack of pace. “The mediums I was expecting to be quite strong on, but they lasted eight or nine laps. From then onwards it was just a damage limitation race.
“I was not comfortable with the car, not strong today. We just simply didn’t have it in ourselves today. We came back with P3, a podium that’s not enough for what we expected but the maximum that we could achieve today.”
The moves left Verstappen fifth, but with Norris in a distant sixth behind him, it was all he needed to seal his fourth consecutive world championship.
“Oh my god, what a season!” he exclaimed over radio. “Thank you, guys.”
“It’s been a long season,” he said. “Of course we started off amazing, it was almost like a cruise, but then we had a tough run but as a team we kept it together, we kept working on improvements, and we pulled over the line. I’m incredibly proud of everyone, what they’ve done for me,
“Standing here as a four-time world champion of course is something that I never thought was possible. At the moment I’m just feeling relieved in a way but also very proud.”
Norris made a late pit stop for fresh tires to pinch the bonus point for fastest lap on the final tour, reducing the damage done to McLaren’s constructors title lead to maintain a 24-point advantage over Ferrari.
Teammate Oscar Piastri followed him home in seventh ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, whose four points moved Haas back up to sixth in the constructors championship ahead of Alpine, which ended the day scoreless after third-place starter Pierre Gasly retired with a power unit problem.
Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez finished in the final points-paying places.
