Max Verstappen sees ‘no reason’ for Lewis Hamilton to quit F1
On Thursday, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said Hamilton is 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:“disillusioned” about the contentious conclusion to Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and admitted he could not guarantee if the seven-time world champion would continue to rꦍace in F1.
Hamilton had dominated𝔉 the final race of the season and appeared on course to win a record-breaking eighth world title until a controversial late Safety Car restart left him exposed to Verstappen, who clinched his maiden world championship with a last-lap overtake having pitted for fresh soft tyres.
Speaking prior to picking up his world c🍌hampionship trophy at the FIA’s prize-giving gala in Paris on Thursday, Verstappen backed Hamilton to return motivated next season.
“Of course I can undeꦜrstand that the first few days after a race like that you are not happy,” Verstappen said.
“But you should also understand that this is racing at the end of the day and thes💖e things can ha𓄧ppen to you.
“I think he should just look back at what he has achieved already and that should give him a lot of comfort, and i🐻t should also be that drive to just💎 to keep on going because he is still trying to challenge for that eighth title and for sure he can do that again next year.
“So I don’t see any reason why to 🔴give up or stop now.”
Asked if he feels sorry for Hamilton, who along with Wolff has refused to turn up to🐭 the FIA gala, Verstappen replied: “No I don’t feel sorry but I can understand o🦹f course that it can be very painful.
“But at the end of the day, that’s racing as well. You 🍌have to just fighting until the end and you know in racing that anything can happen.
“And he also won a champio𒀰nship like tha🐼t, so I think he can understand that as well.”
Mercedes confirmed earlier in the day that it would no🦋t be pursuing an appeal into the Abu Dhabi result, having previously seen two post-race protests rejected by the stewards.
Verstapp𓄧en stressed the threat of a potential appeal from Mercedes had not bothered him in the days since his title win.
"Not really," he said. "We were having a really good time as a ⛦team because we knew we won it on track.
"And there was a green light or a green flag [with the stewards’ decision] and nobody could ever take that away from us, so ꧃I was in a good mood."
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.c🧸om around the world. Often reporting on the 🦄action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
