Regardless of Red Bull’s recovery, and McLaren’s fallibility, Verstappen says he is “quite surprised” to be going into the last race still in with a chance of the title.
“Normally, when you’re that far down – and of course also up until that point, it was just going up, up, up, right? So, there’s no real clue to it at the time that we could turn it around or at least close that gap drastically.
“But we did, and that’s something that we’re very proud of. And I’m happy to be in that fight until the end. It also keeps it exciting, I guess, for everyone that it is not only between the two drivers of one team. That’s always better when there is another team involved.”
If he lands the championship, he says, it will not be his most satisfying season. For that, he picks 2023, when he won a record 19 of 22 races.
“This has been a really good season, probably my best season, but it has also been frustrating at times because we were not quick enough.”
Even so, he recognises what he has achieved.
“You always try to improve as a driver, you try to be more all-round,” he says. “I’ve dragged some results out of it that probably weren’t realistic or possible in some weekends, so yeah, I’ve been happy.”
He does this, he says, “by always trying to look for details, trying to just learn about the car, learn about yourself, do a lot of things also outside of F1.
“I’m driving, of course, a lot of different cars,, external which I don’t think it hurts you, racing in F1. So, yeah, just trying to make yourself a bit more of a complete driver, a bit more all-round.”
