Verstappen explains "don't give up" F1 champion's mindset

F1 world champion Max Verstappen has revealed he constantly tells himself "don't give up" in moments of adversity after clinching his maiden F1 world title.

Verstappen achieved his F1 world championship ambition by defeating Lewis Hamilton in a season-long battle that was settled on the final lap of the year in Abu Dhabi.

Both drivers have pointed to the intensity of the fight last year as being one of the toughest ever given the consistent on-track squabbling and the high level of performance being achieved.

With such pressure weighing on his shoulders before clinching the title, Dutchman Verstappen was asked in an interview with CarNext how he had been able to focus his energy in the cockpit.

"Well, a lot of things go through your mind every single race, whether it is going well or not," explained Verstappen.

"You are thinking a lot in your head like 'is this going to go well?' and you see it is not going to go well.

"But I keep telling myself, 'Don't give up, don't give up, just keep pushing, keep trying every lap to be smooth, hit apexes nice, try to be nice on tyres'.

"Constantly telling yourself don't give up and keep at it... like at the last race, we didn't look too great, we were slow and I couldn't keep up.

"I just kept telling myself, 'Something could happen'. You never know until the last corner of the last lap. So I just kept telling myself, 'Do the best you can, keep pushing, keep pushing yourself'.

"These things come back quite often in the race. If you are in the lead our catching... second or third."

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