Verstappen teases 'I wanted to go faster' after Abu Dhabi dominance

Max Verstappen has revealed he wanted to go even faster during the season finale in Abu Dhabi despite crushing his rivals at the Yas Island circuit.

The Dutchman secured a record-extending 15th win of the season in imperious style, with the only threat coming into the first corner of the opening lap when team-mate Sergio Perez made a move down the inside.

Unlike the Mexican who is renowned for his tyre management, Verstappen was able to make his Pirelli rubber last in order to execute a one-stop strategy.

But this came at the cost of pace, with the two-time champion conceding his strategy limited his speed.

"At one point, I wanted to go a little faster, but we were not sure if the tyre was going to hold on for the whole stint to the end," said Verstappen.

"So, it was a bit of management to see if you could make it. But then at one point, I hit kind of a crossover where the two-stop is not going to work anymore.

"But luckily, at that point, the tyres were really good and I could just continue to the end."

Although Perez ran a two-stop strategy, Verstappen conceded this was never an option for him given his tyre usage in the earlier stages of the weekend.

"I knew that if I would want to do a two-stop, it was a little bit compromised because I didn’t have two [sets of] hard tyres, so my target was always to try and make sure the one-stop was going to work," he added.

"On the medium tyres initially, we had very good pace - just my last three laps on that tyre was a little more tricky but I had to get to a certain lap.

"We managed to extend that stint quite well, and once I put the hard tyres on, I brought them in quite nicely because I had a good gap."

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

Lando Norris calls for FIA bans after Azerbaijan GP crash: 'Not driving that deserves to be in F1'

• 45 minutes ago

F1 News Today: Lewis Hamilton in turmoil as F1 star hit with double FIA punishment

• 1 hour ago

F1 Standings after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Antonelli lead cut as Hamilton suffers more misery

• 1 hour ago

F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix results: Baku chaos delivers thrilling finish and more misery for Lewis Hamilton

• 2 hours ago

Multiple F1 stars OUT of Azerbaijan Grand Prix after safety car chaos in Baku

• 2 hours ago

Amended F1 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix starting grid with all late penalties applied by the FIA

• Today 12:09