Newly-crowned Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen says he sees no reason for Lewis Hamilton to walk away from the series despite the controversy surrounding his title defeat.
Verstappen prevailed over Hamilton by just eight points after a season-long battle, with his last-lap pass on the Mercedes driver in Abu Dhabi securing him victory and a first world championship.
Hamilton had been on course to win an record eighth drivers’ title having dominated the season finale, until a late safety car restart left him vulnerable to an attack from Verstappen on much fresher tyres.
The seven-time world champion has not spoken of the incident in the days since the title decider, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted on Thursday he couldn’t guarantee Hamilton would return next year having been left “disillusioned” by the events.
Prior to receiving his world championship trophy at the FIA prize giving gala on Thursday, Verstappen backed a rejuvenated Hamilton to mount a title challenge in 2022.
“Of course I can understand that the first few days after a race like that you are not happy,” Verstappen said, as quoted by Crash.net.
“But you should also understand that this is racing at the end of the day and these things can happen 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 it 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.”
Hamilton, along with team boss Wolff, were both absent from the ceremony having been left “hurt” by last weekend’s result.
Asked if he felt sorry for Hamilton in the way his lost the championship, Verstappen replied: “No I don’t feel sorry but I can understand of 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 championship like that, so I think he can understand that as well.”
Having had two post-race protests dismissed by the stewards, Mercedes notified its intention to appeal the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix result, only to drop its case in the lead up to the required 96-hour window.
Despite Mercedes’ appeal hanging over his title victory, Verstappen insisted he didn’t let the thought of a protest bother him in the days after Abu Dhabi.
“Not really,” Verstappen 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.”
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