Verstappen Admits Being Emotional After Winning Last Race Of Season In His RB19

Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 10:33

Updated at Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 12:45

Max Verstappen reflected on the "incredible" season after his 19th win of the 2023 season during the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen has just finished one of the most dominant seasons F1 might have seen for a long time. After a successful season, the Dutchman wanted to finish it on a high, and he achieved it.

Verstappen won the race at Yas Marina Circuit, adding the 19th win in a single season to his collection and the 21st win for his Red Bull Racing team.

Quite poetically, the 26-year-old achieved 19 wins in his RB19 car. He admitted right after the race, the last lap driving the car was pretty emotional. Verstappen said:

"It has been an incredible season, it was a bit emotional on the last lap, knowing it was the last time I was sitting in the car, which has given me a lot."

Read also

Norris Hits At Perez After Disputed Incident: 'He Crashes Into A Lot People'

Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner also told Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez to enjoy his final laps in RB19, which he called a "rocket ship of a car." Verstappen applauded the whole Red Bull team for building such a machine.

"I'm very proud to win, and I have to say a big thank you to everyone at Red Bull, it has been an incredible year. It will be hard to do something similar again, but we definitely enjoyed this year."

However, finishing the 2023 season so high means there are a lot of expectations for the Red Bull team in the next few seasons, and Verstappen admitted that the 2023 results will be hard to replicate.

"We always want to do better, but sometimes the better is not always race wins and the championship, but we are working hard for next year to have a competitive car. For sure all the others teams want to try and beat us next year, and we are ready for the battle.