#Max verstappen driver#

#Max verstappen driver#

Photograph: Mario Renzi/Formula 1/Getty Imagesįor Verstappen should he maintain his grip on the trophy, this was the culmination of a lifelong dream, achieved in the white heat of competition against the best driver of this generation in what has been a superb season. Max Verstappen is congratulated by Lewis Hamilton after the race’s dramatic finale. The stewards rejected the protests but more wrangling may lie ahead with Mercedes having lodged an intention to appeal against the decision, and with the right to take their case to the court of arbitration for sport.Īs the fireworks went off at Yas Marina, Verstappen celebrated with tears in his eyes while a similarly emotional Hamilton held his obvious disappointment in check but having been consoled by his father Anthony, offered sportsmanlike congratulations to his rival. Inevitably it ended in protests to the stewards grinding on long after the trophies had been awarded and the fans departed. In a season already marked by drama this finale simply could not have been scripted nor will there be consensus on how it played out. His reaction and that of his Red Bull team was one of unbridled joy while Hamilton and Mercedes were left disconsolate and convinced the win that had been in their hands had been unfairly snatched from their grasp, leaving the greatest prize in motor racing potentially in the laps of the lawyers.