Max Verstappen has revealed that the strategy he adopted in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was designed to ensure he ticked off one last statistic in his crushing 2023 campaign.
The Dutchman surpassed 1000 laps led in 2023, the first driver in the sport’s history to accomplish the feat.
It is yet another record for Verstappen, who ended the year with 19 wins from 22 starts, while Red Bull won 21 times to usurp McLaren’s 1988 win:starts ratio.
“I knew it was on the cards, of course, going into the race,” Verstappen admitted of the 1000 laps led statistic.
“And also, from the engineering side with the strategy, we wanted to, of course, try and plan it in a way that I wouldn’t pit too early. So, just wait for others to pit.
“Of course, to try and achieve that it was maybe not always the, let’s say, the fastest strategy. But I wanted to stay in the lead, of course, to get the laps in.”
With the most dominant campaign in F1 history now behind him, Verstappen suggests it will be the vibe within the team that he will recall in future years more than the results themselves.
“Not so much the wins or the, whatever, poles or laps led, just the enjoyment we had as a team,” he said when asked how he’ll reflect on this third title.
“Yeah, the wins are great, of course, but I think it’s also very important to have a good atmosphere in the team and have a lot of fun. And just the people you work with, there’s a lot of smart people in the team.
“I also know that whatever you do in motor racing, I think it never will top that.
“So yeah, just seeing everyone at work, trying to do the best they can every day, and give it all out there for you. Yeah, that’s really nice to see.”
In Abu Dhabi, Verstappen started on the medium tyres and was forced to fend off the advances of Charles Leclerc on the opening lap.
He held the lead until his Lap 16 stop, swapping on to the hard rubber and ceding top spot for six laps during the initial pit sequence.
Verstappen’s second stop came on Lap 43 as he eased to victory by 17.9 seconds over Leclerc (after Sergio Perez was given a five-second penalty).
“I didn’t expect Charles to go on the left into Turn 6 but it was a good move,” the Red Bull driver recounted of the opening lap skirmish.
“But I think at the same time, of course, Charles also had to think about the championship, you know, for the team. So yeah, it was good. I enjoyed that.
“The first stint, I didn’t really know what to expect, because I didn’t do a long run,” he added.
“I probably took it a bit too easy in the beginning, but I guess that was better than trying to push ahead and destroy the tyres. So I took a few laps.
“But then I also think the medium was just not as good as expected.
“So then we had to pit, because I saw everyone around me also pitting and, you know, on the hard tyres, everything felt a bit more normal, a bit more easy to manage with the temperatures and basically I could extend my lead lap after lap.”
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