Max Verstappen has declared he has “nothing to lose” in the final race of the F1 season, opening up the possibility of some ‘dark arts’ being used in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Verstappen qualified fastest on Saturday night and claimed pole ahead of title rivals Lando Norris (second) and Oscar Piastri (third).
Norris leads the championship by 12 points from Verstappen and 16 from Piastri, but all drivers can win the title on Sunday night. Norris simply has to make the podium to clinch the championship, but Verstappen and Piastri can both win it if Norris doesn’t make the podium.
Piastri basically needs to win the race and hope Norris finishes sixth or lower. Piastri can also win with a second-place finish, but that would require Norris to finish P9 or lower and Verstappen P4 or lower.
Max Verstappen (L) has vowed to ‘go all out’ to try and deny Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (R) the F1 title. Image: Getty
For Verstappen, he’ll win the championship if he claims victory in Abu Dhabi and Norris is P4 or lower. Verstappen will also win with a P2 if Norris is P6 or lower and Piastri P3 or lower. If Verstappen finishes P3 he’d need Norris to be P9 or lower and Piastri P2 or lower.
Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri speak to the media after qualifying in Abu Dhabi. (Photo by Ahmad AlShehab/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Could Red Bull and Max Verstappen use some ‘dark arts’?
Verstappen delivered a special qualifying lap of 1min 22.207sec on Saturday night to take pole. It opens up the possibility of Red Bull using Yuki Tsunoda as a ‘blocker’ on Norris in the hope it keeps the McLaren driver in enough traffic that he misses the podium.
McLaren have the option of asking Piastri to move aside for Norris in the event the Aussie is coming third (and can’t win the championship) and Norris is fourth. That would put Norris on the podium and get him the title regardless of how Verstappen fares.
Speaking after qualifying, Verstappen declared: “I will go all out. I have nothing to lose.” Just how far Verstappen is willing to go remains to be seen.
When asked about Verstappen trying anything – perhaps even a bit of racing’s dark arts – to grab a fifth crown, Norris said: “No idea. I expect everything … I am behind the one person I wanted to be ahead of, so that is why I am disappointed.” McLaren principal Andrea Stella had earlier said he was anticipating some “interesting racing but within the boundaries of sportsmanship and fairness”.
Oscar Piastri holding out hope of F1 miracle
Piastri’s title aspirations copped a fresh setback when he was slower than Verstappen and Norris in qualifying. But the Aussie isn’t giving up hope.
Piastri’s best hope might be to make a move on the opening turn and hope Norris and Verstappen do something silly to wipe each other out. “Obviously to try and win the championship, I need more than to just simply win the race, so we’ll see what that entails,” he said. “I need things to happen in the race to win the championship. So I’ll wait and see if those things happen.”
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Verstappen was asked whether he’d try something similar to Lewis Hamilton in 2016 when he tried to stall his chasing teammate Nico Rosberg so the rest of the field would overtake him. It ultimately didn’t work, and Verstappen believes the circumstances are different.
“It was also a different layout,” he said. “I feel like now you get towed around a lot more around the lap, so it’s probably not as easy to do something like that.
“Cars also are completely different to back then. It was a lot easier back then to back it up because the tyres would overheat a lot when you would get close. I hope it’s not straightforward, the race, but hopefully that’s not because of me.”
with AAP