Verstappen overtook title rival Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of Sunday’sܫ hugely dramatic and controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to clinch his first world championship. 

Red Bull gambled on a late safety car by pitting Verstappen for soft tyres, giving him a signi🌊ficant tyre advantage over Hamilton for the last-lap sprint to the ꧒flag after the contentious late safety car restart. 

Verstappen ultim♛ately triumphed with a lunge at Turn 5 to end Hamilton’s run of five successive world titles and become F1’s first-ever Dutch world champion. 

“It’s unbelievable,” Verstappen said after the race. “I tried the whole r✅ace, I kept fighting and the🎐n of course that opportunity in the last lap. It’s incredible.

“I am still having a cramp… It’s insane. I don’t k💛now what to say. These guys hꦺere, my team and of course Honda as well, they deserve it.

“I♉ love them so much and I really, really enjoy woꩵrking them already since 2016 but this year has been incredible.

“I think they know I love them and I hope we can do this for 10, 15 years together. There’s no reason to change, ever. I want to stay with them for the rest of my life. I h🌱ope they let me. It’s insane.”

Verstappen also praised Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez for his brilliant defence against Hamilton to hold the seven-time world champion up earlier in the race and bring the Dutchman back into🐼 play. 

“Finally a bit of luck for me,” he said. “Insane. I also want to say a big thank you to Checo, he was driving his heart out today, it was great teamwork and he’s an am🍬azing team-mate.”