Verstappen: The last lap of the finale, my leg cramped and hurt!

Max Verstappen recalls the last lap of the Abu Dhabi finale when he revealed that his leg was sore and cramping...

Entering the final game of the 2021 season, Verstappen will need to beat Lewis Hamilton to win his first world title. Hamilton had a better pace that day, establishing a clear advantage in the race, with Hamilton leading more than 10 seconds when Nicholas Latifi crashed late in the race to trigger a safety car.

Verstappen put on a new soft tyre at the pit stop under the safety car, while Hamilton didn't. Race director Michael Massey allowed the snare between Hamilton and Verstappen to untangle itself, and then the race restarted on the final lap. Verstappen's tyres were clearly dominant, and he rushed into Hamilton's interior line at Turn 5 to take the lead before winning the race and winning the world championship.

However, if Verstappen hadn't managed to overcome a leg cramp, the situation could have been very different.

A few days ago, Verstappen said in an interview: "What was going through my head? I was like ' I need to overtake him, there's only one option here, I'm not going to finish second'. I tried to start over and everything went smoothly until I started to feel cramps in my legs. This is one of the most painful things that can happen because you need to go full speed for a long time and you will feel muscle tension. I just kept the throttle full open and I could feel my legs hurting more and more, and luckily, at Turn 5, I started overtaking. Then there were two long straights, and on the second straight, Lewis came back to me and I could feel my feet trembling because the muscles were spasming and I couldn't control it. If you look back at the data, you won't see a very smooth throttle input. If I had run one more lap, I wouldn't have been able to finish the race like that. The pressure on the last lap was too great and the body might react to it, but I couldn't give up. ”