Max reflects in Abu Dhabi: 'It's been a great season'

Published on 23 November 2023 by Stefan Meens

Ahead of the final race of the year, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen looks back on a successful season. The 2023 Formula 1 championship will go down in history as a campaign in which records were broken. Max won an unprecedented eighteen Grand Prix victories in one season.

“Of course, I’ll try to extend that record”, smiles Max in the Yas Marina Circuit paddock. "But if the 2030 season consists of 30 races, chances are it can be broken! But for me, it’s great to look back on, but it’s about the performance during the season. I’m just really happy with what we as a team have accomplished.”

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix does not only mark the end of the 2023 season, but it also the final race of Franz Tost as team boss of AlphaTauri. Max made his Formula 1 debut with the outfit when it was still named Scuderia Toro Rosso.

“We had some great moments together, such as those fourth places with Toro Rosso in 2015. They were great results”, reflects Max. “But my favorite moment with Franz was the first time I drove the car in Japan in 2014. Franz told me to take it easy in the build up, to take my time and keep the car in one piece, which is what I did. Then, before my second run on new tyres, Franz told me I was doing a good job, but that 130R in Suzuka was flat out. Thoes comments really show you he’s a real racer who always wants the best for the team and tried to give it all. He’s a nice guy and we’ve always gotten along well.”

“Of course he was also important at the start of my career when Helmut put me in Toro Rosso. You need guidance and that’s what Franz gave me. It was a big new world, bigger than I’d ever known. It really helped to have a racer as a team boss, that was great.”

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