Verstappen: No point to prove, people forget my F1 2021 record

Verstappen will begin his F1 title defence in Bahrain this weekend after clinching his maiden world championship in dramatic fashion at the end of last season.

The Red Bull driver overtook Hamilton on a last-lap restart that was called after FIA race director Michael Masi failed to implement at least two articles of the sporting regulations.

But Verstappen and Red Bull always maintained the fashion of the title win did nothing to taint his success, having capitalised on the race situation in play. 

Speaking on Friday in Bahrain, Verstappen rejected any suggestion he had a point to prove this year because of how he won the championship, noting his record in F1 last year. 

“No, I proved that with the most wins and most poles, and most laps led,” Verstappen said.

“People forget that. They only look at Abu Dhabi, apparently, but we have more races than only Abu Dhabi in a season.”

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Verstappen scored more wins (10), poles (10) and podiums (18) than Hamilton last year, as well as leading more than twice as many laps (652 to 297).

The Dutchman felt there was still another step he could take this year in terms of performance, although he thought accruing such a record would be difficult to repeat.

“If you look at last season, even during that season, I think yeah, we could have had more wins, and more poles even,” Verstappen said.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

“But you need a really competitive car to be able to do that. So it's going to be really difficult to do something like that again.

“But of course, you always try and do better. So I hope if we have a very competitive car again, that we can reach something similar.”

Upon winning the world championship last December, Verstappen called it the “final achievement” in F1 and said that anything other success would be a “bonus”. But he made clear in Bahrain that his motivation in F1 remained as strong as ever.

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“The motivation is the same, or even more, again, because you want to keep winning, you want to just want to be up front, right?” Verstappen said.

“Especially after last year, but you do you know, when, as a little kid, you always dream of, of course, trying to be a Formula 1 driver, and hopefully one day you win a championship, but that that's achieved.

“That kind of pressure of wanting and needing to do that is gone. But you still want to win races and stuff. So that's what I'm here for.”