Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said he was proud of his team, after recording victory in the penultimate race of this season's Formula 1 in Qatar.
"I'm very proud of everyone in the team because they managed to turn everything around in one day (eighth place in the sprint race on Saturday). They definitely deserve this win," Verstappen said, Sky reported.
Verstappen secured his fourth consecutive world championship title in Formula 1 last Sunday. The race in Qatar was marked by a battle between him and McLaren's Lando Norris, who was penalized with an additional 10 seconds at the end for speeding under yellow flags.
"It was a very good race. Of course, already in qualifying the car was much better, and today those first tires (medium hard) were very, very fast. Lando and I were within 1,8 seconds of each other all the time , we pushed each other. It was fun," added Ferstapen, who won this 63rd career.
The Dutch driver said that he had the biggest problem in defending first place in the 40th lap, when after the departure of the safety car, Norris attacked.
"It was a bit 'spicy' in the first corner, but I think it's great to see. And then after that we drove to the end with a good pace, so we're very happy to win here," said the 27-year-old driver.
Second place was taken by Charles Leclerc from Ferrari, who stated that he would have agreed to finish in this position before the race.
"I'm really happy, I mean honestly, I'd sign a piece of paper saying we'd finish second after a weekend like this. Especially on this track because the characteristics of our car don't match it. We knew it was going to be a tough weekend for us in compared to McLaren, but in the end we managed to take some points, so it will be a battle until the last race in Abu Dhabi next Sunday," Leclerc said of McLaren and Ferrari's battle for the title in constructor order.
McLaren leads the race by 21 points before the end. The British team won the last title in 1998, while Ferrari last won the constructors' championship 16 years ago.
The fight in the Constructors' Championship was also commented on by Oskar Pjastri from McLaren, who finished the race in third position.
"I didn't see what Lando Norris got the penalty for, but it's obviously quite big. It's going to be an exciting end to the year. I hope we can be strong, we need to do our best and get the job done," added the Australian driver.
In the drivers' championship, Verstappen leads with 429 points, second-placed Norris has 80 points less, and Leclerc is eight points behind Norris in third position.
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