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Kelly Piquet saw drained Verstappen: 'Think I'd die reliving that'
Max Verstappen would not want to relive the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for anything. In Red Bull's Talking Bull podcast, Verstappen talked about that day. If he had to do it again now, he said he would have a heart attack.
In Red Bull's podcast, Verstappen was asked several questions by fans. They had sent in questions on all sorts of topics, mainly to look back at 2024. However, the title race in 2021 also briefly came up again, when Verstappen was asked about a moment he would like to relive.
How Verstappen looks back on 2021
"I wouldn't want to relive Brazil, because it was so emotionally draining as well that day that I cannot do that again. It's the same as, for me, like reliving my first title, that day, I think I'd die, honestly [of a] heartattack. Because I remember people that saw me that day, especially my girlfriend Kelly [Piquet], she came into my room before the race. And I think normally before a race, I'm not really that nervous. I mean, you're just well-prepared, and there might be some nerves that you want to do well, but she said my hands were like ice cold. Again, you really don't want to relive these kinds of moments. They're amazing to look at, but not to relive."
But Verstappen endured that day and won his first world title. In Brazil 2024, Jos Verstappen played an important role in calming Max down, as he said in an earlier question in the podcast. Verstappen destroyed his entire room after qualifying, but a calm Jos calmed Max down, after which he drove from P17 to victory in the rain.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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