Horner praises Hamilton 'respect' and 'dignity' in 2021

The battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in 2021 wasclosely fought. Mercedes and Red Bull did not give each other aninch on and off the track, leaving Verstappen and Hamilton exactlyequal prior to the final race in Abu Dhabi. The outcome, of course,is well known. Hamilton was headed for his eighth WorldChampionship until Nicholas Latifi crashed in the closing stagesand prompted a Safety Car. Race director Michael Masi decided toremove the cars with a lap gap between Hamilton and Verstappen,creating a one-lap shoot-out. Verstappen, unlike Hamilton, hadstopped for softs, overtook his rival at Turn 4. He managed to hangon to the lead for the rest of the lap, and with it took his firstF1 title. According to Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner,it was already an achievement that Verstappen could match Hamiltonin 2021. "That season was a heavyweight bout from the first race inBahrain to the last race in Abu Dhabi," Horner told the podcastSecrets of Success . "That was two drivers and two teams thatraised themselves to probably levels they didn't know they had. Forus to go into that final race, tied on points with Mercedes withLewis was a huge achievement. "I got the whole team together beforethe race and spoke to them all and said 'Guys, whatever happenstoday, we've had an incredible journey to get to where we are todayand what will happen today will will happen but the most importantthing is to go out there that we give our best and we enjoy it.'"'Embrace your nerves because you're all going to be nervous, thatpitstop becomes more important than it's ever been. But through thework and effort, it's not just about today, it's everything thatyou've done that 21 races preceding that that's put us in thisposition. So let's go out there, give it everything.'" Hornerrespectful of Hamilton Horner agrees that things could have turnedout very differently: "For a long part of the race. Things didn'tlook like they were going our way. "But we took risks with pitstopsand strategy, took an attacking route as opposed to a defensiveroute, because we have nothing to lose and everything to gain." Inthe end, Verstappen would take the title by passing a disillusionedHamilton on the final lap. Horner had great respect for thereaction of the Briton, who came out to congratulate him after therace. "I felt the way that Lewis handled that disappointment afterthe race, hats off to him because again, he would have been evenmore disappointed," said Horner. "Record breaking WorldChampionship has just disappeared, but he handled himself withdignity and respect. "I shook his hand in the drivers room afterthe race, and he had the good grace to say well done." Hornerbelieves Mercedes should have been more considerate to Hamiltonduring the Safety Car, given the amount of laps he already done onhis set of tyres. "A lot is made about the final lap, but Mercedeswent into that race and they were quicker than us in the GrandPrix," said Horner. "Lewis was able to manage the gap to Max prettycomfortably. But then they went very defensive, they went veryconservative, and they left Lewis out on a set of tyres that were43 laps old. "So he was only ever at a Safety Car gonna be hugelyexposed. I think in being defensive, they exposed themselves to thesituation that unfolded."