Said to have deliberately courted a €50k fine at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix in a battle of wits against Mercedes, Max Verstappen says it “didn’t happen that way”, although he doesn’t recall the exact scenario.

Verstappen won his first of four F1 World Championship titles in 2021, coming out on top in a tension-fraught season in which he and Lewis Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel for the title.

Were Max Verstappen’s actions premeditated?

Trading blows on the track, and their team principals trading verbal barbs away from it, the protagonists recorded 14 one-two results as momentum swung back-and-forth with Verstappen winning the title in a final lap shoot-out at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He finished the season eight points ahead of Hamilton in the standings, but potential

See Full Page