12/12/2021
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda: "I'm so happy, what an incredible result to end the season with. I think overall this weekend the car has been really strong, I didn't expect the race pace to be quite as good but in the end it has been a great day. It's amazing to be finishing the season on such a high, it's been a long journey getting back to this point, but I've really rebuilt my confidence and it's great heading into the off-season with this incredible result. Huge congratulations to Max, it was such a tough battle throughout the season and I think he really deserved it today. I want to thank him also for giving this great result to Honda, as he's given them the best way to celebrate their last year in F1."
Pierre Gasly: "I'm extremely happy to finish in P5 today, it's the best way to end this year. It's been an incredible season, the most successful for us as a team in 15 years, we've scored a lot of points and there have been many highlights. We've focused on ourselves every single race and I think we've performed well this season, so I'm really proud of everyone. I'm really pleased for Max, we grew up racing together, we knew he would have been World Champion one day and he did it today. It's well deserved and I'm also happy for Honda, after all the years of hard work they've managed to get this Championship in their final year."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "What a fantastic end to the season! Congratulations to Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen for bringing home the Drivers' World Championship tonight! With regards to our race in the midfield, Yuki has put together his best weekend of the season, delivering a very strong performance to secure a fourth place finish. Pierre has shown his skill and composure with a good recovery from a difficult Qualifying to bring his car home fifth, adding further points to what is the highest points tally ever scored by the team. The trackside team, drivers and also the staff back in Faenza and Bicester should be very proud with what they have achieved this year. The car and team performed very well in what is a very competitive midfield, demonstrating another clear step forward in the team's development. We will now close the season with the test, then a well-deserved break before we head off into the 2022 season."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "What an unbelievable race for the final round here in Abu Dhabi. Congratulations to Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing and Honda for winning the World Championship title, they did an incredible job during the year and Max really deserved this. This year he was the fastest driver and the team did a fantastic job.
"We are also happy from our side, because today we brought home a very good race result, the best of the year, and collected 22 points with Yuki in 4th and Pierre in 5th position, having started the race in 8th and 12th. We mixed up the strategy, with Yuki starting the race on the Mediums whilst Pierre was on a new set of hard tyres. Both of them did a very clever first stint and managed their tyres very well. Pierre got caught up behind Alonso, I think he could've been much faster but nevertheless, thanks to the safety car and very good strategy decisions, the team managed to cross the chequered flag with both drivers in the top 5. We finish the season on 142 points, this is the highest we've ever scored in the history of the team and only 13 points behind Alpine. The team made a big step forward in all areas and I'm now really looking forward to next year with hopefully a competitive new car to fight for strong positions."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Yas Marina, here.