“At his age,” Verstappen said, “to be so strong, not make big mistakes, and of course also beat his experienced teammate, he just drove amazing, and I’m very proud of him, the way he behaved this whole season.”
Lando Norris, the outgoing world champion, was also full of praise.
“This couldn’t have been entrusted to a better person,” he said. “He’s a genuine guy, very, very nice, and he drove incredibly well this year, better than anyone expected of him.
“He certainly hasn’t had an easy season in terms of incredibly high competition. He competed against the best drivers in the world, all in very good cars, and he blew everyone away.
“I hope everyone gives him enough credit for what he accomplished this year. He made everyone look stupid. He drove very well and he was able to adapt to his car, he worked hard to understand how to drive this car and he exploited it better than anyone.”
“So he should be very proud. He made history and I’m very, very happy for him.”
For Antonelli, the difficulties of the last year were formative and crucial to what he was able to achieve.
“The fact that some people said I didn’t belong in F1,” he said, “or that I wasn’t ready for it – which at one point last year I probably felt like I wasn’t – being able to experience those moments made me a lot more ready going into this year.”
“Experiencing very low and difficult situations, high pressure moments, really helped me deal with certain situations this year and definitely made me mature a lot as a driver, as a person.
“Again this year I had moments where I could have done better, a lot better, so it’s just a constant learning process.
“Last year, being able to race directly at Mercedes, obviously under the spotlight, made me grow a lot faster than if I had gone to a small team, for example.
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