Max Verstappen picks his 'most emotional' title triumph out of the 4 campaigns

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said his 2021 championship was the "most emotional" for him given the context of the achievement. The Dutch driver achieved his life goal of becoming the F1 world champion in the season-finale in Abu Dhabi against Lewis Hamilton in what was deemed a controversial result by many in the F1 fraternity.

While the 27-year-old has added three more titles to his name in as many years, the emotions attached to his maiden triumph stand apart. In an appearance on the Talking Bulls podcast episode released on Thursday, December 26, Max Verstappen spoke about the significance of his first tile and claimed that adding multiple titles wouldn't have matched that feeling of winning at the Yas Marina Circuit.

"The first one will always be the most emotional one, because for me at that point it felt like my career in F1 is completed because that is the ultimate goal. You can win two, three more four more it's the same thing it's nice to add a few but the first one that is your ultimate goal achieved," Verstappne said (at 8:38).

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton went into the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale level on points after competing in arguably one of the most thrilling and closely fought campaigns in F1 history.

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Max Verstappen recalls the emotions ahead of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said he did not like to think about the controversial season finale leading to his first championship win and claimed he would have a "heart attack" thinking about that day.

On the aforementioned podcast episode, the Dutch spoke about feeling an extraordinary amount of nerves ahead of the main race due to the significance of the moment, saying:

“(R)eliving my first title, that day I think I would die, honestly, a heart attack, 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," he said.

"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 ice cold. So again, you really don't want to relive these kinds of moments. I mean they're amazing to look at but not to relive.” [18:43 - 19:13]

On the final lap of the race, Max Verstappen pushed through a massive cramp on his right leg to make the pass on Lewis Hamilton at the first time of asking into Turn 5 and managed to hold off the challenge from the British for the remainder of the lap.

The Red Bull driver ultimately achieved his goal at the end of the race and became the first driver from his country to become an F1 world champion.