Watch: Max Verstappen's wholesome hug with Sergio Perez after beating Lewis Hamilton to F1 championship

Ever since Daniel Ricciardo departed for Renault at the end of 2018, Red Bull hasn’t had a driver that could support Max Verstappen while fighting for the win. Although Sergio Perez has been far more consistent in delivering strong performances since joining this year, he has suffered from the same weakness that his predecessors at Red Bull have done – qualifying.

However, “Checo” Perez played a crucial role in helping his teammate at the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by putting up a spectacular fight against a charging Lewis Hamilton. Despite being on nearly 21 laps-old soft tires, Perez successfully held up Hamilton just long enough for Verstappen to close the gap.

After sealing his first F1 world title, Verstappen thanked Perez for his efforts with a wholesome hug at the Parc Ferme.

You can watch the video here:

Apart from a few races, Sergio Perez has been nearly half-a-second adrift of Max Verstappen’s qualifying pace throughout the season, thereby compromising his grid position for the race.

This meant Mercedes has often had more strategic options, while Max Verstappen has had to resist pressure from Valtteri Bottas in addition to title rival Lewis Hamilton, without much support from his own teammate.

Max Verstappen samples 18-inch tires at the Pirelli tire test in Abu Dhabi

Newly-crowned F1 world champion Max Verstappen is still in Abu Dhabi for Pirelli’s 18-inch tire test along with most drivers from the 2022 grid.

F1 is ushering in a new era for next year, with a radical new formula, which is supposed to make the cars easier to follow, thereby allowing closer racing. The new technical regulations also aim to make F1 car design and technologies relevant to the real world and have actual applications in the automotive sector.

As part of the extensive changes, the current smaller and grippier 13-inch tires are being ditched in favor of the larger 18-inch tires. Throughout this year, all the teams have done at least one test sampling of the tires and have given their feedback to Pirelli – F1’s official tire supplier.

For the Abu Dhabi test, Pirelli has brought the final specs of the tires that will be in place from next year onwards.