Max Verstappen feared for father's life after beating Lewis Hamilton in F1 decider

Max Verstappen has revealed he thought his father, Jos, would suffer a heart attack after his victory over Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi last month. The Dutch driver claimed the first title of his career with victory in the Middle East. Yet it was a dramatic day and, now, the Red Bull star has opened up on his emotions.

Verstappen went into the final race of the F1 season looking to end Hamilton's dominance of the sport.

And the Red Bull driver did just that, with an incident involving a safety car allowing him to reign supreme.

The final race of the F1 season was a classic, one that will be talked about for many years to come due to the controversy of the afternoon.

Now, Verstappen has admitted that he feared for his father's life and was worried the 49-year-old would suffer a heart attack because of the drama.

"I thought he could die because it looked like he was about to have a heart attack," he's quoted as saying by The Irish Times.

"He was so pale, it was incredible. His skin colour was definitely not healthy."

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When quizzed on what they said to each other, he added: "Like: 'We did it!'"

Verstappen also revealed he took Jos by surprise with a daring overtaking manoeuvre on turn five of the deciding lap.

The Red Bull driver said: "I knew I had more grip so I was like: 'I'm going to surprise them on that corner.'

"Even my dad didn't expect me to do it there.

"These kind of things make the difference. But two long straights were coming up."

Verstappen labelled his victory over Hamilton as 'crazy' while admitting the emotions of the day took a toll.

"I couldn't believe it - especially after the whole race when everything looked like it was not happening," he added.

"Suddenly your emotions swing 100 per cent the other