Hello Sergio Pérez, dear Checo,

Did you know that in the Netherlands five million people stuffed their fists in their mouths when you were tapping all the corners of the Abu Dhabi circuit with Lewis Hamilton? You played with Lewis like a cat with a ball of yarn or like André Hazes with a new girlfriend. You threw yourself into it completely, until it really couldn't go on anymore.

The previous laps were heavy and dark for us Verstappen fans. A heavily sighing man next to me who mentioned Max's gap to Lewis about every thirty seconds. I really wanted to say that I could also read what was on the TV screen, but give the man his outlet. Meanwhile, I thought of the fairy tale of the hare and the tortoise, do you know that one? The hare is the fastest in the forest, no one can compete with that. But through the course of life, the tortoise wins. I hoped for something like that, like in a fairy tale. I looked at Christian Horner, but his tactics couldn't change this fourteen-second gap either. And then there you were suddenly. Your tires were worn out, but they could still hold on for a bit. And Lewis was suddenly behind you. You realized that you as a team still had a bit of an apple to peel with Lewis (when Max overtook him at the start of the race, he just went hatsekiedee over the blue zone and cut a complete corner and was back in front, no one crowed about it) and decided not to keep to the right like a skittish ferret so that the big Lewis could continue his victory march. So off you went, dancing with the DRS over the circuit. When he overtook, you opened your wing again. ‘This is some serious dangerous racing,’ I heard Lewis stammer over the radio. Uh yeah, but you're not playing chess or korfball, right? And if you find it so dangerous... Braking is not forbidden.

In the end, you had to let him go, but you had managed to gnaw away some crucial seconds from the whole.

But we weren't done yet. So we prayed in the Mobach-van der Horst household for a safety car. Which suddenly came too. Miracles exist. But how long can you let a safety car run? And the lap counting just continued. Would we end this masterful season in a cowardly way under the yellow flag? When the safety car was released and the cars that were a lap down had to make way for Max and Lewis, the real battle could begin. The rest? You know it. The rest is history and lore. Because you made history there and provided Zomergasten (I'll tell you later what that means) material.

And remember, dear Checo: Max is a champion, but you, you are a legend.