Laurent Mekies has assured Zak Brown that Max Verstappen will ‘race cleanly’ at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen was involved in a controversial incident with Lewis Hamilton in his last Abu Dhabi title decider in 2021. Back then, the top two drivers were level on points.

Verstappen started on pole, but Hamilton sailed through at the start. The Dutchman picked up a slipstream down the DRS straight at the start of sector two and attempted a lunge into the ensuing chicane.

It looked as if the two drivers were about to make contact, but Hamilton took avoiding action and cut across the run-off. Despite Verstappen’s protests, the stewards decided not to investigate, though the dispute was later overshadowed.

Four years on, Verstappen arrives at Yas Marina 12 points behind McLaren driver Lando Norris, but Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has ruled out any desperate tactics from his star man.

Laurent Mekies says ‘it’s a given’ that Max Verstappen will be clean vs McLaren

The topic of dark arts came up during the team principals’ press conference on Friday, which featured both Mekies and McLaren counterpart Zak Brown.

Earlier in the week, David Croft had suggested that Oscar Piastri could back his rivals up, the same tactic Lewis Hamilton used in 2016. By compressing the pack, he could create more jeopardy.

But Brown says McLaren intend to ‘race hard, race clean’, and Mekies echoed that message. He does, however, hope that Yuki Tsunoda will be competitive enough to take points off McLaren in his final race for Red Bull.

“I think it’s even quite refreshing to see that we’re not even discussing whether we are going to race cleanly or not,” Mekies said. “It’s a given that the guys out there will race cleanly.

“Do we need a strong Yuki to put as many cars between Max and the rest of the group if we are strong enough to lead with Max? Yes. So, we need a strong Yuki.

“We need a strong Mercedes. We need a strong Ferrari. We need a strong everything. But as Zak said, it’s going to be, I’m sure, a fantastic fight, and it will keep us all very awake until the last lap.”

In 2021, Sergio Perez cost Hamilton several seconds by holding him up on track. This time loss proved to be crucial, denying the Mercedes driver a free pit stop during a late safety-car period.

Max Verstappen explains why he can’t back Lando Norris up

Verstappen is a driver who races on the edge of the rules, so much so that he came within one penalty point of a race ban earlier this year.

But Verstappen says he won’t hold Norris up on Sunday, partly because the layout is likely to render the strategy ineffective. Changes to the track in 2021 made it significantly faster.

If Verstappen drives deliberately slowly, the risk of the driver behind cruising past is too great.

There are plenty of permutations, but in all likelihood, the reigning world champion must win and hope Norris doesn’t score a podium if he’s to retain his title.