Mercedes-AMG and defending champ Lewis Hamilton have been left shell-shocked after the 2021 Formula One season came down to a controversial decision on the final lap, which saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen snatch race victory and the F1 title against the odds.
The 2021 Formula One championship was decided on the final 5.3km lap of a thrilling 22-race season in a race destined to be shrouded in controversy for years to come.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won his first Formula One championship after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in dramatic circumstances overnight – and after his team boss had effectively conceded defeat.
Verstappen’s victory – the result of a contentious one-lap dash to the finish after a safety car period ended prematurely and amid confusion – prevented reigning champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-AMG) from winning an unprecedented eighth F1 championship title.
The title rivals had repeatedly clashed in the tightest F1 contest in decades, and were tied on championship points going into the finale.
Verstappen struggled from the first lap – despite qualifying fastest for the race – and Hamilton looked set to cruise to victory.
Hamilton was so dominant – despite repeated attempts by Verstappen to close the gap – Red Bull team boss Christian Horner all but conceded defeat 10 laps before the end of the finish: “The pace of the Mercedes is just too strong today. Max is driving his heart out there. We’re going to need a miracle in these last 10 laps to turn it around. He’ll give it everything, but the clock’s ticking.”
Hamilton’s perfect race unravelled amid confusion around safety car rules.
A safety car was deployed six laps from the finish to recover the stranded Williams F1 car of Nicholas Latifi, who had crashed into a barrier on a dangerous section of the circuit.
Initially, the F1 field followed the safety car in running order.
With Verstappen languishing 12 seconds behind Hamilton, his Red Bull team made a tactical decision to stop for fresh tyres while the safety car was circulating – while Hamilton elected to stay on the circuit to maintain his leading track position.
There was then confusion among teams and race officials whether lapped F1 cars should be allowed to pass the safety car and rejoin the back of the field – which would have put Verstappen right behind Hamilton for the sprint to the finish.
Or whether the F1 field should remain in running order, which would have made it next to impossible for Verstappen to catch Hamilton through the traffic in just one lap.
While F1 commentators were debating whether or not the race was destined to finish as a procession behind the safety car, officials instructed the five lapped cars positioned between Hamilton and Verstappen to pass the safety car and rejoin the back of the field.
Then, moments later, the safety car was pulled off the circuit.
This scenario put Verstappen directly behind Hamilton on the restart for the final lap and, within a few corners, Verstappen pounced, easily passing Hamilton thanks to the Red Bull F1 car
’s fresher and grippier tyres.
As the title contenders tussled on the last lap, Mercedes-AMG F1 boss Toto Wolff pleaded with the race director over the radio: “No, Michael, no. Michael (Masi) this isn’t right.”
After the chequered flag, Wolff said: “You need to reinstate the lap before (the last lap), that’s not right.”
The race director replied: “Toto, it’s called a motor race, we went car racing,” indicating F1 officials wanted to avoid ending a thrilling season with a procession behind a safety car.
After the race, the Mercedes-AMG F1 team lodged a protest with race officials over the decision to allow only a certain number of lapped vehicles to pass the safety car.However, immediately after the race, both drivers congratulated each other.
“Lewis is an amazing driver and an amazing competitor, they really made it really hard for us,” Verstappen told F1 broadcasters.
“We had some tough times, but I think that’s all part of the sport. It’s emotion. Everyone wants to win and it could have gone either way of course today. Next year we’ll come back and try it all over again.”
An emotional Verstappen – who had previously claimed race officials were against him during the season, but who benefited from a critical decision by race organisers in the closing laps of the final race – said: “My goal when I was little was to become a Formula One driver … and you hope one day they play your (national anthem as a champion).”
A clearly rattled Hamilton – who took a few minutes to compose himself before getting out of the car after the race – told F1 broadcasters: “Firstly, a big congratulations to Max and to his team. I think we did an amazing job this year … everyone worked so hard this year. This last part of the season we gave it absolutely everything and we never gave up.”
There was some consolation for Mercedes-Benz, winning the F1 constructor’s title for the eighth year in a row.
Except for the final lap of the 58-lap race, Hamilton looked set to cruise to victory in what was shaping up as an anti-climax after a thrilling season.
Hamilton got a dream start and was ahead of Verstappen by the first turn, after the Red Bull driver struggled with speed off the line.
With Verstappen hunting down Hamilton, the pair banged wheels on just the sixth corner of the first lap.
Verstappen made a daring lunge under brakes, forcing Hamilton off the track, in the process short-cutting the corner.
While race officials considered whether Hamilton should be forced to give back the position, Hamilton appeared to slow briefly – to return to the same leading margin he had over Verstappen just prior to the incident – and then sped away and built up a commanding lead.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team asked to have the incident reviewed, but race officials deemed no further action should be taken because Hamilton didn’t gain an advantage.
A “shocked” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told F1 broadcasters “we’ve failed to see” where Hamilton gave back his advantage.
Race officials again came under criticism for “a total lack of consistency” in terms of enforcing penalties for similar driving infringements.
“Lewis gained an advantage by going off the track,” said Horner. “He didn’t concede it, he didn’t give anything back.”
The Mercedes-AMG team said Hamilton was forced to take evasive action due to Verstappen’s daring passing move.
While the incident received much attention early in the race, it wasn’t a deciding factor.
Although Verstappen qualified fastest, the Dutchman started the race with the disadvantage of “soft” tyres that wear more quickly than the medium-wearing tyres chosen by Hamilton.
Verstappen had planned to start the race on medium-wearing tyres, but a brief brake lock-up in qualifying – which damaged a front tyre – forced the Red Bull driver to choose a softer tyre option.
While Hamilton established a gap in the first dozen or so laps of the 58-lap race, the two title contenders were on an even footing after Verstappen stopped for fresh tyres on lap 14, while Hamilton did the same on lap 15.
Verstappen was able to close the gap to Hamilton after Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez made it difficult for Hamilton to pass, with the pair swapping track position a number of times on laps 20 and 21.
In the end, Hamilton made a passing move on Perez that stuck, but the tussle enabled Verstappen to catch up, reducing Hamilton’s leading margin of six seconds to just 1.2 seconds.
Verstappen’s gain was short-lived, however, and Hamilton was again able to establish a commanding lead.
A virtual safety car on lap 37 – which requires all F1 cars to slow while officials recover a stranded vehicle from the circuit – gifted Verstappen an opportunity to stop for fresh tyres, while Hamilton stayed out.
This reduced the gap between Hamilton and Verstappen to 17 seconds – and Hamilton initially seemed concerned the Red Bull driver might catch him.
But Verstappen was only able to close the gap to 12 seconds behind Hamilton with five laps remaining, which should have delivered Hamilton a comfortable race win and an eighth F1 championship.
In the end, the crashed Williams of Nicholas Latifi – and the safety car it prompted – gifted Verstappen another opportunity to stop for fresh tyres six laps from the finish because he had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The two championship contenders had swapped the points lead five times throughout the 2021 season, and Verstappen had built up a 32-point margin by round eight of the 22-race calendar.
But following a charge by Hamilton late in the season, he and Verstappen went into the final race of the championship tied on points in a winner-takes-all contest.
It was the only the second time in F1 history – since 1974 – the top two drivers were equal on points going into the last race.
It was a stark contrast to recent F1 seasons where the dominance of Hamilton and Mercedes-AMG delivered monotonous predictability and processional races.
The 2021 season has been widely regarded as the best F1 racing between the top two drivers since the Alain Prost/Ayrton Senna battle of the late 1980s.
F1 commentators described the contest between Hamilton and Verstappen as “once-in-a-generation drivers whose careers have overlapped” who had “lifted themselves to another level.”
Tellingly, both Hamilton and Verstappen were almost a second-per-lap faster – daylight in racing terms – than their teammates in identical cars.
Meanwhile, Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo ended a disappointing season in 12th place in Abu Dhabi after qualifying 10th fastest – behind teammate Lando Norris who finished seventh and qualified third – after again struggling to come to grips with his McLaren following his win in Monza earlier this year.
2021 F1 season: Hamilton versus Verstappen
Race wins: Hamilton 8, Verstappen 10
Pole positions: Hamilton 5, Verstappen 10
Podium finishes: Hamilton 17, Verstappen 18
Fastest laps: Hamilton 6, Verstappen 6
Data below supplied by F1.com, compiled by Emma Notarfrancesco.
Race results: Round 22, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
| Position | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes-AMG |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes |
| 14 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari |
| DNF | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing-Honda |
| DNF | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes |
| DNF | Antonio Giovanazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari |
| DNF | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes |
| DNF | Kimi R | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari |
2021 Drivers’ Championship after Round 22, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
| Position | Driver | Team | Pts |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 395.5 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG | 387.5 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes-AMG | 226 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 190 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 164.5 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 160 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 159 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 115 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 110 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 81 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 74 |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 43 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 34 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 32 |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 16 |
| 16 | Kimi R | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 10 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 7 |
| 18 | Antonio Giovanazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 3 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 0 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 0 |
2021 Constructors’ Championship after Round 22, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
| Position | Team | Pts |
| 1 | Mercedes | 613.5 |
| 2 | Red Bull Racing-Honda | 585.5 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 323.5 |
| 4 | McLaren-Mercedes | 275 |
| 5 | Alpine Renault | 155 |
| 6 | AlphaTauri-Honda | 142 |
| 7 | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 77 |
| 8 | Williams-Mercedes | 23 |
| 9 | Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 13 |
| 10 | Haas-Ferrari | 0 |
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