If there are racing gods then they were with Lewis Hamilton for 99-percent of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before deciding to switch sides and go with Max Verstappen on the very last lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. On equal points, the two title protagonists started the race on the front row, Verstappen on pole, Hamilton second. This was a winner takes all race for the F1 world drivers title. Verstappen looked and sounded calm before the storm, however, the pole sitter’s exterior shell cracked when he made a nervous start allowing Hamilton to zoom into the lead. But Verstappen fought back and used his late braking, late steering maneuver to force Hamilton off-track in the run-up to the turn 9 hairpin.
Aware of Verstappen’s technique, Hamilton was forced to cut the corner and decided to use the run-off area to retain position. The stewards determined Verstappen forced hamilton wide, no advantage was gained and thus allowed Hamilton to remain in the lead. Hamilton soon built up a 5-second buffer and looked in firm control of the race. Indeed the Mercedes was clearly better in race trim, Verstappen could see his world championship hopes slowly slipping away.
After the first round of pitstops, Hamilton emerged behind a yet to Pit Sergio Perez. Perez then spent 1-lap holding Hamilton back and allowing Verstappen to close the six-second gap to just over 1.5-seconds. When Hamilton found a way past, he soon built up yet another 6-second buffer over Verstappen. Hamilton was in complete control of the race and his destiny.
Even a change for fresh tyres on lap 36 under Virtual Safety Car conditions did little to assist Verstappen. With laps running out, the Red Bull did not have enough pace on newer tyres to close the gap. However racing gods were observing. Nicolas Latifi of Williams crashed in the Hotel section of the track, this brought out a safety car with 5 laps to go.
Verstappen pitted for new tyres while Hamilton remained on over 30 lap-old tyres. Initially, it looked as though the race would finish under a safety car. However, the stricken Williams was removed quicker than anticipated. The race was then thrown into confusion as the race director initially instructed lapped cars would not be able to overtake to un-lap themselves before seemingly changing his mind at the last minute.
Hamilton was a sitting duck, with the safety car period over, on older tyres and with one lap to go, he had no answer to the racing gods. Verstappen went for the kill and inevitably forced his way into the lead. Hamilton fought back going wheel to wheel with Verstappen but in the end, had little left to give as he could only watch Verstappen cross the line, win the race and claim his first world championship.
It was a controversial end to a race that Hamilton was in full control of until that last lap. Mercedes did launch a protest about the questionable safety car call, but it failed. Nevertheless, after Hamilton’s record domination of the driver’s championship, it is good for F1 that it has a new champion. But the controversy over the last lap will run for years to come.
2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Race Results
1) Max Verstappen Red Bull
2) Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2.256s
3) Carlos Sainz Ferrari 5.173s
4) Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 5.692s
5) Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 6.531s
6) Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 7.463s
7) Lando Norris McLaren 59.200s
8) Fernando Alonso Alpine 61.708s
9) Esteban Ocon Alpine 64.026s
10) Charles Leclerc Ferrari 66.057s
11) Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 67.527s
12) Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1 LAP
13) Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1 LAP
14) Mick Schumacher Haas 1 LAP
DNFs
Sergio Perez Red Bull
Nicholas Latifi Williams crash
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo gearbox
George Russell Williams
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo brakes
