Abu Dhabi 2021: The legendary duel between Hamilton and Verstappen

It has been a year since Max Verstappen won the world title at the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi. Read a detailed account of that race weekend and the climax of the 2021 F1 season here.

The 2021 Formula One season

A scriptwriter could not have imagined it more beautifully. After a season fraught with controversy, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen went into the final race weekend with equal points. Verstappen did have more victories behind his name and would therefore be crowned world champion in the event of a tie.

Until then, the 2021 F1 season had already been one of many tipping points. From the first Grand Prix, Verstappen proved competitive with the RB16B and in Emilia Romagna, Verstappen won his first race. Especially between the Monaco GP and the Austrian Grands Prix, Red Bull Racing dominated, but the tide turned in Britain.

After Verstappen and Hamilton had already hit each other several times in Imola and Barcelona (where Verstappen had always emerged victorious), things went wrong again for Hamilton in the sprint race. At his home race in Silverstone, he lost his pole to Verstappen on the first lap and had to start again in the main race. Once he found a gap on the first lap of the main race, he was not going to back down, with all the consequences.

That huge crash by Verstappen set the tone for the rest of the season and the bomb would later burst twice more at the Italian Grand Prix and Saudi Arabia. In between, Mercedes started gaining ground and despite a lead for the Red Bull driver, it looked increasingly likely that Hamilton would win his eighth world title.

Red Bull as the underdog in Abu Dhabi

Arriving in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton was therefore the favourite. The Yas Marina Circuit has always been a good track for the Mercedes cars and in practice sessions that seemed to be the case again. However, with the fastest time in the third free practice, Verstappen showed that he certainly had no intention of giving up.

Still, the tenor at Red Bull was clear: in Abu Dhabi, they were the underdog. Christian Horner already announced that he thought it was very clever that they had come this far. In other words, they settled for second place. Verstappen's pole on Saturday, therefore, came as a huge surprise and showed what shape the young Red Bull driver was in.

To make matters worse for Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas was nowhere to be seen. The Finn had delivered good support for his teammate all year, but at the most important moment of the year the Finn qualified sixth, with major consequences. Indeed, Sergio Perez was in fourth place and would play a crucial role in the race.

Before the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen seems relaxed, but the start shows otherwise. Afterwards, Verstappen will also admit that he made a mistake and lost the lead to Hamilton as a result. Perez does have a good start and closes right behind the pair.

Verstappen knows he has to repair the damage immediately and attacks Hamilton in the hairpin. The Dutchman stays inside the lines when overtaking, but Lewis cuts the corner and keeps his first place. The Sky Sports' commentators argue that Hamilton should give that spot back, but that does not happen. The race committee does not intervene, much to the displeasure of Verstappen and his team.

'Perez is a legend'

Mercedes' race pace was proving too powerful for Red Bull. Hamilton ran further away from Verstappen lap by lap and so Red Bull tried something else. Verstappen was brought in for an undercut and Hamilton responds. Perez, who does stay close to the duo, was left out by Red Bull.

This was not the first time a teammate has played a crucial role in a title fight, but Perez really performed. When Hamilton caught up with him, he passed the Mexican, but the latter hit back. This left Hamilton stuck behind Perez for another lap, and Verstappen's teammate does everything he can to drive as slowly as possible around the track. A lap later, this put Verstappen on the duo's tail, to the horror of Hamilton and Mercedes. Verstappen enjoyed it though and called Checo a legend over the team radio.

Yet even those tactics do not seem enough to beat Mercedes. Hamilton again manages to widen the gap to Verstappen to around 12 seconds. Five laps before the end, it seemed a miracle was needed to help Verstappen still get his first world title and that miracle came in the form of Nicholas Latifi.

The miracle from Canada

Indeed, the Canadian crashed into the wall after a duel with Mick Schumacher. The Williams driver had briefly gone over the dirt and consequently made a mistake at the next corner. His crash necessitated a safety car and fortunately for Verstappen, he was able to go straight in for new tyres. Hamilton could not do this as he would have ceded first place to Verstappen. This was mainly due to the work of Perez, otherwise, Hamilton would have already been able to save a gap big enough to do a pit stop himself.

However, with five laps to go and a stranded Williams on the track, it seemed to end in an anticlimax with a finish behind the safety car. Over the radio, Mercedes and Red Bull Racing were doing everything they could to turn the race in their favour and Michael Masi eventually gave in to the arguments from the Red Bull camp.

Once Latifi's car was removed, Masi and his team opted to leave only some of the stragglers in front to save time. Also, those 'lapped' drivers were only let through on the penultimate lap and it was indicated on the same lap that racing would resume. Fantastic news for the neutral fans, but frustration for Mercedes.

After all, Masi had been creative with the options in the regulations. For instance, it was customary that all lapped cars had to be left in front and were normally given a lap to rejoin. Now the race was started immediately.

Yes, the race director was allowed to overrule the rule, but he had put Hamilton and Mercedes at a huge disadvantage. However, there was not much that could be done about it anymore. The lights went green and so Hamilton had to defend the final lap of 2021 on the hard tyre against the fresh soft tyres under Max's RB16B.

A climax between Hamilton and Verstappen after all

It proved to be a hopeless task, especially when Verstappen surprised his rival by launching the attack as early as turn five. After that, Verstappen had to defend alone and without DRS, Hamilton came alongside alone. Verstappen overcame the cramp that was playing tricks on him in the closing stages of the race to secure his first world title.

A huge celebration erupted at Red Bull Racing, but a bomb had exploded in the garage next door. Toto Wolff and his team were furious with Masi and still are to this day. Mercedes went to the FIA with two cases but were sent back late in the evening with no result. Masi had acted lawfully, according to the FIA, and Mercedes had no leg to stand on.

Red Bull celebrated big at the circuit, but the battle did not seem to be completely over. Mercedes considered a lawsuit, as they really thought it had a case. However, Hamilton had no appetite for winning the world title this way and Mercedes withdrew.

The FIA would conduct another investigation and concluded that individual errors did occur in Abu Dhabi. Masi was removed from his position as race leader and thus became the scapegoat of the Abu Dhabi finale. The title, however, remained in Verstappen's name, which already brings his 2022 title to a total of two world titles.