Abu Dhabi 2021, off-camera handshake Hamilton-Horner: “A gentleman”

Off-camera handshake between Horner and Hamilton

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix it was the worthy culmination of a probably unrepeatable season. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton showed up at Yas Marina tied in the standings in the final act of a season already full of moments of great tension, a championship which saw the Dutchman and the Englishman fighting wheel to wheel in practically all the races with controversial episodes, some of which resulted in sensational contacts such as those recorded at Silverstone, Monza and Jeddah.

In Abu Dhabi Lewis Hamilton seemed headed towards victory and, consequently, his eighth world title in F1, but Nicholas Latifi's accident and the resulting Safety Car reopened the game at the end. The decisions of Race Director Michael Masi put Verstappen in a position to attack Hamilton in the only lap available with fresh soft tires against the worn hard ones of the Mercedes driver and the Red Bull driver placed the decisive overtaking in Turn-5 without leaving his rival any chance of reply.

The Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that Lewis Hamilton's elegance went beyond what was broadcast live on TV: “We have to take our hats off to how Lewis Hamilton reacted after what happened at the end of the race – Horner's words to the microphones of Sky Sports UK – if you consider that he had just seen the legend's eighth title fade away, he maintained remarkable dignity and composure. In the podium room she even shook my hand having the grace to compliment me. From my point of view, Hamilton paid for an overly conservative approach from Mercedes. They were faster than us, but they left him on the track with hard tires after he had done more than 40 laps and under the Safety Car regime it means exposing yourself to great risks.”