Abu Dhabi GP
The Dutchman was proclaimed champion in a last lap that is already world motorsport history and that Mercedes protested
Max Emilian Verstappen has become the 34th Formula 1 world champion after winning a final that, how could it be otherwise, even had a protest in the offices. The Dutch driver won the most exciting Abu Dhabi GP in recent years to close a season of the season with a flourish. Who has not yet gotten on the boat of this sport does not know what is lost.
And speaking of defeated, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes succumbed. After four consecutive titles, the Briton was only one lap away from winning the eighth championship that would have allowed him to touch the sun with his hands. He just caressed it, which is not small. After being the great dominator for a good part of the last race of the year, he ended up kissing the canvas due to a series of circumstances that, in perspective, were not all his fault.
The race started with controversy, how could it be otherwise. Verstappen was stuck at the start and allowed Hamilton to take the lead in the opening corners of the first lap… until that poor start was made up for. In one of the fearsome chicanes, the Dutchman strangled his rival who, forced, went off the track. Hamilton thus recovered the first position and, far from having to return it as dictated by the regulations (what happened in Jeddah a week before was very fresh), they left him without even investigating.
Michael Masi, the race director, showed that his judgment is fickle depending on the context: what in Saudi Arabia was considered worthy of a Verstappen sanction, here it was considered a race action and only asked Hamilton to give up the advantage obtained but not the position. For practical purposes, they allowed him to stay first.
A few championship numbers
This decision forced Red Bull to take the strategic lead of the race. They ordered Verstappen to pit to make his first stop and fit hard tires. The objective was to try to force Mercedes to act and they did, but by the most conservative tactic: they copied the stop. Hamilton held the position with his enemy, who saw how rhythm made it impossible to hunt him down. A second actor entered the scene: Sergio Pérez. The Mexican showed in just a few laps the advantage of having two pilots and that one can act as a squire. While Bottas was neither there nor expected in the final battle, ‘Checo’ was asked to defend the first temporary position (he still had to stop in the pits at that time). He widened, put his elbows out, and held off Hamilton’s stakes as long as he could and longer for Verstappen to cut back the time he needed. This action was key: although Hamilton was the one who was ahead, the Dutchman found himself in a perfect position to attempt an attack against a possible security car, real or virtual, and both appeared.
Red Bull beats Mercedes the game
Antonio Giovinazzi was left stranded in the middle of the track (he had previously left Kimi Raikkonen as the culmination of his sporting career before retiring), so the virtual safety car made its appearance on the track. Red Bull reacted and sent Verstappen into the pits to put on new hard tires. Hamilton and Mercedes, on the other hand, were blocked. The Dutchman began to cut time until he was just under 10 seconds before the end of the race and, with it, the World Cup. Hamilton seemed to be settled when, in a final dash stroke, the cruel fate that awaited Mercedes and Hamilton.
Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams and forced the safety car out, this the real one, to which Red Bull decided to throw all or nothing: they ordered Verstappen to go back in to put on soft tires. Mercedes, again, was blocked. They couldn’t do much and the play was perfect for Red Bull, because the FIA decided that the race would resume with just one lap. Here Verstappen demonstrated why he is a champion on good merits: he cooked during the first corners the final overtaking of Hamilton, who helplessly watched him lose the title. His desperate screams were overshadowed by those of Toto Wolff, who led the protest to the FIA for two actions: an alleged overshooting of Red Bull over his pupil with yellow flags and not having complied with the regulations of the bent after the safety car , because the FIA decided that some could be unfolded and others could not. In both claims, Mercedes was scalded. Four hours after the checkered flag, Max Verstappen was officially named 2021 world champion.
The perfect closure for Carlos Sainz
In the midst of the chaos, the sixth podium in Carlos Sainz’s sports career was in the background. Cooked from 5th on the grid on Saturday, the Madrilenian found himself in third place in the race due to the final abandonment of Sergio Pérez (Red Bull feared a new safety car at the end and the Mexican’s engine gave worrying data). This result allows the Spaniard to finish in a great 5th position in his first season with Ferrari, in which he has also not abandoned any races. Almost unbeatable.
Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, could not finish with such good feelings. He was 8th, in a relatively gray race because he was not in the fight to get higher. Although he played a ‘counterfoot’ strategy (he started with hard tires), he accepted those two final points that allow him to complete his year back in 10th place, with his best harvest of points since 2014 and ahead of Esteban Ocon. From now on, to think about ‘The Plan’ of 2022.
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