Despite qualifying second behind his closest rival for the title, Lewis Hamilton made a great start and took the race lead at the first corner, a position he would virtually never lose (Perez ran first for six laps before stopping). until the last lap of the race after a completely crazy finish at the Abu Dhabi GP.
Although it is true that he took the lead in the first meters, Max Verstappen did not give up and after the first long straight, he tried to overtake him at turn 5, but the Briton defended himself absolutely with everything and went out through the loophole keeping the lead, a move that raised a lot of controversy but which the race management decided not to investigate.
At that point, Hamilton’s race turned out to be fairly easy, until a Safety Car with five laps to go changed everything. Verstappen pitted and fitted new soft tyres, while Hamilton stayed on track on well-worn hard tyres.
With just one lap to go, the Safety Car turned off the lights and left both title contenders separated by millimeters and with everything on the line. With the obvious difference in pace between one and the other, Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton relatively easily, from there he held the lead for the rest of the last lap to finish crossing the finish line in first place.
Lewis Hamilton for his part and after leading almost all the laps of the race saw his chances of winning the eighth title vanish after a race finish at the height of one of the most intense seasons in the history of Formula 1.
With the heat of the battle still present, Hamilton wanted to congratulate Verstappen on the title as soon as he got out of the car: “Yes, well, first of all, I want to send a big congratulations to Max and his entire team. I think we did a job unbelievable this year. It’s been the toughest of seasons.”
“I’m very proud of the whole team, very grateful to be part of the journey with them. And yes, we gave it our all in this last part of the season, we gave it our all and we never gave up. And that’s the most important thing.” added the British pilot.
Finally, Hamilton wanted to send a message to all his fans and did not want to say anything about the upcoming 2022 season: “If I’m honest, you know, we are still in the middle of the pandemic and I really want everyone to stay safe and have a good time.” Christmas with their families and then yes, we’ll see what happens next year.”
Hamilton and Verstappen at the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP:
