How Verstappen won the race (and the title with it) will be lodged in the annals of history.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—Netherlands has never had a world champion in any major sport–until tonight. And it took a stroke of luck (a ‘miracle,’ some said) for it to happen.
Thanks to Nicholas Latifi’s accident with five laps to go, Max Verstappen had one final opportunity–on the very last lap–to pass Lewis Hamilton, who had been leading for most of the race. Running on fresh tires (Hamilton’s tires had more than 40 laps of wear), Verstappen did just that, winning for the 10th time in 2021 and seizing his first world title.
Hamilton and Verstappen had controversy right at the start. The two nearly touched at turn six when Verstappen narrowly passed the Briton. Hamilton, seeking to avoid an accident, ran wide and went through the escape route. By lap ten, Hamilton has a significant 3.7-second lead as Verstappen decided to put on harder rubber. Hamilton decided to do the same laps later, which gave Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, the lead, and he became the ideal teammate, slowing Hamilton down, who was now second, so that Verstappen, in third place at the time, could catch up.
But Perez’s maneuver could not stop Hamilton from taking the lead on lap 20 and extending his lead to just above 14 seconds with only ten laps to go. It seemed a certainty that Hamilton and Mercedes would take not only take the Constructor’s title but the Drivers’ championship as well. But that’s when the old adage came true: “It is not over ’til it is over.”
Williams’s driver Nicholas Latifi spun at turn 14 on lap 53, smashing the rear of his car and scattering debris all over the track. It gave the Red Bull team and Verstappen a chance to restart the race closer to Hamilton. That said, four other drivers needed to be pushed out of the way. Those four lapped cars–as it is in all racing formulas–needed to pass the safety car and go around to the back of the grid. At first, the marshals decided against it, which would have given Hamilton the title. But eventually, the idea was implemented, which put Verstappen next to his rival.
As the restart began, Verstappen had only one lap to pass Hamilton, and he did it early. Hamilton came back to battle courageously, but Verstappen held him off to take the checkered flag and win his first world championship.
A stunned Hamilton thanked his team, which still won the Constructor’s title despite losing the race. “The team, everyone back at the factory, all the men and women we have, worked so hard all year in a difficult season. I am so proud of them and so grateful to be part of the journey with them.”
As for others on this final night of racing, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took third–and with that placement–Ferrari finished third in the 2021 Constructors Championship behind Mercedes and Red Bull. Alpha Tauri had a great evening, placing Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly fourth and fifth, while Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes had a quiet race, finishing in sixth. Lando Norris in his McLaren, who started third, ended up seventh. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon ended up eighth and ninth. The second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finished tenth.
As for those who didn’t finish the race, Latifi and his Williams’ teammate, George Russell, retired, as did the Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Perez withdrew later in the race. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) ended up not racing at all, the result of a failed test for COVID-19.
With the 2021 season now complete, the first tests of 2022 come in February in Bahrain and Spain, with the season beginning in mid-March.
