Five winners and five losers from F1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The 2021 F1 title battle was settled in dramatic and controversial circumstances after a see-sawing race in Abu Dhabi. Here are our biggest winners and losers from the finale…
A worthy maiden world title was clinched in the most dramatic of endings for Max Verstappen, who for much of the race looked like he had no answe﷽r to a dominant Lewis Hamilton.
But in one last twist of fate, lady luckꦛ shone on Verstappen to set up a one-lap shootout to determine the outcome of the world championship.
Red Bull’s gamble to switch to softs handed Verstappen a clear advantage over Hamilton for the contentious safety car restart, before the Dutchman sealed the title with a last-lওap dive-bomb at Turn 5.
Despite the controversial ending, there is no doubt that Verstappen was a ဣworthy world champion after producin🅺g an exceptional F1 season.
Honda
Honda got its dream ending to its F1 journey as it bowed out of the sport having played a huge 𒈔role in Verstappen’s title charge.
The Japanese manufacturer made big gains over the lཧast two seasons and its hard work over the winter paid off wit꧙h a fantastic 2021 season in which it helped Red Bull rack up a total of 11 wins.
Honda got its perfect send-off by powering Verstappen to wor🤡ld championship glory𒁃, 30 years after Ayrton Senna had been the last driver to win a title using a Honda engine.
Masashi Yamamoto (JPN) Honda Racing F1 Managing Director and Dr Helmut Marko (AUT) Red Bull…
Carlos Sainz was a beneficiary of the late drama as Red Bull retired Sergio Perez under the safety car, promoting Sainz up to 💝third on the podium.
Despite being held up by the lapped Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll, 𓂃Sainz managed to keep Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes behind him at theꦯ restart and pulled clear to ensure he finished clear of the late-charging AlphaTauri duo to score his fourth podium of the season.
A great drive in the final race of the season was ultimately overshadowed by the late chaos. But Sainz’s result ensured he capped off a brilliant first campaign at Ferrari by im✱pressively beating Charles Leclerc to leapfrog his teammate and take a career-best fifth place in the drivers’ standings.
Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) Ferrari celebrates his third position on the podium.
Anothe🌳r driver whose efforts were com💟pletely overshadowed was Yuki Tsunoda.
The Japanese rookie has endured an up and down first s🌃eason in F1 but signed off the campaign in💃 style with an excellent weekend-long performance in Abu Dhabi.
Tsunoda launched a dive-bomb move to snatch fourth place away from Bottas at the Turn 6-7 chicane and sealed the best result of his 🔯fledging F1 care𓂃er.
He ended up within touching distance of a maiden F1ಌ podium, trailing Sainz by just 0.519s a𒅌s they crossed the finish line.
Netflix certainly got its Hollywood-style script ending for the ne🌃xt season of ‘Drive 🌱to Survive’ with how the Abu Dhabi GP panned out.
A b꧒lockbuster F1 season from start to finish has provided the Netflix TV crews with plenty of action - both on and off the track - throughout 2021.
With no shortage of drama and controversy, Netfli꧒x will be spoilt for choice as it attempts to cover the story of a compelling campaig♉n.
A last-lap t🌠itle decider just seven corners from the end was the stuff of dreams for scriptwriters. Hopefully Netflix won’t feel the need to manufacture any additional drama.
Lewis Hamilton (GBR), Mercedes AMG F1 and Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing
Despite winning an unprece🅘dented eighth consecutive constructors’ world title, Mercedes felt like it had little cause for celebration in the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi GP.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will feel hard done by after๊ missing out on a championship double it believes it deserved after Hamilton looked in 🌳complete control and on course for a record-breaking world eighth title until the very last lap.
Mercedes saw 🍬two protests dismissed by the stewards and must now decide whether to proceed with an appeal and possi🎃bly take this world championship outcome to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 in parc ferme.
It was not the ending to his Mercedes tenure that Valtteri Bottas would have be🌃en hoping for as the Finn went out on a whimper in🦩 Abu Dhabi.
Forced to use an older engine due to reliability concerns, Bottas ꦍcould only qua൩lify sixth on the grid for the season finale. A poor start meant he dropped back to eighth, meaning he was never in a position to assist Hamilton’s title bid.
Bottas found himself in fourth at the safety car restart, but like Hamilton, he was left a sitting duck on old hard tyres. After getting passed by both AlphaTauris on the final tour, Bo𝔍ttas ultimately came home where he started in a low-key sixth.
p(L to R): Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 and Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes AMG F1 at a…
A disappointing end to an altogether pain🎃ful 2021 F1 season for Aston Martin as points once again evaded Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll despite only 14 cars making the finish in Abu Dhabi.
It was certainly not the year the Silverstone outfit was hoping for after the early excitement surrounding its rebrand and the capture of four-time world champion Vettel to lead its charge. As it turned out, Aston Martin slipped down to a distant seve꧟nth in the c🧔onstructors’ standings.
Aston Martin will be hoping that a new era of F1 regulations and some astute signings can help restore the 🐈team to its previous competitiveness as a front-running mid✱field contender in 2022.
That was not how anyone wanted Kimi Raikkonen’s last race to go, with the Finn’s illustrious F1 career ended in retirement following a brake f🔴ailure. It was a sad ending to a legenda🍌ry career.
There was disappointment all round for Alfa Romeo, as the team suffered a double DNF after also losing Antonio Giovinazzi 🎉to a mechanical issue duringဣ the Abu Dhabi finale.
Alfa Romeo missed out on the chance to potentially score points in a chaotic conclusion to the race with both its cars on the sidelines as Williams clinched eighth place in the constructors’ c🐟hampionship.
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Alfa Romeo Racing C41 goes off during the race.
The FIA was the author of its own problems in the end due to having unclear racing rules and being dogged by several inconsistent and puzzling deci🌄sions all year.
It was topped off 🐭by an unprecedented and questionable move by race dirওector Michael Masi to seemingly throw away the rule book in the closing stages of Sunday’s race in what felt like a somewhat manufactured conclusion.
As a result, there is now a possibility that the 2021 title could be decided in court. That would not be the way one of the greates🉐t-ever F1 seasons deserves to be concluded.
A rewrite of the rulebook - or at the very 🌞least some clarifications - during the off-season feels needed after one of the most contentious seasons in years.
F1 des𒊎perately needs clarity before we go racing again to avoid further messy situat❀ions in 2022.
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W12 leads behind the Aston Martin FIA Safety Car.
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