Free Practice…
FP1:
After a week of eagerly and patiently waiting, the weekend was here! The one that decided everything, Max vs Lewis- the final duel in the desert. Although many do not watch free practice, these sessions couldn't be more important for the weekend, giving us the first glimpse into who's looking stronger coming to the newly renovated track.
Green light at the end of the pitlane and we were away- interestingly Charles Leclerc was one of the first out with a striking metal aero rake attached to the back of the car. Oddly this was the last time we would be seeing the SF21 in a race format so why they were collecting aero data on a car which will be basically redundant is worth noting. Perhaps looking at parts for the final push against McLaren or parts for next year?
Both Haas drivers and Raikkonen headed out on mediums under the Abu Dhabi sunlight whereas the rest of the field saved them for qualifying and race simulations which will come up in FP2.
A great addition to F1 this season has been helmet cameras and this weekend is no exception, Charles Leclerc was sporting a camera within his helmet this weekend and had a quite close moment with Max Verstappen which we could tell from Charles’ hand gesture he was not happy with.
As much as we hate to mention the words “track limits” we unfortunately had a few times deleted in FP1, one being Lando Norris at the final corner where going wide would cost the drivers their qualifying lap. Track limits were being monitored by the FIA at Turn 7, the exit of Turn 15 and the exit of Turn 16. Turn 16 was proving to be especially difficult with lots of drivers dropping down the timing sheets.
Towards the middle of the session the track quietened down a bit with only the Ferrari drivers out on track with Ferrari not running the hefty aero rakes anymore. Leclerc went P14 before they both pitted for their second set of tyres.
Kimi Raikkonen in his last FP1 session went for a spin at Turn 9 however he recovered the car perfectly and due to the abundance of runoff he returned to the pits to get some new tyres.
The new softs were bolted onto the championship protagonists and these were the laps we were all glued to p- who would draw first blood this weekend? The answer was Max, his first flying lap on new softs was blisteringly quicky, tearing through the tarmac besting Lewis by more than 3 tenths. Lewis however put up a good fight, flying through Sector 1 where his “spicy” power unit was surely giving him some boost behind him. The championship rivals ended the session 1-3 split by the Lewis’ teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Speaking of teammates, would they be the deciding factor in the championship this year? Both Valtteri and Sergio are proven race winners and shouldn’t be counted out. Perhaps a use of the tow in qualifying? Or sneaky strategy decisions to stop a champion from driving off into the sunset? It all looked possible this weekend with Bottas finishing this session P2 and Sergio up there in P4.
FP2:
The green light shone at the end of the pitlane once again and we looked to our final Friday practice session of 2021- the action was almost immediate with most drivers using the medium tyres for their initial runs.
George Russell was missing from FP1 when reserve driver Jack Aitken stepped in for the first hour of practice however Mr Saturday was back and raring to go and get some fast times in under the cooler conditions as we ventured into the night in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton immediately set a fast time of 1:25.127 seconds on the medium tyres, which looked to be the ideal race starting tyre, therefore these were the times we could be seeing in the Q2 session. Meanwhile “I had a small contact with the wall” are the words we heard over the radio from Valtteri Bottas as we saw the rear of his car hit the Aramco barrier but no severe damage was dealt. However from the replays the impact looked far from comfortable.
Another incident, and this time for the Williams of Nicholas Latifi whose car backed relatively slowly into the barrier at Turn 13 after losing the rear on the entry of the corner. Luckily most of the speed carried into the spin was scrubbed off at Turn 12 so the impact was soft and the Williams got moving once the track was clear.
Now it was time for qualifying simulations and with the sun dipping below the horizon we had the perfect conditions to mimic Saturday's qualifying session. With this plenty of drivers bolted on the soft tyres and gave the car full gas around the circuit.
The surprise result of this session had to be Esteban Ocon- the Hungarian Grand Prix winner finished the session second with a time that actually split Verstappen and Hamilton in P2. It did pose the question: were Mercedes and Red Bull showing their full hand or were they keeping a couple tenths locked away for that final Q3 lap?
Yuki Tsunoda is looking for a strong end to his rookie season and with the form he showed in practice this weekend his wish may come true. Yuki posted a time of 1:24.532 which ended him P7 by the end of the session.
With all prepping for their practice starts as the chequered flag falls we expect a quiet end to Friday practice. However the camera panned to a stricken-looking Alfa Romeo with retiring Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel, with the rear tyres both punctured and the suspension looking shot. Luckily Kimi himself made it out of the car with barely a scratch on him. Replays show that as many others have done, Kimi lost the rear coming into Turn 14 and although the car isn't full throttle the car connected with the barrier at both the front and rear. Unlucky for the Iceman's mechanics who may have had a late night ahead of them fixing the car.
FP3:
The final practice session before qualifying and Max and Lewis were 1-1 with topping the timesheets- so who would have the advantage going into qualifying?
In this session Max and Lewis decided to trade times on the soft tyres knowing that nothing can be left on the table this weekend. During one of his cool down laps Lewis had a run in with Nikita Mazepin who was finishing a fast lap in his Haas where both Lewis and Nikita had to take avoiding action.
The wind conditions had picked up slightly by the time the cars were on track causing the entry into some of the corners to snap the car into oversteer which was especially prominent for Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton who both experienced snaps on their fast laps which they quickly aborted.
Once again Yuki Tsunoda had an impressive session finishing P6 making it a clean sweep of finishing practice sessions ahead of his teammate Gasly. For a rookie whose season hasn't always gone to plan this is a sign of great things to come for the young Japanese driver.
Most drivers used this rather quiet session as a chance to test out the red soft tyres one last time before qualifying with most times on the sheets being set on the softs. The top 10 were consistent with tyre choice apart from Sainz, Ricciardo and Leclerc who chose the mediums who finished P8, P9 and P10 consecutively.
With all to play for heading into qualifying Lewis Hamilton came out on top of this final practice session with Max trailing by 2 tenths. It was very much advantage Mercedes. Even when asked live on air who would win, 1996 World Champion Damon Hill, 2009 World Champion Jenson Button and 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg, all came to the consensus that Lewis would be on pole.
But as we know with this season nothing is predictable and in a few hours we would head into the last qualifying session.
The clock was ticking and history was about to be written.
Qualifying...
As we eagerly dove into qualifying, the consensus was that Mercedes certainly held the momentum. Lewis Hamilton topped both FP2 and FP3 (FP2 the most representative session of qualifying conditions) and looked strong on the soft tyre. Rivals Red Bull meanwhile were hampered by issues with their rear wing in FP3, and with minutes to go before qualifying commenced, as Sergio Perez was missing an entire rear wing, whilst leader in the standings Verstappen’s was in pieces. Horner later stated these moves were a “precaution”.
Q1:
Predictably there was a queue waiting to exit the pit lane when that light turned green. Sebastian Vettel was the first out onto the track on the soft tyre, whilst behind Leclerc opted for the mediums, as did teammate Sainz- a more unusual choice. Red Bull also sent their drivers out early, likely so they could check that their fiddling with the rear wings left everything working as it should.
Perez set the first lap, a marker of 1:24.253. Vettel, Schumacher and Tsunoda were the next cars to follow, with the Japanese rookie showing his strong pace early on by going faster than sister team Red Bull. Red Bull were quick to re-assert their dominance over Alpha Tauri with Verstappen, who logged a 1:23.680. Again, the top spot didn’t remain the same for long, as Hamilton put in 1:23.266, 4 tenths quicker, with teammate Bottas slotting into second. After the initial stages of Q1, Mercedes held an advantage, but were being chased down by Verstappen, Gasly and Tsunoda. Lando Norris also managed to slip into P4.
Perez would require improvement down in P9, whilst Verstappen would be keen to demonstrate that his pace was closer to the Mercedes pair. He did just that, splitting his rivals in P2 with a 0.056 gap to Hamilton in P1. Whilst sister team Alpha Tauri’s pace looked strong, Pierre Gasly found his time deleted for track limits at Turn 16.
Lando Norris cemented his strong pace, something the McLaren has been lacking at the last few races, improving back to P4 on the timesheets, however his run didn’t go smoothly as he ran over a stray bollard. Replays showcased that Mazepin was the driver to initially plough through the bollard on the inside of the final corner, before Lando was unfortunate to drive over it on track. As it was important the obstruction was removed, the session was red-flagged, but not for long. With 5 minutes remaining in the session, Vettel, Raikkonen, Latifi and the two Haas cars were at risk of elimination.
When the session restarted, Giovinazzi was out first with the two Ferrari cars. Both Ferraris who had first booted on the mediums had switched to the soft compound just prior to the red flag, and retained them for the final few minutes. In P11 and P12, there was urgent progress needed from Sainz and Leclerc. The top ten ahead of them had chosen to sit in the pits for the time being. Leclerc managed P6, but Sainz only P10.
An incident between Ocon and Vettel gave the stewards something to analyse, as they chose to “note” it. Ocon, on the racing line, failed to move out of Vettel’s way, the Aston Martin driver on a flying lap.
In the final few seconds, Hamilton improved in P1 with a time of 1:22.845, as did teammate Bottas though with a 0.272 gap to close. Verstappen remained P3 for the rest of the session.
At the back of the field there were only minor improvements. Latifi improved to P15, but progress from Stroll to advance to P13 pushed his fellow Canadian down and out of qualifying. Teammate Vettel also escaped elimination as he improved to P14. Raikkonen, on his final attempt, pulled into the pits- making it his final lap of qualifying.
This meant that Latifi, Russell, Raikkonen, Schumacher and Mazepin would miss out on Q2. Note that Latifi managed to out-qualify Russell, with the Brit moving to Mercedes unhappy with his team’s strategy.
Q2:
The incident between Ocon and Vettel was concluded swiftly with no investigation necessary.
The next session began with Hamilton leading the way on the medium tyre, and Bottas as well as the Red Bulls also sported the same compound. The Brit was also first to complete a timed lap- a 1:23.185, a little slower than his fastest times in Q1. Bottas and Perez were the next to set times. It wasn’t smooth sailing for the Red Bull drivers, who had to navigate Alpha Tauri practising the tow. However, Verstappen shot up the board into P2, a mere 0.004 seconds behind his rival.
Tsunoda and Norris continued their fantastic runs in P4 and P5. The Alpha Tauri driver did later go wide at Turn 1, replicated by Vettel and Verstappen. The Dutchman, missing the braking point, ended up with flat-spotted tyres- a disaster if the mediums were to be used as his race set.
Whilst Red Bull contemplated their options, Sainz on the soft tyre leapt to P1 with a 1:23.174. Also using the soft compound were Leclerc, Alpine, McLaren, and Aston Martin. Soon, Max Verstappen also joined that group, as well as a long queue of traffic which had built up in the final minutes. Carlos Sainz was not particularly impressed with the “race” conditions.
As everybody set up for their final lap of Q2, Alonso led Hamilton, the Spaniard with beneficial clean air. With a possible tow from his former teammate, Lewis went quickest. He was however quickly usurped by Sergio Perez on the soft compound tyres, and then Max Verstappen on the red-walled tyre also.
This meant there would be a tasty split strategy for fans to enjoy on Sunday. Verstappen would perhaps get a good launch off the line, but deal with a weaker race strategy on the softs, whilst Hamilton could have a steady and secure start on those mediums.
Missing out on the top ten shootout were Alonso, Gasly, Stroll, Giovinazzi and Vettel. Alonso’s clean air wasn’t as effective as they had hoped, and the Alpine got caught up in traffic in the final sector. A yellow flag did fly in sector three at one point, with Vettel forced to stop completely behind slow moving cars. The big surprise elimination was Gasly, who previously had put in such strong Saturday performances. Tsunoda would out-qualify his teammate for the first time this season.
Q3:
Red Bull were first out of the blocks, with Perez in front instructed not to hold up his teammate. Behind was the Mercedes pair, with Hamilton leading Bottas. As Verstappen set out on his first lap, it was confirmed that the team sacrificed a fast lap for Perez as the Mexican towed his teammate before pulling out of the way. The Dutchman set a 1:22.109 for the other nine cars to chase. Hamilton, lacking a tow, would be 5 tenths back on his championship rival. Perez would sandwich Hamilton as he went into P3.
Tsunoda was formerly third, but lost his time to track limits. With Yuki in P10, the top nine consisted of Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Bottas, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Ocon, and Ricciardo. Norris definitely had something more to give, complaining he was “screwed over” by Perez.
With four minutes remaining in the final qualifying session of the year, Mercedes were the first cars out once again. Hamilton was once again in front- leaving him without a tow. It was a poor start for the Brit as the first sector wasn’t a personal best time, and after the middle sector he would need to chase a tenth in the final sector. He would improve… but remain in P2. Bottas would finish P4.
That wasn’t the end for Mercedes- Norris would improve to a mighty P3, and Bottas would wing up in a disappointing P6. There would certainly be questions as to why Hamilton was not provided with a tow, perhaps because they wanted support from Valtteri Bottas, who did receive the tow. Regardless, their strategy did not work against Red Bull. Toto Wolff, although worried about Red Bull’s better long run pace, was faithful with “Lewis Hamilton in the car.”
This left Verstappen with pole position, and the Dutchman was able to comfortably ease off in the final corner with the knowledge he would be starting ahead of his title rival.
Sainz would line up fifth, with Bottas, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Ocon and Ricciardo rounding out the top ten.
The Race...
It all came down to this. Every battle. Every crash. Every win, every loss. The championship was going to be decided during this final race.
Prior to the race, it was announced that Nikita Mazepin would not be taking part in the race due to testing positive for COVID-19. Haas were not allowed to use their reserve driver, Pietro Fittipaldi, as he had not participated in the qualifying session.
Everyone was on the edge of their seats following the formation lap; spectators, commentators, F1 team employees. Everyone. The final race of the season- the championship decider- was about to get under way. No one knew if the two front runners would even make it past the first corner before making contact, but that made the build up to the race all the more exciting.
For the last time in 2021, the lights were out and the drivers were off. Pole sitter, Max Verstappen, had a terrible start off the line in comparison to his championship rival, Lewis Hamilton. His car just did not seem to want to get moving. Due to Max’s poor start, Lewis had taken the lead before they had even made it to the braking zone for the first corner.
Sergio Perez, who started fourth in his Red Bull, managed to get past McLaren’s Lando Norris for third position. This move would be particularly beneficial for Red Bull as they could then use Perez to support Verstappen when needed. While Perez was doing everything he could to support his teammate, Valtteri Bottas had lost two places at lights out and was running in eighth, nowhere near being in a position to help Hamilton.
While we all expected contact to be made between Hamilton and Verstappen at the first corner, they managed to make it to Turn 6 before an incident occurred between the two. Verstappen had gotten a bit of a tow up the straight and put his foot on the brakes later than Hamilton, diving up the inside into the chicane. He momentarily took the lead but Max’s move had forced Lewis to go wide off the track. While Max followed the race directors instructions from the drivers briefing, Lewis did not and he rejoined the track with a gap advantage.
It had been reported during this time that the race director and stewards had said that they were going to be strict on the drivers if they left the track and gained an advantage, with the most likely penalty being that they would have to give the place back or give back any of the advantage they had gained. Hamilton was not told to give the place back to Max but the race director, Michael Masi (remember this name and his job because he’ll be mentioned quite often), had told Red Bull that any lasting advantage that Hamilton had gained from going off track had been given back. This would mean that Hamilton had reinstated the gap that was between the cars when they went into the corner, though it didn’t appear that way to the spectators. Even the British commentators, who are often criticised for some of their comments that seem to imply they have a bias towards their compatriots, had commented that the drivers were side by side into the corner and the advantage that Lewis had gained wasn’t taken away. The incident had been noted by the stewards.
Hamilton began to pull away from Verstappen over the next few laps, his Mercedes’ had an engine that had only been used in one race so it was bound to be faster than the used and abused engine in Verstappen’s Red Bull. By the time the stewards had deemed the incident as “no investigation necessary” on Lap 3, Lewis had pulled out a 1.4 second gap to Max.
DRS was enabled during Lap 3, but Hamilton had already put Verstappen outside of the one second zone that he needed to use DRS. As a result, Hamilton’s gap to Verstappen would only continue to grow.
By Lap 5 the two front runners were pulling away from the rest of the field. The gap between Verstappen in second and Perez in third was already at more than 2 seconds. While the two Red Bull drivers did have this gap, Perez was still doing well to keep up with his teammate and increasing the gap between himself and Sainz, who was sitting in fourth. The gap between the two was 5 seconds.
During Lap 6, the Sky broadcasters made a point of showing a replay of Vettel overtaking Stroll in the same spot that the Max-Lewis incident occurred on Lap 1.
Vettel dove down the inside, in a similar fashion to Verstappen, and Stroll managed to stay on track after backing out of the battle.
Three laps later, Verstappen reported that his soft rear tyres were beginning to struggle and this reflected in his lap times and the growing gap to his rival, which was at about 2.5 seconds at this point. Meanwhile, in the back end of the points positions, Tsunoda (in seventh) was doing a fantastic job keeping Bottas behind him. After a pretty average start to the season, Tsunoda has really shown some progress in the end half of the season. Many people have credited his improvement to Red Bull Reserve Driver, Alexander Albon, as he took on a mentoring role mid-way through the year.
The gap between Hamilton and Verstappen had increased by a full second only 2 laps later. Max was still struggling with his tyres and Hamilton didn’t appear to be slowing down at any point, consistently setting new fastest lap times. The gap between Perez and Sainz was 11 seconds. It was becoming more clear that the changes made to the track did not appear to actually do much to make it easier for the drivers to race just yet, as most of the race so far had been quite uneventful.
By Lap 13, Hamilton had pulled the gap to Verstappen out to 5.7 seconds, showing why the medium tyre was the ideal starting tyre for this race. Verstappen pitted the next lap for a fresh set of hard compound tyres. It was a 2.1 second pit stop, the Red Bull pit crew once again proving why they are the best. Max raced through the pit exit lane and came out in fifth, just behind Norris. Max’s exit appeared to distract Charles Leclerc, who went speeding through the backend and into the run-off area. It was later shown that Leclerc was not distracted but rather came into the corner and had his car kick back out on him, resulting in a loss of control. Luckily, he did not crash because he was going at quite a high speed. He did, however, lose a position to Tsunoda. Leclerc then locked up going into Turn 5, while trying to regain that position. The two drivers would battle through the next few corners, Leclerc eventually reclaiming sixth position atTurn 9. Meanwhile, Verstappen had used the long straight between turns five and six to get ahead of Norris.
Hamilton pitted a lap later than Verstappen to try and cover off any threat from Verstappen behind, putting Perez (who was yet to stop and on soft tyres) in the lead. Hamilton also switched to the hard compound tyres and came back out on the track in second, just ahead of Sainz and 11.3 seconds behind Perez, who Red Bull were strategically keeping out on track in the hopes of holding up Hamilton in a few laps time to allow Verstappen to catch up.
Leclerc, who hadn’t pitted after locking up and creating a flat spot on his front left, finally pitted on Lap 16. Ocon also pitted. Leclerc left the pit lane in 15th, Ocon in 18th. During the same lap, Verstappen appeared to be stuck behind Sainz and was losing valuable time that he needed to catch up to Hamilton, who was still setting new fastest lap times.
It took another two laps for Verstappen to get past Sainz. He got the move done at the turns 6/7 chicane. Max’s sight was then set in catching up to Hamilton. Perez’s lead to Hamilton was down to about 4.3 seconds at this point. The gap continued to decrease over the next two laps, the reasons being that Perez would be struggling on his soft tyres that were more than 20 laps old, and he was also told by his team to start slowing down to let Hamilton catch up and then to hold Hamilton in P2 while Verstappen caught up.
As the drivers began Lap 20, the gap between the first and second place runners was reduced to just one second. The battle between Perez and Hamilton began on the straight between turns five and six. With DRS, Hamilton was able to briefly get ahead of Perez before even reaching the corner. While many thought that Hamilton had got the move done and Perez wouldn’t be able to fight back on his worn out tyres, Perez was confident in his abilities and fought back. Perez switched back on Hamilton going into Turn 6 where he regained the lead in the middle of the chicane and came out Turn 7 in P1 again.
The battle wasn’t over though as Hamilton was able to use his fresher tyres and the inherent speed of his Mercedes to get back in front of the Red Bull into Turn 8. Perez then had DRS up the straight and was able to get his lead back, again, into the Turn 9 hairpin.
He led through the next few corners and appeared to be slowing down more than necessary when turning. These are all completely legal tactics that the Red Bull driver was employing. When Perez and Hamilton reached Turn 12, Max had closed the gap to 6.7 seconds.
Max would almost halve this gap by the time Perez began Lap 21. Perez was doing exactly as he was asked and it was extraordinary the way he was able to slow himself and Hamilton down enough for Max to reduce the gap from 6.7 to 3.8 seconds in only 4 corners.
On the pit straight, Hamilton used DRS to creep up on Perez and tried to go around the outside into Turn 1, unsuccessfully. Amidst this battle, Hamilton complained that Perez was driving dangerously but to almost everyone else, Perez was racing brilliantly. Hamilton’s comments prompted Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff, to radio into race control and ask Michael Masi to “give them [Red Bull and Perez] a warning” for dangerous driving. Masi responded with “so far they’re racing, Toto, hard racing.”
By the time Perez and Hamilton reached Turn 5 on Lap 21, Verstappen was only 2.1 seconds behind. Perez continued to make sure he was taking the corners as slowly as possible whilst staying within the rules. Hamilton finally overtook Perez on the straight between turns 5 and 6, again, but Verstappen was now only 1.5 seconds behind. Perez slowed down enough at Turn 9 for Verstappen to overtake him and set after Hamilton for himself. Perez dove into the pits on the next lap for fresh tyres, he came out in fifth place. Tsunoda was promoted to third, 16.3 seconds behind Lewis.
This battle was one of the best of the season, and perhaps should have earnt Perez ‘Driver Of The Day.’ Whilst he didn’t end up getting DOTD- losing out to retiree Kimi Raikkonen- the internet dubbed him the ‘Mexican Minister of Defence’ post-race.
Only a lap later, it appeared as if Perez’s efforts to slow Hamilton down were in vain because Hamilton was able to slowly pull away from Max once again. When Max had overtaken Perez for P2, the gap to Lewis was at just over 1 second. By the end of Lap 22, the gap was 1.9 seconds.
During Lap 24, Tsunoda pitted and came out in tenth. Vettel also pitted and came back onto the track in sixteenth. We were approaching the halfway point in the race and Bottas (medium tyre), Alonso (hard tyre), Gasly (hard tyre), Latifi (medium tyre), and Russell (medium tyre) were yet to pit.
Laps 26 and 27 saw two drivers retire from the race. The first was Raikkonen who experienced brake issues which caused him to slide off the track at Turn 6 and make light contact with the barrier. The contact caused damage to his car but he managed to get his car back to the pits, avoiding causing a yellow flag or safety car. This was not the way anyone wanted Kimi to finish his final race in Formula 1.
The second retirement was George Russell who was experiencing engine and gearbox trouble. He had been having trouble upshifting for a few laps prior but on Lap 27, he lost all ability to upshift at all. He also made it back to the pits, retiring from his final race as a Williams driver.
By Lap 29, Red Bull were considering a second pit stop for Max. They had nothing to lose and were willing to try anything to get Max some pace. They wouldn’t bring him in for a few laps though. While Red Bull were considering a pit stop, Hamilton commented that “it’s a long way for these tyres.” He was on the hard compound, they were about 14 laps old at this point and Mercedes were hoping to make them last another 29 laps; the end of the race. Mercedes had only one more set of new hard tyres for Hamilton but would be avoiding any more pit stops to reduce the chance of losing track position to Verstappen.
Bottas, who was running in P3 for a while there, finally had his first pit stop on Lap 31. He rejoined the race in ninth position.
The gap between Hamilton and Verstappen only continued to grow as they made their way through the back marker traffic. Hamilton was able to get past them quite quickly whereas Verstappen seemed to take a bit longer than he would have liked. By Lap 32, the gap was 5 seconds.
At this point in the race many believed that the result had already been decided. Hamilton was too good for Verstappen on that day. It was also shaping up to be a typical Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; dull due to the lack of action. That was until a hydraulics system issue in Giovinazzi’s car forced him into retirement on the side of the road at the exit of Turn 9 during Lap 35. Due to where he parked his car, a Virtual Safety Car was deployed and drivers were to decrease their speed by 40% and were not permitted to overtake.
Mercedes decided to keep Hamilton out on track, despite suggesting that if there were a safety car that they would bring him in for new tyres a few laps prior. Red Bull brought Verstappen in for a new set of hard tyres. As stated earlier, the team had nothing to lose by pitting and they only lost 14 seconds on a pit stop under VSC compared to 23 seconds in normal race conditions. Red Bull also changed Perez’s tyres to a new set of hards.
During the VSC period, Toto Wolff got on the radio to Masi, and begged him not to bring out the safety car. It was quite comical, perhaps even funnier than the email situation that occurred earlier in the season.
Other drivers to pit during the VSC were Alonso and Gasly, who had been on hard tyres since Lap 1. They had been racing each other for most of the race and as Alpine and Alpha Tauri were quite close in the constructors, we can imagine that those teams would’ve wanted to leave their drivers out and fighting for as long as possible.
When the VSC ended, the gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was 17.9 seconds. With 20 laps to go, the order of the top ten was Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Norris, Bottas, Tsunoda, Alonso, Gasly, and Ocon.
One lap later, the gap from Hamilton to Verstappen was down to 16.4 seconds. In order for Verstappen to catch Hamilton, he would need to lap 8 tenths of a second faster than Hamilton on every lap. At first it appeared as if he was going to be able to do that, he had just set the fastest lap.
Hamilton also realised the risk of Verstappen catching him and asked his team “bit of a risk leaving me out, no?” His engineer informed him that it was better to keep track position in this case rather than pit for new tyres and be in second.
With 17 laps to go, Red Bull, Verstappen, and Red Bull fans were all hoping for a miracle because it was looking highly unlikely that Max would be able to catch Hamilton. Even if he did catch Hamilton, there wouldn’t be enough time for him to overtake him and make the move stick. The gap between the two drivers was at 14.8 seconds and both drivers were beginning to experience more traffic.
Four laps later, the gap had decreased by one second and Hamilton was approaching Leclerc, Ricciardo, Ocon and Alonso who were all fighting for the last few points positions. He would have to be cautious when lapping them to avoid an incident that could ruin his race. He also wanted to get past them as fast as possible to avoid taking any more time out of the gap between himself and Verstappen. Verstappen would also have to get through this traffic in the next few laps.
On Lap 46, the group of 4 drivers ahead of Hamilton were finally shown the blue flag. The drivers were now obliged to move out of the way, where safe, for Hamilton to overtake them. Hamilton cleared Leclerc by the end of the lap. He got past Ricciardo into Turn 6 on Lap 47. During this lap, Hamilton’s dash showed that there were eight laps to go. His dash must’ve still been programmed to the previous year's race lap total. His team made sure to inform Hamilton of the correct information.
Hamilton got past the Alpine of Ocon at the start of Lap 48. He got past Alonso’s Alpine, and the final car from that group of four, at the end of the lap. Lewis now had clear air to race into and hopefully increase the gap to Max again. While Hamilton had been stuck getting through the traffic, Max had closed the gap to 11.1 seconds.
With 10 laps to go, Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, said “the pace of the Mercedes is too strong today. Max is driving his heart out. We’re going to need a miracle in these last 10 laps to turn it around, so he’ll give it everything but the clock’s ticking.” Red Bull were doing everything they could but even they were beginning to lose hope.
While Horner’s message was being broadcasted, Norris pitted with a slow puncture in his 31 lap old hard tyres. His team gave him a new set of medium tyres. This was another race where luck wasn’t on Lando’s side and an incident or puncture pushed him down the order. These incidents seem to always occur towards the end of the race for him; when there isn’t enough time for him to fight back to a decent position. He came out of his pit stop in tenth, meaning Verstappen now had to clear 5 cars to be directly behind Hamilton.
Following Norris’ puncture, Mercedes warned Hamilton to keep off certain curbs to avoid his tyres getting punctured. At this stage Hamilton’s tyres were 5 laps older than what Norris’ were when he got the puncture, so there was every chance that it could happen to him.
On Lap 52, Verstappen was only just approaching the back of the group of cars between himself and Hamilton. It was looking very unlikely that he would be able to catch up in the next 7 laps, without intervention. It was going to take Max at least 2 laps to clear the traffic and by then, he would only have 5 laps to catch Lewis. The gap between the Mercedes and Red Bull had increased to 11.6 seconds as Max was stuck behind the midfield cars. Verstappen fans and Red Bull fans all lost hope at this point, if they hadn’t earlier. Even the commentators had begun talking as if Lewis had won the championship.
Meanwhile at the back of the grid, Latifi and Schumacher were in a battle of their own for 15th position. This battle had been going on for most of the race.
Lap 53. Yellow flag in Sector 3.
Latifi had crashed into the barrier at Turn 14, following a scrap with Schumacher that resulted in him going onto the dirty part of the track. His tyres picked up dust and he lost grip, the rear of his car spinning him into the wall. His car was parked right on the racing line and covered half the track, creating a massive hazard.
Safety Car. The pack would now have to bunch up. This was Max’s chance to catch and overtake Lewis.
There were still three cars between them, and just a reminder, the time lost in a pit stop under a safety car is only 14 seconds.
Verstappen pitted on Lap 54 (under safety car conditions) for soft tyres. Mercedes kept Hamilton out on his used tyres. Red Bull also pitted Perez. A broadcasted radio message showed Lewis’ frustration with the situation. We can only imagine what he was saying as the message was only one continuous beep, indicating a string of swear words.
If there was to be a restart, Verstappen would easily be able to catch Hamilton. This was depending on how many laps were left, and if there were any cars between them. Discussions between Lewis and his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, showed that Lewis was worried about the restart due to the difference in tyres.
When Verstappen came back on track after his pit stop, there were 5 cars between himself and Hamilton; Norris, Alonso, Ocon, Leclerc and Vettel.
Latifi’s Williams was finally cleared from the track on Lap 56 but marshals still had to clean up the debris and the powder from the fire extinguisher used to put out the flaming brakes.
While the marshals were cleaning the track, Perez was told to urgently retire his car in the pits. It has been reported that there was a suspected drop in oil and water pressure within the Honda engine. Red Bull wanted him to retire to avoid the possibility of his engine failing and causing the safety car to stay out any longer than needed and ruining Max’s chances further. There would later be rumours floating around the internet that Red Bull had purposefully under-fueled Perez’s car.
During Lap 56, it was also announced that lapped cars would NOT be allowed to overtake the safety car to fix the order for the restart, just yet. Many considered this decision to be in favour of Lewis, as by the time Max passes the lapped cars on the restart, he would already be long gone.
It wouldn’t take long for race control to reverse their decision and they, controversially, gave the all clear for Norris, Alonso, Ocon, Leclerc and Vettel to overtake the safety car. This put Max right behind Lewis for the restart that was suspected to happen at the end of this lap. There would only be one more lap of racing and it would decide the championship.
While the lapped cars were passing the safety car, Toto Wolff was on the radio to race control saying, in a disappointed manner, “Michael! Michael, this isn’t right.” I can imagine that Masi felt like a child being told off by a parent for disobeying their rules. Mercedes were hoping for the safety car to be out until the end of the race, securing an EASY 8th championship for Lewis.
Once the safety car had gone in, Lewis was in charge of the restart. He was on a set of hard tyres that were 42 laps old. Max was on a set of the faster, soft tyre, that was out on only 3 laps prior.
Hamilton had to pick the right time to go, but Verstappen was right alongside him, almost overtaking him at one point. Hamilton decided that the entry to Turn 13 was the right place to restart the race.
This was it.
When they crossed the line to begin the final lap, the gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was 0.403. Verstappen was hot on Hamilton’s tail for the first four corners and finally lunged down the inside at the Turn 5 hairpin. He made the move stick, unlike the first lap, and took the lead of the race. Daniel Ricciardo had the best seat in the house for the entire lap, I’m sure people would’ve paid thousands for his view of this last lap.
As they drove along the first DRS straight, Verstappen tried to break the tow that he was giving Hamilton, while Hamilton did his best to stay in it. He did not have the benefits of DRS because it is not enabled for the first two laps after a safety car goes back into the pits.
Hamilton tried to make a move around the outside of Turn 6 but was too far behind and wouldn’t want to risk going off track like he had on the first lap. He did, however, get a tow along the straight between turns 8 and 9. He tried to go around the outside again, at the Turn 9 hairpin. Taking the outside line to the corners seemed to be Hamilton’s only option because Verstappen was always making sure he had the inside covered, knowing that a move around the outside on this track is almost never going to be successful.
In the heat of this battle, a radio message from Wolff to Masi was broadcasted. “No Michael, no no Michael, that was so not right.”
Having defended Lewis for the first half of the lap, Max began to extend his lead in the second half. By the time they rounded Turn 14, the gap was 1.2 seconds.
When Verstappen crossed the line, he was P1. The gap to Hamilton was 1.7 seconds. “Max Verstappen, you are the World Champion,” could be heard down his radio.
Max is Red Bull’s first champion since 2013 when Sebastian Vettel won. Mercedes secured their eighth consecutive constructors championship.
The finishing order of the race was:
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Carlos Sainz
Yuki Tsunoda
Pierre Gasly
Valtteri Bottas
Lando Norris
Fernando Alonso
Esteban Ocon
Charles Leclerc
Sebastian Vettel
Daniel Ricciardo
Lance Stroll
Mick Schumacher
Sergio Perez (DNF)
Nicholas Latifi (DNF)
Antonio Giovinazzi (DNF)
George Russell (DNF)
Kimi Raikkonen (DNF)
Everyone was bracing for the drama that was about to ensue in the motorsport world.
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