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After a late Safety Car, Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the race to be crowned as the 2021 Formula 1 World Champion and put his name into the history books.
The Dutchman’s last-lap overtake saw him cross the line first with Hamilton finishing second and Carlos Sainz in third.
Starting Grid
A brilliant lap from Max Verstappen saw him start from pole position with his championship rival Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the front row. Lando Norris started an impressive third with Sergio Perez in fourth, Carlos Sainz in fifth, Valtteri Bottasin sixth, Charles Leclerc in seventh, Yuki Tsunoda in eighth, Esteban Ocon in ninth and Daniel Ricciardo in 10th.
Fernando Alonso was outside of the top 10 as he started from 11th, Pierre Gasly in 12th, Lance Stroll in 13th, Antonio Giovinazzi in 14th, Sebastian Vettel in 15th, Nicholas Latifi in 16th, George Russell in 17th, Kimi Raikkonen in his final race started from 18th and Mick Schumacher in 19th. Nikita Mazepin did not participate in the race as he tested positive for COVID-19.
As It Happened
Hamilton got the better getaway as he took the lead into turn one. Verstappen made the desperate lunge into turn six to regain the position, but in doing so, ran Hamilton off the track as the Brit held onto the lead.
Behind the leading duo, Perez and Sainz moved up to third and fourth as Norris struggled and dropped down to fifth. Bottas also had a poor opening lap and fell down to eighth as he battled with Tsunoda for seventh.
Leclerc looked interested in taking fifth place away from Norris, however, the McLaren driver defended well to hold onto the position.
After five laps of racing, Hamilton had the lead with the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Perez in second and third. Sainz followed in fourth, Norris in fifth, Leclerc in sixth, Tsunoda in seventh, Bottas in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Ricciardo in 10th.
The advantage at the front grew to five seconds as Hamilton set fastest lap after fastest lap with Verstappen making his stop on lap 14. The Dutchman dropped down to fifth but was quickly up to fourth as he overtook Norris into turn six.
As Verstappen came out of the pits, Leclerc had a moment and ran off the track which dropped him down to seventh. It didn’t take long for the Monegasque driver to claim sixth as he moved ahead of AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda.
On lap 15, Hamilton switched onto the hard tyres as Perez claimed the lead of the race. In the squabble for sixth, Tsunoda moved back ahead of Leclerc as the latter made his pit stop a lap later.
Verstappen moved up to third on lap 18 as the Dutchman looked to close up on Perez and Hamilton up ahead.
The Dutchman’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, held up Hamilton and defended for a lap before seeing both Hamilton and Verstappen breeze past him as the Mexican made his stop.
Raikkonen’s final race in Formula 1 was over after 25 laps. The ‘Iceman’ collided with the barrier on the entry of turn six which saw him trundle into the pits and jump out of the car for the final time.
A couple of laps later, Russell’s Williams car lost drive as he was the next driver to retire from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
At the halfway point of the race, the two championship protagonists, Hamilton and Verstappen, were first and second with the yet to stop Bottas in third. Perez ran fourth, Alonso and Gasly, who were also yet to pit, ran fifth and sixth with Sainz in seventh, Norris in eighth, Leclerc in ninth and Tsunoda in 10th.
Bottas finally made his pit stop on lap 31 and released Perez into the podium places. The Mercedes driver got past Leclerc at the fourth attempt as he moved up to eighth.
Giovinazzi parked the car on the exit of turn nine and retired from the race with a hydraulic issue. Due to how the car was parked, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and the race was neutralised.
This enabled the two Red Bull’s of Verstappen and Perez into making a free pit stop as they fitted a fresh set of hard tyres.
Green flags were waved once more on lap 38 as the driver got back up to full speed. In the space of a couple of laps, Alonso dropped down to ninth as Tsunoda and Gasly overtook the Spaniard with ease into turn six.
With 10 laps to go, Hamilton led with Verstappen in second and Perez in third. Sainz was fourth, Norris in fifth, Bottas in sixth, Tsunoda in seventh, Gasly in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Ocon in 10th.
Norris sustained a slow puncture as his McLaren crew fitted his car with a set of medium tyres. The Brit came out in ninth but was quickly up to eighth as he overtook Alonso.
On lap 53, Latifi crashed into the barrier on the exit of turn 14 as the full Safety Car was deployed. Hamilton did not make a pit stop but Verstappen did as he fitted a set of soft tyres with a few laps to go. Perez also peeled into the pits but he was ordered by his crew to retire from the race.
The Safety Car returned to the pits as the one-lap shootout between the hard tyre running Hamilton and soft tyre running Verstappen began. The Dutchman made the move at the earliest possible time into turn five as he held onto the lead for the final few corners to win the race and the 2021 F1 World Championship.
Hamilton crossed the line in second with Sainz claiming an unlikely podium as he finished third and claimed fifth in the drivers’ standings.
Tsunoda, Gasly, Bottas, Norris, Alonso, Ocon and Leclerc rounded out the top 10 finishers.
What’s Next?
That’s it for Formula 1 action in 2021 as the drivers will now be looking to get ready for the new season which starts in 96 days with the season opener in Bahrain.
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