2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.jpg

Who will win the 2021 World Championship?

  • Max Verstappen

    Votes: 1,428 62.8%

  • Lewis Hamilton

    Votes: 845 37.2%
  • Total voters
    2,273
  • Poll closed .
Formula 1 enters the season finale of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with the driver’s championship leaders tied on points.

After a roller coaster ride of a season in F1, the final event of 2021 will be held in Abu Dhabi and will decide the championship battle between Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton. The two drivers are even on points entering the race.

Verstappen has won more races this year than Hamilton, so if the two end up finishing even after this race due to neither scoring points, the championship would go to Verstappen. Momentum seems to be with Hamilton after back-to-back-to-back race wins in Brazil, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, though points momentum has never lasted long this season.

The Yas Marina circuit is a location where both drivers have won in the past, with Hamilton having won numerous times at the track, and Verstappen being the most recent winner. The layout has been altered for 2021 to encourage more overtaking.

Looking away from the feature act of this race weekend, the constructor’s battle between Mercedes and Red Bull seems to be all but decided, with Mercedes holding a 28-point advantage. With Hamilton and Verstappen cancelling each other out on points, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have been involved in a lower profile battle than their teammates, but one full of surprises just the same.

This will also be the last time we see certain drivers in F1, or the last time we see them with their current teams. Perhaps the biggest departure is Kimi Räikkönen, who will retire from driving after Abu Dhabi. Kimi’s teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, will also vacate his F1 seat after this season and will race in Formula E next year instead. One of the Alfa Romeo team seats will be filled by Bottas, who will finish this year third in the driver’s standings. His current seat at Mercedes will be filled by George Russell.

This looks to be an exciting finish to a season filled with drama and shocking moments. Let’s hope that we see the best from each of the championship contenders this weekend.

Qualification Results​

1Max VERSTAPPENRed Bull1:22.109
2Lewis HAMILTONMercedes1:22.480
3Lando NORRISMcLaren1:22.931
4Sergio PÉREZRed Bull1:22.947
5Carlos SAINZFerrari1:22.992
6Valtteri BOTTASMercedes1:23.036
7Charles LECLERCFerrari1:23.122
8Yuki TSUNODAAlpha Tauri1:23.220
9Esteban OCONAlpine1:23.389
10Daniel RICCIARDOMcLaren1:23.409
11Fernando ALONSOAlpine1:23.460
12Pierre GASLYAlpha Tauri1:24.043
13Lance STROLLAston Martin1:24.066
14Antonio GIOVINAZZIAlfa Romeo1:24.251
15Sebastian VETTELAston Martin1:24.305
16Nicholas LATIFIWilliams1:24.338
17George RUSSELLWilliams1:24.423
18Kimi RÄIKKÖNENAlfa Romeo1:24.779
19Mick SCHUMACHERHaas1:24.906
20Nikita MAZEPINHaas1:25.685

Race Results​

1Max VERSTAPPENRed BullLAP 58
2Lewis HAMILTONMercedes2.256
3Carlos SAINZFerrari5.173
4Yuki TSUNODAAlpha Tauri5.692
5Pierre GASLYAlpha Tauri6.531
6Valtteri BOTTASMercedes7.463
7Lando NORRISMcLaren59.2
8Fernando ALONSOAlpine61.708
9Esteban OCONAlpine64.026
10Charles LECLERCFerrari66.057
11Sebastian VETTELAston Martin67.527
12Daniel RICCIARDOMcLaren+1L
13Lance STROLLAston Martin+1L
14Mick SCHUMACHERHaas+1L
15Sergio PÉREZRed BullDNF
16Nicholas LATIFIWilliamsDNF
17Antonio GIOVINAZZIAlfa RomeoDNF
18George RUSSELLWilliamsDNF
19Kimi RÄIKKÖNENAlfa RomeoDNF

What are your thoughts on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? Let us know on Twitter at @RaceDepartment or in the comments section below!

Photo credits: Red Bull Content Pool
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Colt459
navb said:
There is a rule that allows Masi to overrule usage of the SC. So technically he didn't break any rule. But he did bend the rule to support a grandstand finish.

So yes, it is like your football analogy, but with a referee who sees the VAR offside and overrules it so the fans get 30 more minutes of exciting football (assuming refs had overruling powers).

Which makes the whole thing a shambles. The real fans have bemoaned what was a clear violation of the rules of engagement. The DTS / casuals enjoyed the excitement. Masi obviously decided in that moment which set of fans meant more to him.
Click to expand...
Actually feels more like basketball to me. In the last minute of a big game, the refs tend to “swallow their whistles” and let the game be decided on the court and not by free throws.
 
D
Durge Driven said:
If you sick of Motorsport directors, safety cars, pitstops or team mates blocking , where the winner is true winner .......

it starts on Jan 8th :x3:
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I'm old enough to remember the first Supercross in the Los Angeles Coliseum(& outside of it as well). Jim Pomeroy came back from Europe to ride in it...I do NOT recall if he won, but he stole the show by jumping a downhill run(the stairs running down the lower bleacher section) instead of riding down the grade. He passed riders who were on the ground by leaping over their heads.(wasn't there, read about in Magazines)
I got to see Pomeroy live only once, at Washougal Washington. During pre-race practice there was an open spectator area near T1 that was remarkedly empty. Lots of riders were practicing starts and I wandered down there for a better look. I quickly found out why nobody else was there, Pomeroy came screaming up to T1 and laid his Bultaco down in a very nifty slide(Gosh, he may have been with Honda by then...my mind never knows for sure anymore). Washougal is near Seattle, it rains alot there. It was muddy. I got covered, head to toe, with mud. Thanks Jim!
Anyhow, Masi must go, Toto must go, Ginger Spice must go, former world driving champs no nothing about real racing. They all should go!
 
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Colt459
It’s interesting having watched the replay. There seems to have been an opportunity for either:

1) Unlap the cars earlier than Masi chose to do so as the track was seemingly cleared at end of lap 56
2) Unlap ALL of the cars exactly when he unlapped the five cars between Max and Hamilton. Those five were long clear before the safety car came in.

in either of these cases, would people still call the result wrong? And if not, isn’t it the same as saying the decision by Masi didn’t actually affect the outcome of Lewis and Max’s race (it affected Gasly or someone else behind Max)
 
Copef1
After reading through this thread, it is amazing to me how much some people have invested in certain drivers. I love F1, and racing in general, and have seen every F1 race since the late 70's. That being said it was just another race in just another championship. Maybe the officiating was botched, but is it worth getting so upset about? I've seen poor officiating in other sports. Superbowl XL comes to mind, when my beloved Seahawks got screwed over by the officiating, but I didn't quit watching the NFL. This F1 season was very exciting, and next year may be too. I am looking forward to seeing what George Russell can do. Maybe McLaren can give Lando a competitive car. You will still have Max, Lewis, Redbull, and Mercedes going at it. If your driver didn't get the title this year, take a chill pill, have a Merry Christmas, and come back next year and cheer them on again.
 
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RacerX35
Copef1 said:
After reading through this thread, it is amazing to me how much some people have invested in certain drivers. I love F1, and racing in general, and have seen every F1 race since the late 70's. That being said it was just another race in just another championship. Maybe the officiating was botched, but is it worth getting so upset about? I've seen poor officiating in other sports. Superbowl XL comes to mind, when my beloved Seahawks got screwed over by the officiating, but I didn't quit watching the NFL. This F1 season was very exciting, and next year may be too. I am looking forward to seeing what George Russell can do. Maybe McLaren can give Lando a competitive car. You will still have Max, Lewis, Redbull, and Mercedes going at it. If your driver didn't get the title this year, take a chill pill, have a Merry Christmas, and come back next year and cheer them on again.
Click to expand...
Well said.
 
D
Colt459 said:
It’s interesting having watched the replay. There seems to have been an opportunity for either:

1) Unlap the cars earlier than Masi chose to do so as the track was seemingly cleared at end of lap 56
2) Unlap ALL of the cars exactly when he unlapped the five cars between Max and Hamilton. Those five were long clear before the safety car came in.

in either of these cases, would people still call the result wrong? And if not, isn’t it the same as saying the decision by Masi didn’t actually affect the outcome of Lewis and Max’s race (it affected Gasly or someone else behind Max)
Click to expand...
I think the Skysports announcers were speculating on that topic during the yellow flag, they thought Masi would not release the lapped cars until the crew cleaning up crash site were off the track. Everything was cut so close to the end. When Horner radio'd Masi about moving the lapped cars, you could hear the stress in Masi's reply. 'let me deal with this incident first' (paraphrased)
 
gmhsv8
I am a Ricciardo fan and the absolute disgrace of the last race was REDICULOUS if Masi had any fairness in him he should not have been persuaded by anyone and had the lapped cars stay between Hamilton and Max he had the advantage of new softs and closed the 11 sec gap to 3-4 so what other advantage did Masi think was fair in giving Max. No lets give him the Championship as well because Hamilton was a sitting duck, don't worry about Hamilton smashed him all day and Max actually lost the race in the first corner.
They both deserve the Championship but there can only be 1 winner and that was Max congratulations.
The loser is not Hamilton it is F1 and they better get their act together next year or people will stop watching.
 
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T
Premium
davehenrie said:
I think the Skysports announcers were speculating on that topic during the yellow flag, they thought Masi would not release the lapped cars until the crew cleaning up crash site were off the track. Everything was cut so close to the end. When Horner radio'd Masi about moving the lapped cars, you could hear the stress in Masi's reply. 'let me deal with this incident first' (paraphrased)
Click to expand...
I remember that live and I thought, "He's not rejecting Horner".
It was obvious when he radio'ed Masi and he said that, that Masi had already decided that if he could get the SC off the track and move the lapped cars, he would do it.
His goal was already to finish the race with a green lap. If they could move all the unlapped cars before one clean lap, he would've preferred that, but there was only enough space for the cars affecting the championship so he went with that. If he moved all the lapped cars and had one clean lap, Lewis still would've been screwed.
They should've pitted Lewis, a random SC has happened way too often for Toto to think "there won't be any SC's at all in the second half so let's keep these tires".

Everyone, I think you all need to take a step back and realize that Max was absolutely deserving of being in contention for the title. Lewis has won WDC's without even needing points on the last race, and this is a move away from that where we have an actual driver who can stay at the pace of Lewis after years where Lewis more or less was solo hot lapping while the rest of the grid battled for scraps.

If you're this emotional about it, it's unhealthy for you. At the end of the day, both Max fans and Lewis fans have a solid argument for why the other's victory would've been unfair (Lewis at Silverstone, turn 6 at Abu Dhabi, Verstappen's lapped cars, his dive bomb in Germany), so consider the advantages a wash and be happy for Max because he drove spectacularly this season. If Lewis and Toto can congratulate him on his win, why can't you? A lot of legends of F1 have come out and said, the Masi call isn't scarring the image of F1 as much as Toto's protesting and Mercedes being a sore loser. You don't think that this bickering on the internet is more damaging at this point than acceptance of the outcome?
 
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W
zwiss said:
I felt the same way at the start, but look at it this way:
Max did an aggressive late dive (just like Ricciardo does a lot)
Whatever you do, you should always leave the other cars with OPTIONS.
In this case: Lewis was already turning into the corner at a certain speed when Max made his dive.
Was it possible for Lewis to break hard, stay on track and slot in behind Max? No, he also had too much speed. So his ONLY option was to leave the track, Max made him do it, hence no penalty.

It was different in Barcelona. Max also made an aggressive move, and Lewis decided to fight him in the corner, but he had at all times the OPTION to back out. That's why Max got no punishment.

I think, if you get more into detail, you will find more consistency from the FIA than would appear at first glance. But of course, some in this forum are true fanboys that feel that their driver is ALWAYS right.
Click to expand...
Lewis didn't turn into the corner until Max was already at the apex. He left the door open, that's his own fault.
Mike Kadlcak said:
yea if you call it a mistake you are misinformed. Masi informed the teams they will not be moving the lapped cars out of the way. Because of that info Mercedes decided not to pit. Then Redbull pulled the trigger and complained to Masi to move the lapped cars outta the way... so he obeyed. They did it really obvious it’s ridiculous. End of story.
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Mercedes already made the decision not to pit long before. If they pitted at the end of lap 56 (as you're suggesting since it was after the not moving lapped cars out of the way, Lewis would have finished the race/started the last lap in 6th.
Don't say that this unlap/leave them there decision by Masi impacted the tyre choice, because it didn't that was Mercedes own fault.


On a separate note, I was informed of an interesting interpretation that actually makes more sense than what the Stewards actually put in their decision report: The ability to allow certain cars and not others kind of exists in Article 48.8a, as there are no specifics in this clause.
48.8 With the exception of the cases listed under a) to h) below, no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the safety car, until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits. The exceptions are:
a) If a driver is signalled to do so from the safety car.
Click to expand...
 
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Stingraymx
I am guessing that the rule allowing the Race Director to "do as he pleases" was only introduced at the start of this season because in 2020 at the Eiffel GP (Nurburgring) both Lewis and Max complained that the safety car period had been unnecessarily long during the race.
Masi was asked about this after the race and he said : "There's a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past." If i were a lawyer, where much depends upon previous precedents (case law i think is the term), then it would be interesting to put Masi under the spotlight and have him explain his position. (Quoted from BBC Sport article by Andrew Benson)
 
RichardHessels
I got the feeling somehow half of the people here are still not over it.
Some "true" fans even deleting their F1 games and/or their TV subscriptions.
What a loss.
:roflmao:
 
J
Damage Inc said:
Or any motorcycle racing really, WSBKs, MGP etc etc. :)
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I believe MotoGP is highly underrated as a series. Half the field can realistically win on any given Sunday, and nothing is truly certain until the checkered flag. The junior classes have also historically been treated better than F1's own support series, to the point of being considered world championships in their own right.
 
Damage Inc
Copef1 said:
After reading through this thread, it is amazing to me how much some people have invested in certain drivers. I love F1, and racing in general, and have seen every F1 race since the late 70's. That being said it was just another race in just another championship. Maybe the officiating was botched, but is it worth getting so upset about? I've seen poor officiating in other sports. Superbowl XL comes to mind, when my beloved Seahawks got screwed over by the officiating, but I didn't quit watching the NFL. This F1 season was very exciting, and next year may be too. I am looking forward to seeing what George Russell can do. Maybe McLaren can give Lando a competitive car. You will still have Max, Lewis, Redbull, and Mercedes going at it. If your driver didn't get the title this year, take a chill pill, have a Merry Christmas, and come back next year and cheer them on again.
Click to expand...
greetings from a brit Seahawks fan! albeit a mega fan in the 80's hey day of US football in the UK. Loved Steve Largent. Lost touch from the 90's onwards but was happy in2014 ;).
 

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