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

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jonelsorel said:
So what you're basically saying, for the sake of an entartaining non-argument, is that you have no problem with a race director putting the championship on a silver platter to whomever he chooses. Dictatorship in sport, with no explanation or logic, just so that it looks good on tv (?). Which, by the looks of it, it didn't, considering the avalanche of criticism on Jean Todt's twitter and pretty much everywhere. The thing is no one even denied that the regulations allowed Masi to dictate a race outcome, because they obciously do. The point is that the king of inconsistencies did that while pretending to do good for the race or for the sport, but was obviously pressured to. Whenever you abuse power "because you can", you get what you deserve.

What happened is simply a deplorable farce. It would be the exact same thing if it happened in karting.

Even a 5 year old senses by now that those articles are bound to change.
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If that was what I was basically saying, don't you think I would have said that? But of course, I didn't.
 
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Enthilzha
Colt459 said:
Those two statements contradict themselves. Either you emphasize ending on green or follow the letter of the rules.
All teams decided to favor ending on green, which meant it became subjective to the RD, as is given in 15.3
Click to expand...
No they don't contradict themselves at all. The agreement is surely to end under a green flag wherever possible and whenever rules allow. To say that they are stating that rules can and should be broken in order to finish a race under green is absurd.
 
jonelsorel
Scottt said:
Not at all how I read it, but I have no desire to argue about the meaning of various rules.

At the end of the day, Max won the championship and that's all that really matters.
Click to expand...

To you and Max fans, obviously, this is all that matters. A lot of other weirdos were watching a race waiting to see who would win it fair and square, not to see race direction hand the championship cup to whoever they pick. It's probably an age thing.
 
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jonelsorel said:
So what you're basically saying, for the sake of an entertaining non-argument, is that you have no problem with a race director putting the championship on a silver platter to whomever he chooses. Dictatorship in sport, with no explanation or logic, just so that it looks good on tv (?).
Click to expand...
No, Masi is not involved in any way in Latifi´s accident. So, that incident is a casual thing that provoque an unlucky situation for Hamilton or a lucky one for Max. That´s it.
The accident was not that severe as allowed to be removed before the end of the race and that´s why the race continued on the last lap. If the accident would have been removed sooner, we would have watched a few more competitive laps but I don't know if the outcome would have been different.
 
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jonelsorel said:
To you and Max fans, obviously. A lot of other weirdos were watching a race waiting to see who would win it fair and square, not to see race direction hand the championship cup to whoever they pick. It's probably an age thing.
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No, I meant in terms of the season and the drivers championship. The title is decided and arguing about article 12 section 6 and the meaning 'any' versus 'all' in the context of 27.9 is pointless since the matter has been decided.

I don't see what the age comment was about. Are you saying that I'm too old to want fair play? I don't think that's true. I've just seen lots of disappointments in sports fandom, many that I think were unfair. At a certain point, I realized a few things. First: I'm not unbiased and nearly everyone invested in sports is biased. Second, the people that tell you they are unbiased are typically the most biased. Third there are calls that go your way and against you. Fourth: The first and second point make most fans a poor judge of the third point.

Age has also made me realize that it serves no point to get too worked up about it.
 
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LMGiorni said:
No, Masi is not involved in any way in Latifi´s accident. So, that incident is a casual thing that provoque an unlucky situation for Hamilton or a lucky one for Max. That´s it.
The accident was not that severe as allowed to be removed before the end of the race and that´s why the race continued on the last lap. If the accident would have been removed sooner, we would have watched a few more competitive laps but I don't know if the outcome would have been different.
Click to expand...
To me it's not luck or bad luck, because Masi exactly knew what the outcome will be with that decision.
 
Enthilzha
Damage Inc said:
No rules were rewritten....Masi is allowed some discretion. I mean honestly some of the rhetoric is getting a bit tiresome now. I understand how upset people are but it was a slight bending of the rules to fit in a last lap shootout. Which the teams agreed was the best ending to a race. There's a LOT wrong with F1s rules and Lewis has benfitted from them a LOT this year IMO.
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One rule was clearly broken even according to Masi's own understanding expressed last year (allowing some but not all cars to unlap themselves). Even the Race Stewards seem to acknowledge this if you read their rejection of Mercedes' complaint.

The rule about what should happen in the circumstance we saw is specifically laid out in the regulations: The race should have ended under yellow flag conditions as the safety car should have been out another lap. The Stewards claim that a following regulation (15.3) allows them to essentially ignore any other safety car-related rule they have, even those describing very specific situations such as this. Whether they are technically entitled to do so as they did or not (and they absolutely did rewrite or ignore 48.12 - they even admitted so in their written decision on the complaint), this naturally leads to an impossible situation wherein no rules actually really apply any more and no team can trust or compete to what is written down in the regulations. You simply cannot run any sport or competition by laying out all the regulations but then changing those rules on the spur of the moment, claiming that you are entitled to ignore all those regulations you have created.
 
jonelsorel
LMGiorni said:
No, Masi is not involved in any way in Latifi´s accident. So, that incident is a casual thing that provoque an unlucky situation for Hamilton or a lucky one for Max. That´s it.
The accident was not that severe as allowed to be removed before the end of the race and that´s why the race continued on the last lap. If the accident would have been removed sooner, we would have watched a few more competitive laps but I don't know if the outcome would have been different.
Click to expand...

What part of Masi removed just the 5 cars in between Lewis and Max and restarted the race in a jiffy one lap earlier than normal, so that Max can win it on fresh softs (vs old hards) didn't you get, kind sir? :)

Some coffee, maybe? Or a Red Bull?
 
S
Premium

Enthilzha said:
One rule was clearly broken even according to Masi's own understanding expressed last year (allowing some but not all cars to unlap themselves). Even the Race Stewards seem to acknowledge this if you read their rejection of Mercedes' complaint.

The rule about what should happen in the circumstance we saw is specifically laid out in the regulations: The race should have ended under yellow flag conditions as the safety car should have been out another lap. The Stewards claim that a following regulation (15.3) allows them to essentially ignore any other safety car-related rule they have, even those describing very specific situations such as this. Whether they are technically entitled to do so as they did or not (and they absolutely did rewrite or ignore 48.12 - they even admitted so in their written decision on the complaint), this naturally leads to an impossible situation wherein no rules actually really apply any more and no team can trust or compete to what is written down in the regulations. You simply cannot run any sport or competition by laying out all the regulations but then changing those rules on the spur of the moment, claiming that you are entitled to ignore all those regulations you have created.
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Well said,and really does sum up why people are left bemused confused about all the inconsistency.
 
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Enthilzha
Damage Inc said:
His understanding for the rules in 2020. Before the agreement races would be finished with an actual race and not behind the SC. That agreement is clearly integral to Masi's reasoning, it's not as if he's favoured Max all year is it? So it's clear Masi is not biased towards Max.
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I think you are being somewhat disingenuous here. That rule has not had it's wording changed at all since Masi made it very clear that he believes that 'Any' does mean 'All' cars in this situation. As I have said before, it is obvious that the intent of the agreement to finish races under green flag conditions is 'wherever possible' and of course would never be at the expense of breaking the rules themselves.

As for whether Masi has favoured Max or Lewis this year (and I have stated on numerous occasions that I don't believe there has been any deliberate bias to either) - that is entirely irrelevant. This situation should be judged entirely on it's own merits.
 
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jonelsorel
Scottt said:
No, I meant in terms of the season and the drivers championship. The title is decided and arguing about article 12 section 6 and the meaning 'any' versus 'all' in the context of 27.9 is pointless since the matter has been decided.
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I never did argue any vs all. You're making stuff up for the sake of an argument that doesn't exist. And if you cite someone (Horner), use quotes, it's the proper way to do it. And the matter may be "decided", but it ain't over till it's over, whether you like it or not. Wait for it. You've got nothing to lose if you love the game more than the player, right?

What I am stating is that Masi has the backbone of a worm. And funny thing is that the drivers kinda have the same opinion about his consistency.

www.dailymail.co.uk

REVEALED: Michael Masi broke his own rules in Abu Dhabi GP controversy

Michael Masi is facing further questions about his decision-making at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after it was revealed that the F1 race director broke his own rules to allow a controversial finish.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
 
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jonelsorel said:
I never did argue any vs all. You're making stuff up for the sake of an argument that doesn't exist. And if you cite someone (Horner), use quotes, it's the proper way to do it. And the matter may be "decided", but it ain't over till it's over, whether you like it or not.

What I am stating is that Masi has the backbone of a worm. And funny thing is that the drivers kinda have the same opinion about his consistency.

www.dailymail.co.uk

REVEALED: Michael Masi broke his own rules in Abu Dhabi GP controversy

Michael Masi is facing further questions about his decision-making at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after it was revealed that the F1 race director broke his own rules to allow a controversial finish.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
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No, I was just throwing out examples of people going on about what word "xyz" in section SomeNumber.SomeOtherNumber isn't going to change the result here. I wasn't trying to imply you were specifically arguing that point.


Nor was I trying to quote Horner. And thanks for the advice, but I'll use quotes when I feel like it's appropriate to use quotes.
 
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jonelsorel
are you a kid? cause we take the time to explain things but for sure it's just a bit out of the ordinary "conversation". Laughing when someone takes the time to explain why it's not unfair, you are in your right to disagree but laugh, it's a bit childish!
eco2006 said:
To me it's not luck or bad luck, because Masi exactly knew what the outcome will be with that decision.
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But what if everybody knew that a SC will benefit a driver, don't do what you have to do? the SC was the correct procedure and if that allowed Max to have an advantage is not up to Masi, it's the circumstance. This happened in other tracks in benefit of Hamilton, and at this time, in a very unpredicted way in favor of Max.

Grow up, and hope to you and jonelsorei a pretty soon recovery.
 
Enthilzha
Gevatter said:
That's exactly what it says :)

You guys are (again) acting like Masi just handed the win to Max. Max was behind at SC in, he was behind Hamilton the first part of the lap. It's neither his nor Masi's fault Hamilton didn't defend the corner he was overtaken in (again, like in lap 1), nor that Mercedes left Hamilton out on 33 lap old Hards because they were to timid to change tires under VSC.
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Not Max's fault as you say, but certainly Masi's fault that Hamilton was left out on tyres that he could not possibly compete with. Both teams (Red Bull and Merc) made their decisions (and both correctly I think) based upon the official regulations as written down. It is fair on neither team (although it benefitted RB here) to suddenly invoke a further rule claiming that you can ignore all of your own rules on a whim. Put simply, if this is the case it means that no team or driver can actually plan their season, develop their car or drive a certain way with regard to the rules, as they know that these are liable to change at any moment.
 
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@LMGiorni I don't say that the SC was the wrong decision, but letting some cars (those between Hamilton and Verstappen) unlap themselves and restarting the race that way was not "forced" by the circumstances. In my opinion a red flag, because of the fire extinguisher foam on the track, and a restart with fresh tires for Hamilton and Verstappen to let them fight it out for the last few laps would have been a better and even more media effective solution.
 
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Yeah, some rules are up to interpretation and some rules are there to be able to adjust to unpredicted situations.
In the case of unlaped cars, the rules don't specify all cars and don't say they must. And with that, you can conclude that what happened in the last race is based on the rules.
And the criteria was to avoid any interference in the last lap of the race of anyone that was not fighting for the championship. That's why he made it clear to allow at least only the drivers inbetween Lewis and Max. The other teams can later protest or whatever but will be managed out of the media.
But as F1 media is almost all British, you know! The robbery of century titles are going to explode in the media, and what can you do. Has always been the same.

For example, Coulthard with Schumacher in Spa 98, waayyyy harsher than the incident that happened between Max and Lewis in Saudi Arabia never got any media coverage and questioning as how the media went after Max that race. It's what it is, and sadly, Hamilton fans will have maybe a new opportunity next year.
 
Enthilzha
Scottt said:
Formula 1 is going to be just fine.
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So you're suggesting it's okay to do this then?

As I have said before, in the short-term F1 will probably benefit from the extra publicity etc that they are getting right now. But in the longer term, if they continue to act as they have done in this instance, and, indeed throughout this season, the integrity of the sport will be completely undermined and those who want more 'engineered' drama will go to WWE who do it much better, and the rest will ultimately find a different Formula or sport which they trust has as fair competition as possible.
 

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