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

Enthilzha
Jake Humphreys on BBC reckons result will have to be overturned.

Mercedes protest is at FIA not at Red Bull.

Red Bull on way to stewards.

Putting aside who the drivers are, how can it be fair for any driver to be 10-12 seconds ahead (and lapping faster at that point), with 4 laps to go, to have the guy behind you able to pit for brand new tyres whilst not being able to do so yourself (without automatically losing first place) AND having your 10-12 second gap wiped out entirely and then being expected to have a one lap shootout against that guy with brand new tyres vs your old ones, all through no fault or error of your own.

It's a bit like leading 6-0 6-0 5-0 40-0 in a tennis match and then being told that next point is winner takes all whilst your racquet is taken away from you whilst your opponent can carry on as before.

Again, not Red-Bull's or Max's fault and maybe it's not mistakes by Race Control but just the way the luck went, but it just doesn't feel right and wouldn't if it had been reversed and Lewis had won this way and Max lost out.
 
Jim Layee
Italotracks said:
If clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message "LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE" has been sent to all teams, any cars that have been lapped by leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car."

'Any cars' has to mean all cars. The regulation makes no mention of picking and choosing, as far as F1 regulations go it's actually very clear. 'Any cars lapped by the leader will be required' means all lapped cars must go through. It's pretty clear to me that the rule hasn't been followed.
Click to expand...

Problem is that legally only " All " actually means all , "Any" is open to interpretation.
 
K
Slapped said:
I... just don't comprehend what the hell that clusterf**k was at the end.
Click to expand...
The FIA didn’t want to end the race behind the safety car, which would have been the case with the usual procedure. Whether this was the right call or not, I’ll let you decide… :cool:
 
Italotracks
Jim Layee said:
Problem is that legally only " All " actually means all , "Any" is open to interpretation.
Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree with that. 'Any cars lapped will be required' leaves no wiggle room IMO. Some cars may be required, lapped cars could be required, yes there is ambiguity in those, but how it is worded is clear cut.
 
J
Someone in a Discord server I'm in brought up the possibility of the entire race getting annulled due to incorrect procedure. There is precedent for this too, notably the 1986 San Remo rally where Lancia won because the Italian stewards disqualified all the Peugeots. That result getting cancelled decided the championship in the final Group B season. Of course if that were to happen here too, Verstappen still has the tiebreaker over Hamilton so nothing changes.
 
Last edited:
P
The result will definitely stay.
It'll be interesting to see how Rusell does at Mercedes. Have been quite critical about the on-track conduct of this driver, but as time goes on, this driver is getting better and better all the time and may well beat Hamilton.
Putting a tenner on Norris to win 2022 though.
 
S
Enthilzha said:
Jake Humphreys on BBC reckons result will have to be overturned.

Mercedes protest is at FIA not at Red Bull.

Red Bull on way to stewards.

Putting aside who the drivers are, how can it be fair for any driver to be 10-12 seconds ahead (and lapping faster at that point), with 4 laps to go, to have the guy behind you able to pit for brand new tyres whilst not being able to do so yourself (without automatically losing first place) AND having your 10-12 second gap wiped out entirely and then being expected to have a one lap shootout against that guy with brand new tyres vs your old ones, all through no fault or error of your own.

It's a bit like leading 6-0 6-0 5-0 40-0 in a tennis match and then being told that next point is winner takes all whilst your racquet is taken away from you whilst your opponent can carry on as before.

Again, not Red-Bull's or Max's fault and maybe it's not mistakes by Race Control but just the way the luck went, but it just doesn't feel right and wouldn't if it had been reversed and Lewis had won this way and Max lost out.
Click to expand...
It’s almost as if tennis and motor racing have different regulations. I think you can make a case against the way it was restarted, but not that trailing cars can bunch up after a safety car.

And Humphreys can reckon whatever he likes, they aren’t overturning the Championship.
 
S
paracletus said:
The result will definitely stay.
It'll be interesting to see how Rusell does at Mercedes. Have been quite critical about the on-track conduct of this driver, but as time goes on, this driver is getting better and better all the time and may well beat Hamilton.
Putting a tenner on Norris to win 2022 though.
Click to expand...
I think Russell has been shockingly good (in a shockingly bad car) since coming into F1. I’d be more than a little surprised if he doesn’t put score Lewis next year.
 
Enthilzha
Perhaps the best course of action now would be for an entirely independent decision-maker/arbitrator to make the call on whether rules were broken changing the result of the race and championship, and if so what to do next.

Clearly Masi and Co would want to resist doing this and taking any retrospective action now (which would be an admission of a big error made) even *IF* that would be the right thing to do.

Regardless, it's a mess and this could go on and on.
 
K
Robes said:
The right call would have been to red flag and restart the race with 4 laps remaining. I felt it was obvious as soon as the crash happened.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but then Mercedes would have changed Lewis’ tires during the red flag and we would have been stuck in yet another controversy about letting the teams work on their cars during a red flag… And if Lewis had won the championship, well… you can imagine the reactions!
 
S
Enthilzha said:
Perhaps the best course of action now would be for an entirely independent decision-maker/arbitrator to make the call on whether rules were broken changing the result of the race and championship, and if so what to do next.

Clearly Masi and Co would want to resist doing this and taking any retrospective action now (which would be an admission of a big error made) even *IF* that would be the right thing to do.

Regardless, it's a mess and this could go on and on.
Click to expand...
The race director is the independent decision maker. There is nothing to be done, Max is the World Champion. It’s over.
 
S
Robes said:
The right call would have been to red flag and restart the race with 4 laps remaining. I felt it was obvious as soon as the crash happened.
Click to expand...
They said on Friday they werent going to red flag it unless absolutely necessary
 
Enthilzha
Scottt said:
It’s almost as if tennis and motor racing have different regulations. I think you can make a case against the way it was restarted, but not that trailing cars can bunch up after a safety car.

And Humphreys can reckon whatever he likes, they aren’t overturning the Championship.
Click to expand...
Of course I am not saying that tennis and F1 have the same regulations. The point still stands though, whatever sport you might use as a parallel in which one party has earned an insurmountable advantage only to have that completely removed and a big advantage given to their opponent through no fault of their own. It would be heartbreaking for any driver to lose a race this way, but to lose a race AND a championship like this means that something is very wrong either with the decisions made today or with the rules themselves.

And I would be saying this just as strongly if it had been the other way around.
 
Ken Verhagen
blekenbleu said:
I wonder whether that restart was influenced by misgivings about letting Lewis keep that lap one off-track pass.
Click to expand...
I also don't think Toto did himself any favors to plead with the stewards to not turn the virtual safety car into a full safety car because "it would effect the finish of the race". The officials make (and should make) those decisions based on the safety of the drivers and staff, not the potential outcome of a race. Or Toto calling him Mikey instead of Michael. The "Toto, it's called a motor race, OK?" commend was well deserved in my view.

In the end we got a green flag finish to an amazing season which gave us a very deserving world champion. If anyone should feel they got the short end of the stick in stewards decisions over the course of the season it should be RB and Max.

I have to feel for George Russell because we all know Toto will be hell bent on getting Lewis his 8th driver's championship next year which will mean a support role for George.
 
JohannesK
Red flag would have been the right call, first thing I said when the SC came out. FIA ****ed up and Hamilton was somewhat robbed, but in the end the more deserving driver won and got a bit of luck paid out after this horribly unlucky season.
 

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