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

JohannesK
daveclifton said:
Yes I think it was. Hamilton should have given the place back. It's a shame there wasn't a stronger Race Director in charge. Verstappen probably would have won it if the rules had been followed from the start anyway, but it's a shame it ended with this farce.

They're both amazing drivers. Next season should be a cracker too.
Click to expand...
Im a big Max supporter but no chance he would've won it without a bit of luck. He deserved that bit of luck today though
 
Enthilzha
Scottt said:
The race director is the independent decision maker. There is nothing to be done, Max is the World Champion. It’s over.
Click to expand...
But Race Control cannot now be independent if they have indeed made a big error.

I am not one of those who think that the FIA has been biased towards either Max or Lewis this year and I don't think today was an attempt to screw Lewis over/help Max at all (though it may have been an attempt to engineer an exciting finish). But, if they have indeed made a big mistake and broken their own regulations, they would naturally be loathe to take any kind of remedial action as it would mean admitting that they had made a catastrophic error, hence, why an independent body may be better placed to make the best decisions going forward in this.

I do agree with you though, that (whatever Jake Humphreys says - I was just reporting that he had said this) it is highly unlikely that there will be any change of result regardless of whether this would be appropriate or not.
 
S
Enthilzha said:
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.
Click to expand...
Were you saying that after Imola? In auto racing, you can get a huge benefit and penalty from things outside of your control. Sometime it helps you, like Hamilton in Imola or Hungary and sometime it hurts you like it did today.

Parallels with other sports doesn’t work here.
 
Last edited:
dave kirk
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...
Because that's always been F1, people only have an issue when it negatively affects their driver
 
S
Enthilzha said:
But Race Control cannot now be independent if they have indeed made a big error.

I am not one of those who think that the FIA has been biased towards either Max or Lewis this year and I don't think today was an attempt to screw Lewis over/help Max at all (though it may have been an attempt to engineer an exciting finish). But, if they have indeed made a big mistake and broken their own regulations, they would naturally be loathe to take any kind of remedial action as it would mean admitting that they had made a catastrophic error, hence, why an independent body may be better placed to make the best decisions going forward in this.

I do agree with you though, that (whatever Jake Humphreys says - I was just reporting that he had said this) it is highly unlikely that there will be any change of result regardless of whether this would be appropriate or not.
Click to expand...

Again, the race director is the independent decision maker. you may disagree with their decision, but this isn’t going to be decided by The Hague. And if it was, what if you also disageee with their decision? Do they also stop being independent? Do we then send it to th Vatican? Or the United Nations?

the decision was made.
 
D
It's a shame that Mercedes will be labelled "bitter" when their appeals are 100% justified. It's a shame those put in charge to run the race according to the rules failed to do so, from the first lap to the last. It's a shame we were not given a fair race to finish this glorious season. I think if we were, Verstappen would have won anyway, as we would have taken the lead at the start.
 
S
This reminds me so much of the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche passing a broken Toyota on the last lap. Not that the Merc was broken.
 
Trezoitao38
Enthilzha said:
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.
Click to expand...

In the past things like this would not happen. First, no safety cars, only red flags. And the times keep, so the distances was preserved.
 
Enthilzha
Scottt said:
Were you saying that after Imola? In auto racing, you can get a huge benefit and penalty from things outside of your control. Sometime it helps you, like Hamilton in Imola or Hungary and sometime it hurts you like it did today.

Parallels with other sports doesn’t work here.
Click to expand...
I would definitely say that if ANY driver has such a big advantage wiped out through no fault of their own (not debating about smaller advantages), in any race, then either there is a mistake at Race Control or the rules themselves are flawed. It happened today and it has happened on occasion before to various drivers, Max included, and it is never ideal.

Honestly, the fact that this worked in favour of Max today and against Lewis is entirely irrelevant. No driver should have that kind of advantage, yet have that advantage removed plus their opponents given a pitstop on top.

I guess it sticks out today particularly to me as a significant issue as this didn't just affect minor placings or even a single race win, but the entire championship.
 
Terry Rock
Lewis would not want to win by an overturned decision....(which will never happen by the way).
He is simply not that kind of champion.
He got mugged today by a bad decision on the part of the race director.
If this was in the interest of fairness...a red flag would have been shown...followed by a rolling re-start.
He was always going to get mugged on old tires after that lead was eroded by the safety car.
Who won driver of the day?
 
Trezoitao38
Scottt said:
This reminds me so much of the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche passing a broken Toyota on the last lap. Not that the Merc was broken.
Click to expand...

Well, this is different. It was a endurance race and the reliability of the cars is one of most important keys to win.
 
Ken Verhagen
daveclifton said:
It's a shame that Mercedes will be labelled "bitter" when their appeals are 100% justified. It's a shame those put in charge to run the race according to the rules failed to do so, from the first lap to the last. It's a shame we were not given a fair race to finish this glorious season. I think if we were, Verstappen would have won anyway, as we would have taken the lead at the start.
Click to expand...
Why not fair? Mercedes had the same option to pit and switch tires but elected not to because they didn't want to conceed track position. Michael Masi would have made the same decision whether or not Mercedes had decided to pit or not. Mercedes just made a bad call and it didn't work out for them. That's racing
 
JohannesK
daveclifton said:
It's a shame that Mercedes will be labelled "bitter" when their appeals are 100% justified. It's a shame those put in charge to run the race according to the rules failed to do so, from the first lap to the last. It's a shame we were not given a fair race to finish this glorious season. I think if we were, Verstappen would have won anyway, as we would have taken the lead at the start.
Click to expand...
They have all the right to do so and I would expect nothing less from any top team, whether it's Ferrari, Merc or RB. It does have a bitter taste when they are usually the ones to say they want to win it on track though
 

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