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

S
Motorhead68 said:
It could be the end of a tennis tournament, a football league or tournament, a cycling tour etc but in sport sometimes you have exciting endings, sometimes dull - that's just the way it goes.

The beauty and magic is that you don't know what the result will be and if it will be a thrilling game, match or final - it is the luck of the draw if you end up watching the ultimate match or game - what you don't want to see is a manufactured ending just to please fans, TV viewers, sponsors etc.

I'm sure we have all lived through the agony or ecstasy of penalty shoot outs, final frame deciders etc but the key is...that all the teams and spectators / viewers knew that by the rules & regs that was a potential outcome - it's when the final moments are 'seemingly' made up to create excitement that the magic of sport is lost.
Click to expand...
So I'm assuming you've never watched a basketball game. It's certainly not called the same in the first 46 minutes as it is in the last 2 (or 38 vs last 2 if you're talking NCAA).
 
jonelsorel
Oh, here's a neat one:

The 2020 Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring drew complaints from the drivers when a Safety Car had been deployed for a lengthy period of time during the race, when there were worries that the McLaren of Lando Norris – who had suffered an engine failure – would catch fire, given the visible burns on the bodywork at the time with smoke also coming out of the car.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were the two front-running cars during that race as well, but they complained at the duration of the Safety Car period because of the negative effect of slower speeds on a cold track surface was having on their tyre temperatures.

Masi defended his actions at that point and, given the fact all lapped runners were able to pass the Safety Car and get away – but there was a particular ruling he went on to seemingly contradict at the weekend:

“There’s a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past,” Masi said at the time.

This directly goes against what he opted to do in Abu Dhabi, whereby only the lapped runners positioned between Hamilton and Verstappen on track were allowed to un-lap themselves.

Another requirement would've been to release the safety car on lap 58, not 57.

FIA, I really hope you get sued good for this. Max can keep his championship, Lewis has a few.

www.planetf1.com

Michael Masi Abu Dhabi ruling contradicts previous lapped car clarification

The ruling of Michael Masi to allow selected lapped runners past the Safety Car in Abu Dhabi goes against a precedent he set in 2020.
www.planetf1.com www.planetf1.com
 
A

For who's interested, Palmer's analysis shows that the track was clear a lap before, and that the lapped cars could have (and should have) been let go a lap earlier (thus negating this whole issue). So if everything was done right (which I assume is what Hamilton fans want, right?) the outcome would have been the exact same.

Mercedes played themselves by not pitting under VSC. They might have lost track position due to Checo's great defense, but they still would have had the undisputed GOAT in the WCC winning car on fresh tyres in P2. By not doing that they gambled on not getting a late safety car, and lost.
 
L
If I were the FIA, I would in a case that Mercedes pushes to finish the Race with SC, allow RB to appeal on the first lap incident, granting Hamilton a +5s penalty and there you go.
 
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S
FWIW, the idea that this race corrupts the season as opposed to earlier races is just nonsense (in my opinion). I think most people are putting too much weight on just last week for the title, rather than the season as a whole. As a Max fan, I'd say the Spa race was far more ridiculous. If Max had won the race from beginning to end last weekend, would his championship been discounted because of Spa? That was far cheaper win than Sunday.

Likewise, what if Checo took out half the field on Sunday including Lewis on the first lap, would Hamilton fans be fine with the result? I imagine not. The only difference between that and Hungary would be when it happened (and switching teams).

Over the course of a F1 season, there is a lot of luck, both good and bad. Max got lucky in Spa. He got unlucky in Baku. Lewis got lucky Imola and got unlucky in Yas. You get calls that go your way and you get calls that go against you. Heck, just last weekend Lewis got a huge call going his way on lap 1 and a huge call (that clearly had a bigger impact) that went against him at the end of the race.

If this race had happened in May, it's impact on the season would have been just as large; but there would be a lot less tears.
 
Motorhead68
Premium
Scottt said:
So I'm assuming you've never watched a basketball game. It's certainly not called the same in the first 46 minutes as it is in the last 2 (or 38 vs last 2 if you're talking NCAA).
Click to expand...
No I haven’t - so wasn’t aware of that, but the same principle could still apply, which is the fans and players know it’s going to be called differently so they are expecting the unexpected but it’s when that is not the norm that questions unfortunately get raised. Anyway thanks for pointing out the different way that a basketball game is called - you learn something new everyday
 
S
LMGiorni said:
If I were the FIA, I would in a case that Mercedes pushes to finish the Race with SC, allow RB to appeal on the first lap incident, granting Hamilton a +5s penalty and there you go.
Click to expand...
I was curious as to how that would work if it finished under SC and one driver had a time penalty. Would it be based on how close he finished the last lap under the SC? If there were still 3 cars between Max and Lewis, not sure 5 seconds would be enough.
 
Colt459
jonelsorel said:
Oh, here's a neat one:

The 2020 Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring drew complaints from the drivers when a Safety Car had been deployed for a lengthy period of time during the race, when there were worries that the McLaren of Lando Norris – who had suffered an engine failure – would catch fire, given the visible burns on the bodywork at the time with smoke also coming out of the car.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were the two front-running cars during that race as well, but they complained at the duration of the Safety Car period because of the negative effect of slower speeds on a cold track surface was having on their tyre temperatures.

Masi defended his actions at that point and, given the fact all lapped runners were able to pass the Safety Car and get away – but there was a particular ruling he went on to seemingly contradict at the weekend:

“There’s a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past,” Masi said at the time.

This directly goes against what he opted to do in Abu Dhabi, whereby only the lapped runners positioned between Hamilton and Verstappen on track were allowed to un-lap themselves.

Another requirement would've been to release the safety car on lap 58, not 57.

FIA, I really hope you get sued good for this. Max can keep his championship, Lewis has a few.

www.planetf1.com

Michael Masi Abu Dhabi ruling contradicts previous lapped car clarification

The ruling of Michael Masi to allow selected lapped runners past the Safety Car in Abu Dhabi goes against a precedent he set in 2020.
www.planetf1.com www.planetf1.com
Click to expand...
Which is overridden by 15.3. Even if you take “any” as “all” (completely reasonable btw), it’s still Masi’s overriding authority on how handle safety car situations. He chose to follow the pre race agreement that they finish on green flag.
 
S
Colt459 said:
Which is overridden by 15.3. Even if you take “any” as “all” (completely reasonable btw), it’s still Masi’s overriding authority on how handle safety car situations. He chose to follow the pre race agreement that they finish on green flag.
Click to expand...
I hate myself that I'm getting into this bickering about the rules, but what if you took that "overriding authority" to mean he had "overriding authority" over the clerk of the course, which is how I read the "overriding authority".


The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement
 
Last edited:
Colt459
Scottt said:
I hate myself that I'm getting into this bickering about the rules, but what if you took that "overriding authority" to mean he had "overriding authority" over the clerk of the course, which is how I read the "overriding authority".


The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement
Click to expand...
But it’s not “overriding authority over the clerk of the court”, it’s “overriding authority in the following matters” which then lists the safety car.

in the end though, they operate similarly. The clerk of the course fulfills the Race Director’s decision that comes from the overriding authority.
 
S
Colt459 said:
But it’s not “overriding authority over the clerk of the court”, it’s “overriding authority in the following matters” which then lists the safety car.

in the end though, they operate similarly. The clerk of the course fulfills the Race Director’s decision that comes from the overriding authority.
Click to expand...
That's not how I read it. He has overriding authority over the clerk of the court in these matters. It literally says, RD has authority in these matters and the Clerk of the Course may give orders only with his express agreement. In other words, RD has authority over CC in these matters. The section is dealing with the relationship between the Clerk of the Course and the Race Director.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. They made their decision. The stewards backed them up. Max is the champ and it's not going to be changed no matter how badly some may want it to be. Even if they promise to never watch F1 again.
 
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Damage Inc
Taj Johal said:
I too can quote two random words out of context.

You still haven't shown where it say explicitly Massi can make up his own procedures.
Click to expand...
Show me where it explicitly states Masi CANNOT bring in the safety car at his discretion? This roundabout can go on and on and on and on and on. Lewis LOST, get over it.
 
Colt459
Scottt said:
That's not how I read it. He has overriding authority over the clerk of the court in these matters. It literally says, RD has authority in these matters and the Clerk of the Course may give orders only with his express agreement. In other words, RD has authority over CC in these matters. The section is dealing with the relationship between the Clerk of the Course and the Race Director.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. They made their decision. The stewards backed them up. Max is the champ and it's not going to be changed no matter how badly some may want it to be. Even if they promise to never watch F1 again.
Click to expand...
But that is the same thing. The clerk is just the person who executes the commands, he doesn’t decide the use of, for example, a yellow vs red flag.

I found a timely article from Autosport written December 9th (Thursday before the race)

www.autosport.com

F1 Stewards: Who are they, what do they do & how are they chosen?

Stewards in F1 are responsible for some of the most talked-about decisions in F1, but who are they, what do they do and how are they chosen? Find out all that and more here.
www.autosport.com www.autosport.com

What do the officials and stewards do?​

The race director has the ‘overriding authority’ in a number of areas during a grand prix weekend, working with the clerk of the course to give out orders.

The race director controls practice, qualifying and the race, making sure that the timetable is followed properly. If necessary, the race director can propose changes to the timetable; for example, if heavy rain delays a session.

He decides if red flags are brought out to bring sessions to a halt, he deploys the safety car and the virtual safety car, and instructs lapped cars to overtake, among other responsibilities.

The clerk of the course has to be in constant contact with both the race director and all marshal posts throughout each session. He is the point of contact between race control and the track workers to inform them of what the race director has decided.
 
S
Colt459 said:
But that is the same thing. The clerk is just the person who executes the commands, he doesn’t decide the use of, for example, a yellow vs red flag.

I found a timely article from Autosport written December 9th (Thursday before the race)

www.autosport.com

F1 Stewards: Who are they, what do they do & how are they chosen?

Stewards in F1 are responsible for some of the most talked-about decisions in F1, but who are they, what do they do and how are they chosen? Find out all that and more here.
www.autosport.com www.autosport.com

What do the officials and stewards do?​

The race director has the ‘overriding authority’ in a number of areas during a grand prix weekend, working with the clerk of the course to give out orders.

The race director controls practice, qualifying and the race, making sure that the timetable is followed properly. If necessary, the race director can propose changes to the timetable; for example, if heavy rain delays a session.

He decides if red flags are brought out to bring sessions to a halt, he deploys the safety car and the virtual safety car, and instructs lapped cars to overtake, among other responsibilities.

The clerk of the course has to be in constant contact with both the race director and all marshal posts throughout each session. He is the point of contact between race control and the track workers to inform them of what the race director has decided.
Click to expand...
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.
 
L
Scottt said:
I was curious as to how that would work if it finished under SC and one driver had a time penalty. Would it be based on how close he finished the last lap under the SC? If there were still 3 cars between Max and Lewis, not sure 5 seconds would be enough.
Click to expand...
I think that formation lap would grant between +0.1 / +0.3 between cars. So 5 cars * 0.3 do a +1.5 seconds. He may lose also the podium finish possibly.
 
jonelsorel
Colt459 said:
But it’s not “overriding authority over the clerk of the court”, it’s “overriding authority in the following matters” which then lists the safety car.

in the end though, they operate similarly. The clerk of the course fulfills the Race Director’s decision that comes from the overriding authority.
Click to expand...

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.

The guy let through just the cars that were an obstacle to Verstappen, contradicting his own decision from Germany last year, then used his dictatorial power to restart the race one lap earlier than normal, so that mad max can win it on fresh tires. Tough luck for Lewis, who pointed this out in a few short words before radio silence.

What happened is simply a deplorable farce. It would be the exact same thing if it happened in karting. And it will happen again for the simple reason that people, myself included, let this sport become the playground of billionnaires with the backbones of worms.

Even a 5 year old senses by now that those articles - especially 48.13 - are bound to change and Masi's head is bound to fall. As if that ever fixes something.
 
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