Hamilton had a record eighth championship ripped away with five laps remaining when a crash by Nicholas Latifi triggered the safety car and gave race director Michael Masi a decision. The season-ending race and championship could be decided under yellow, or, the track could be cleaned for one final lap of racing. Today's race marks the end of Honda's F1 project. We came back into the sport in 2015 as a PU supplier, attracted by this very sophisticated hybrid PU technology.
From then until today, 7 seasons and 141 races have gone by. Compared to our rivals, our development time was relatively short and partly because of that, we struggled a lot in the beginning and we hit rock bottom in the early days. However, even while having to deal with logistical difficulties partly down to the Covid-19 pandemic, in this our last season we have been fighting with very strong rivals and we came out on top of the Formula 1 world.
This is due to all the hard work from all our engineers and mechanics, not just those at the race track. They never gave up even in the most difficult times and made numerous technological breakthroughs along the way. We were able to prove the validity and effectiveness of our technology and the abilities of our workforce. We should not forget McLaren, with whom this era started back in 2015 and all the drivers who have worked with us, always putting maximum effort into achieving the best possible results. Without all these elements working together and without the passion of each individual involved, we would not be where we are today. Last but not least, I'd like to thank all our fans who have always supported us through thick and thin, even when there was no light at the end of the tunnel and we had considered giving up.
It's not just me who took strength from the support of our fans. I myself went racing with the belief that Honda's power of dreams would one day come true and that we would enjoy our success with our fans. There is nothing better than sharing the highs of victory and the lows of defeat with you, as we made it to the top together. Lewis Hamilton looked to have won a record eighth drivers' championship with only a few laps to go, but a late safety car changed the dynamic of the race and Verstappen made his move on fresher tyres to take the title.
Max Verstappen won the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in controversial fashion, after race director Michael Masi effectively restarted the race ahead of the final lap. The two combined for 18 of the victories, with Verstappen winning 10 times — equalling the number of wins scored over his first six seasons in F1. Verstappen led an F1-high 652 of the 1,211 laps this year and scored 18 podium finishes. The safety car was introduced in the race after Nicholas Latifi crashed into the barriers of a high-speed corner.
However, the controversy came about as Masi first instructed that lapped cars will not be permitted to overtake the safety car, only to change his decision a few seconds later. With Hamilton and Verstappen at par, the Dutchman overtook the Mercedes F1 driver thanks to fresher tyres, following a pit stop before the incident. Hamilton had looked to be cruising to a record eighth world title with five laps to go. However, the deployment of a safety car following an innocuous crash by Williams' Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi allowed Verstappen to dive into the pits and change his tyres and then catch back up to his rival.
Hamilton's Mercedes team were shocked at the decision-making of FIA race director Michael Masi in the final race of the season when he allowed some, but not all, of the lapped cars to overtake the safety car. Hamilton looked set to win a record-breaking eighth drivers' championship as he led Verstappen by 11 seconds with six laps remaining in their winner-takes-all finale, which they started tied on points. Max Verstappen looked down and out, but late safety car drama saw him snatch the world title away from Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the 2021 season. Mercedes fumed at the race officials for allowing the race to restart on the final lap, with backmarkers allowed beyond the safety car to leave Verstappen on Hamilton's wheel. The engines are roaring almost as much as the crowd as the pit lane opens and the cars make their way to the grid for the final time in 2021.
The big talk is on tyres, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton starting the race on different compunds . Despite that, though, Pirelli expect the one-stop to be the fastest, no matter the starting tyre with hard tyres the choice at the stop. The altered Yas Marina layout hasn't affected tyre wear enough for a two-stop to become profitable unless a safety car intervenes.
The Abu Dhabi GP was a do or die affair for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen and it was the Red Bull driver who rose to the top under controversial circumstances. The Dutch driver defeated Lewis Hamilton by overtaking him on the final lap after a late safety car restart was instructed by race director Michael Masi. Ercedes argued that Masi should have allowed all the lapped cars to unlap themselves rather than just the five in between the two title contenders. Additionally they argued that the safety car should have stayed out for one more lap, meaning the race would have finished under a safety car and Hamilton would have been crowned champion. Meanwhile Stroll was by the accident ahead and drove into the side of Leclerc.
After a safety car, teams were told there would be a standing start from the grid, but just beforehand all the drivers except leader Hamilton dived into the pits for slick tyres, as the track was drying. Hamilton earned the 100th pole position of his career in Barcelona, but duly gave up first position on the first corner of the grand prix, having no option but to sacrifice the spot to an aggressive move by Max Verstappen. Hamilton's Mercedes team were shocked at the decision-making of FIA race director Michael Masi when he allowed some, but not all, of the lapped cars to overtake the safety car, helping Verstappen pip Hamilton. But rules are rules, and stewards clearly circumvented procedures in the final laps of Sunday's race by deciding that the lapped traffic between Hamilton and Verstappen would be cleared and a late restart would occur. This doesn't discount what Verstappen accomplished, as he certainly earned the title, but Hamilton and Mercedes have every reason to be upset with the sequence of events and feel like the championship was taken from them. By Lap 56, with two laps to go, the scene was close to being cleared.
In this situation, lapped cars are usually allowed to unlap themselves and the Safety Car then pits at the end of the following lap, giving those cars the chance to join the back of the pack before the race becomes live. This would have seen the Safety Car peeling off into the pit lane one corner from the chequered flag. Nicholas Latifi has crashed big time in the final sector and the safety car has to be called. Verstappen pits for soft tyres but Hamilton stays out again!
If we get a restart then Verstappen could be in an ideal position to attack and take the title. Hamilton isn't pleased with his team's decision to leave him out. Max Verstappen narrowly clinched the title over rival Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last month. Despite having led from lap one, the Briton's luck ran out at the end of the race when a Nicholas Latifi crash provoked a safety car restart. Mismanagement by the FIA resulted in his historic loss, with Verstappen overtaking Hamilton on the last lap.
Unfortunately, we missed out on the Constructors' title, but we are still happy that with Max we won the Drivers'. All the ups and downs and struggles of the past seven years finally paid off. On behalf of Honda, I would like to thank everyone at Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri, as well as all the drivers we have worked with since 2015 and the fans who have always supported us through thick and thin. His championship rival, though, in a damaged Red Bull had a worse afternoon and only scored a single point. And with fresher tyres having pitted, Verstappen passed his rival on the final lap after stewards decided to allow lapped cars to overtake.
F1 race director Michael Masi took his time figuring out how to conclude the race before controversially settling on one final lap of racing to decide the title. Elsewhere outside the big two, Fernando Alonso's podium finish, the changing team line-ups for next year and even the additions of rules such as sprint qualifying have all been big talking points in Formula One recently. So specifically the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were allowed to unlap themselves, and the Safety Car would be coming in at the end of that lap, giving one lap of racing.
Hamilton's worst fears had been realised and Verstappen duly outbraked him on his much gripper tyres to win both race and title. With 10 laps to go of the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Verstappen needed "a miracle". He went on to say that the Dutch driver needed some help from "the racing gods", and that's exactly what he got with the late safety car and the way the pit stops favoured Verstappen. By the time the winner crosses the finish line, either Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton will have claimed the season-ending points title. They are tied atop the board with nobody else competing for the title.
If both drivers finish in the top eight, whomever finishes ahead of the other is guaranteed the points total. If the drivers finish ninth and tenth, it will come down to if either claims fastest lap. If they both finish outside the top ten and neither has the fastest lap on the day, Verstappen wins due to overall wins tiebreaker. One has to wonder if he spins out Hamilton to secure the title or not. Formula 1 has used 13-inch tyres for a lengthy stretch but as Pirelli enters its second decade as sole supplier it will now provide 18-inch tyres.
Development of the revised size has been underway since mid-2019, with the pandemic-induced delay giving Pirelli more time to hone the product. The ambition is for Pirelli to produce tyres that lead to varying race strategies, of one or two stops, with a wider operating window desirable. There is also hope that this will be assisted in race trim by the reduction in dirty air from the new cars when a driver is pursuing a rival. Early feedback has been encouraging and drivers were able to sample the new specification during last month's post-race test in Abu Dhabi, albeit on the 2019-spec mule cars. How the new sizes influence the racing, and the driving style needed, will be an intriguing story to track, particularly in the early events.
Verstappen still had five lapped cars between himself and his prey. And there followed frantic discussions with the FIA's race director Michael Masi about whether the lapped cars would be allowed to unlap themselves if the debris from the crash was removed in time for the safety car to withdraw. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff stormed out of the paddock on Sunday without saying anything.
But his team were incensed after Verstappen claimed victory thanks to one of the most controversial final laps to a season the sport has ever witnessed. It was "won" by Max Verstappen, who had qualified on pole, with a delighted George Russell in the Williams finishing behind him after a sensational lap on Saturday. The second of the back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring saw Verstappen pick up where he left off, delighting the Austrian crowd with pole position and then leading every lap of his team's home grand prix. A huge number of Dutch fans also mad there way to Austria to watch their hero dominate proceedings. Hamilton, who'll turn 37 next month, won three consecutive races heading into the finale to knock all 19 points off Verstappen's lead in the standings.
But the Briton's eight wins this season are the fewest for him since 2013, when he only won once and finished fourth in the standings. Masi made the polarising call to allow the cars placed between Hamilton and Verstappen to overtake the safety car, just about bringing the two title rivals neck and neck for the return to 'racing'. And Hamilton, on hard tyres he had had since lap 14, realistically had no chance of staving off Verstappen on his fresh slicks. Max Verstappen ripped a record eighth title away from Lewis Hamilton with an overtake on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi GP to finish one of the most thrilling Formula One seasons in years as the first Dutch world champion. Sprint debuted in 2021 to mixed reaction; it is not just here to stay but will be more prominent this year. After its trio of appearances last year this season it will feature at six of the 23 grands prix.
Formula 1 has yet to outline the grands prix at which Sprint will be present but per Ross Brawn's comments during a roundtable session in November it is desired by all event promoters. The basic framework is set to remain, with qualifying on Friday and Sprint on Saturday, but further matters are still under discussion. Most prominent is the points system and the ambition of Sprint. It has been suggested that further points are allocated for Sprint, while Sprint itself could be split as a standalone race, with no influence on Sunday's grid. Teams also want greater remuneration for Sprint owing to the increased risk of accident damage – heightened since the budget cap's introduction. Switching the honour of pole position to qualifying, not Sprint's 'winner', is also under consideration.
As early as 2017 work began on a new set of regulations that would promote closer and more exciting racing and in late 2019 a prototype scale model was unveiled. Teams began work at pace in early 2020 but then the world stopped – and further development was banned until 2021 after unanimous agreement to push the regulations back to 2022. Finally, in around six weeks, we will see the direction each of the 10 teams has taken – and how close, or far away, the design is to the full-scale model displayed by Formula 1 at last year's British Grand Prix. Will any team have unearthed a time-gaining loophole? And will anyone either leap up or slump down the order?
We'll start to get early answers from the middle of February as Formula 1 prepares for its new era. When racing resumed, Max had a gap of 20 seconds to close down and was quickly reducing Hamilton's lead, but time appeared to be running out until Nicholas Latifi crashed with six laps remaining. Hamilton slowed down massively leading up to the start of that final lap, attempting to catch Verstappen out. The Dutch driver even nudged ahead of his rival a couple of times, which is not allowed and which Mercedes later protested. Another exciting element of the 2021 F1 season was the debut of Sprint Qualifying. The 100km races determined the starting grid for Sunday's grands prix and awarded championship points to the top three drivers.
Channel 4's commentator called the inaugural Saudi GP "an incredible day of confusion," which is an understatement – this will go down as one of the most contentious races of all time. But it delivered on thrills and means a final race of the season with the two leading drivers tied on points, as the incredible 2021 season reaches its conclusion. It was an error that cost him his first victory, with Hamilton slipping by on the final lap to claim an historic 100th race win and return to the top f the driver's championship. Norris led for much of the race, and regained the advantage shortly after a late stop for a set of fresh rubber.
The seven-times world champion again had to settle for second place, although he did snatch an extra point for the fastest lap thanks to a late pit stop. Mercedes Boss Toto Wolff admitted that, for the first time in the turbo-hybrid era that his team has dominated, Mercedes had "no weapons in our armoury". Hamilton agreed, estimating that Red Bull had an advantage of a quarter of a second on every lap of its home circuit. The drama dutifully returned on the street circuit of Azerbaijan's capital, with a joint-record four red flags brought out during Saturday's qualifying session.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc managed to grasp pole position for the second race in a row but failed to keep it beyond lap two, when he was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton. After that the Monegasque went backwards down the order but recovered to fourth. The Dutchman won Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in controversial fashion, winning the title on the final lap - crushing rivalLewis Hamilton's chances of a record-breaking eighth.
Max Verstappen will start this Sunday's race from the front of the grid, having benefited from a slipstream provided by Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to post the fastest lap on Saturday, ahead of second-placed Lewis Hamilton. It's Lando Norris third, so he'll have the best seat to the start of the world championship duel. They're still trying to bunch the pack up as Hamilton complains the safety car isn't going fast enough.
They've got to get the lapped cars through yet and we could get one lap in. Perez retires from third which hands Carlos Sainz a podium place! This could hand him fifth in the championship. A huge break for Hamilton and Mercedes means the lapped cars won't get to unlap themselves under safety car. This could mean we do get the racing lap but Verstappen won't be close enough to overtake. A red flag could've given us a stunning shootout and Christian Horner and Red Bull are incensed at the decision.
He 2021 Formula 1 championship will be decided this Sunday and our Abu Dhabi Grand Prix live blog will bring you all the action from the Yas Marina Circuit. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are level on points going into this race, but the Dutchman has the tiebreaker of most Grand Prix wins and he also has pole position. It should be fascinating and we'll have the latest updates right here. Get all of the latest F1 results from practice sessions, qualifying and race day here. Alongside regularly updated standings, we'll cover the final driver and constructor points tallies at the end of each season. Together with all of the standard F1 race coverage, you'll find Esports results and standings from all Virtual Grand Prix events here too.
A Hamilton title would be his record eighth championship, breaking a tie with F1 legend Michael Schumacher. A win for Verstappen would be his first title, a crowning achievement his taskmaster father, Jos, never achieved in his own F1 career, which included a stint as Schumacher's teammate. The first interruption came on lap 35 when Antonio Giovinazzi stopped on track, leading to a Virtual Safety Car period. That allowed Max, Sergio and Pierre all to make a pit stop that cost less time, with the two Red Bulls fitting more hard tyres, and Pierre having to switch to mediums in order to have run both compounds.
