Max Verstappen

Verstappen is F1 World champion

Max Verstappen F1 World champion
Max Verstappen F1 World champion
Max Verstappen overtaking Lewis Hamilton and piping him of the F1 world title
Max Verstappen overtaking Lewis Hamilton and piping him of the F1 world title

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Pictures Laurence Nair-Price

David Marshall Coulthard MBE is a British former racing driver from Scotland with Laurence Nair-Price
David Marshall Coulthard MBE is a British former racing driver from Scotland with Laurence Nair-Price

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overtakes  Mercedes Benz’s Lewis Hamilton on chaotic last lap to claim first F1 title in Abu Dhabi. Briton’s Mercedes team had two protests against the result rejected by stewards.

In the most thrilling with extreme controversial of climaxes to an epic F1 title duel Verstappen and Hamilton’s battle ended up in the last lap shoot out on the 1297th and final lap of the season after a late safety car wiped out the Mercedes driver’s comfortable dozen-second race lead. Armed with new tyres, and a clear run at Hamilton after lapped cars between them were told to pass the Safety Car in a move that angered Mercedes and led to a post-race protest and continues with a subsequent intention to appeal. Verstappen took his first chance to pass his arch British rival with a bold move down the inside at Turn Five.

Hamilton had appeared in control of the race and on course for the title himself despite the controversy on the first lap, until a late safety car. The race was restarted with one lap to go with Verstappen on fresh tyres and Hamilton on old ones and the Dutchman swept by to win the race in the last lap.

Verstappen screamed with delight  and Red Bull celebrated Briton Hamilton sat in his Mercedes for several minutes, disbelieving at the way event had panned out against him in the final minutes. Mercedes launched two protests- one for Verstappen overtaking Hamilton under safety car conditions just before the restart, and one over what they believe  was officials not correctly following the rules on safety car procedures – both of which were rejected after several hours and meetings between the two teams.

Red Bull’s engine supplier Honda have won their first F! drivers’ title since powering Aryton Senna’s McLaren in 1991

Mercedes wins the Constructors championship.

Yas Marina, 12 December 2021

Rank Driver Number Team Grid Pits Fastest Lap Race Time PointsPts
1 Max VerstappenVER 3333 Red Bull 11 33 fastest overall lap 1:26.1031:26.103 1:30:17.3451:30:17.345 2626
2 Lewis HamiltonHAM 4444 Mercedes 22 11 1:26.6151:26.615 2.256 behind+2.256 1818
3 Carlos Sainz JnrSAI 5555 Ferrari 55 11 1:27.6181:27.618 5.173 behind+5.173 1515
4 Yuki TsunodaTSU 2222 AlphaTauri 88 22 1:27.4961:27.496 5.692 behind+5.692 1212
5 Pierre GaslyGAS 1010 AlphaTauri 1212 22 1:27.3421:27.342 6.531 behind+6.531 1010
6 Valtteri BottasBOT 7777 Mercedes 66 11 1:26.8621:26.862 7.463 behind+7.463 88
7 Lando NorrisNOR 44 McLaren 33 22 1:26.7621:26.762 59.200 behind+59.200 66
8 Fernando AlonsoALO 1414 Alpine 1111 11 1:27.6071:27.607 1:01.708 behind+1:01.708 44
9 Esteban OconOCO 3131 Alpine 99 11 1:28.2491:28.249 1:04.026 behind+1:04.026 22
10 Charles LeclercLEC 1616 Ferrari 77 22 1:28.4331:28.433 1:06.057 behind+1:06.057 11

2021 Constructor standings

POS TEAM PTS
1 Mercedes 613.5
2 Red Bull Racing Honda 585.5
3 Ferrari 323.5
4 McLaren Mercedes 275
5 Alpine Renault 155
6 Alphatauri Honda 142
7 Aston Martin Mercedes 77
8 Williams Mercedes 23
9 Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 13
10 Haas Ferrari 0