The Formula 1 season came down to a controversial decision on the final lap.
On the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton to win his first World Driver’s Championship and end Hamilton’s four-year winning streak, stopping him from reaching Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of eight championships.
Hamilton, 36, was in command of the race until Nicholas Latifi crashed with five laps to go, bringing the race to a halt. The 24-year-old Verstappen pitted for new tires, but Mercedes kept Hamilton out because they couldn’t afford to lose track position.
That, along with race director Michael Masi’s decision to allow lapped vehicles to unlap themselves before the safety car arrived, proved pivotal. Masi originally determined that lapped vehicles would not be permitted to unlap themselves in order to finish the race under green flag conditions. However, this would have essentially ended the race by putting five cars between Verstappen’s Red Bull and Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Masi permitted the lapped cars to past the safety car after Red Bull objected, and then one lap of racing for the world title occurred. Verstappen had the edge over Hamilton’s worn-out hard tires on his fresher soft tires, overtaking him into Turn Five and holding him off for the remainder of the lap.
“Michael, this is not right,” Mercedes team director Toto Wolff said on the radio as Verstappen rode to the world title.
After an up-and-down season in which they wrecked on circuits in the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as more controversy in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen and Hamilton headed into the final race of the season deadlocked on 369.5 points. After Hamilton won three straight races in Brazil, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, including a run from last to first on the grid in Sao Paulo, Verstappen’s World Championship advantage had reduced.
In Abu Dhabi, Verstappen was on pole, but Hamilton claimed the lead right away. Despite some assistance from teammate Sergio Perez in slowing Hamilton down ahead to his pit stop, and despite a virtual safety car giving Verstappen a free second pit stop, he didn’t appear to have the speed to catch up to Hamilton. After passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap, Max Verstappen is the new F1 world champion
The Formula 1 season came down to a controversial decision on the final lap.
On the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton to win his first World Driver’s Championship and end Hamilton’s four-year winning streak, stopping him from reaching Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of eight championships.
Hamilton, 36, was in command of the race until Nicholas Latifi crashed with five laps to go, bringing the race to a halt. The 24-year-old Verstappen pitted for new tires, but Mercedes kept Hamilton out because they couldn’t afford to lose track position.
That, along with race director Michael Masi’s decision to allow lapped vehicles to unlap themselves before the safety car arrived, proved pivotal. Masi originally determined that lapped vehicles would not be permitted to unlap themselves in order to finish the race under green flag conditions. However, this would have essentially ended the race by putting five cars between Verstappen’s Red Bull and Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Masi permitted the lapped cars to past the safety car after Red Bull objected, and then one lap of racing for the world title occurred. Verstappen had the edge over Hamilton’s worn-out hard tires on his fresher soft tires, overtaking him into Turn Five and holding him off for the remainder of the lap.
“Michael, this is not right,” Mercedes team director Toto Wolff said on the radio as Verstappen rode to the world title.
After an up-and-down season in which they wrecked on circuits in the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as more controversy in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen and Hamilton headed into the final race of the season deadlocked on 369.5 points. After Hamilton won three straight races in Brazil, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, including a run from last to first on the grid in Sao Paulo, Verstappen’s World Championship advantage had reduced.
In Abu Dhabi, Verstappen was on pole, but Hamilton claimed the lead right away. Despite some assistance from teammate Sergio Perez in slowing Hamilton down ahead to his pit stop, and despite a virtual safety car giving Verstappen a free second pit stop, he didn’t appear to have the speed to catch up to Hamilton.