Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing won the Formula 1 drivers’ championship title after last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. This marks the first time in history that a driver has taken both world championships and his first F1 win on debut.
Max Verstappen has won the title after last race.
Verstappen clinched the championship after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull won his first Formula One world championship in dramatic circumstances, defeating Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Despite controversy on the opening lap, Hamilton seemed to be in command of the race and on pace for the championship until a late safety car.
With one lap to go, the race was resumed, with Verstappen on new tyres and Hamilton on worn ones, and the Dutchman stormed through to win.
In many respects, it was a fitting finish to one of Formula One’s greatest and most acrimonious seasons, and the debates about right and wrong will continue for some time.
While Verstappen yelled with joy and Red Bull celebrated at the finish of the race, Hamilton remained in his Mercedes for many minutes, speechless at how events had gone against him in the dying minutes.
Mercedes, on the other hand, has filed two objections, one for
Verstappen overtaking Hamilton under safety car circumstances immediately before the restart, and the other for officials not properly following safety car regulations, according to Mercedes.
Both Red Bull and Mercedes will meet with stewards to discuss their respective points of view, with a decision likely later.
In 2021, the two have been competing for the championship in 22 races.
How Did a Historic Championship Decider Play Out?
Hamilton seemed to have won the race when he was controversially permitted to hold the lead he had acquired with a better start than Verstappen, despite sliding off track to defend his position as the Dutchman attempted to overtake him at the end of the first back straight.
Red Bull and Verstappen were furious and unbelieving, but Hamilton was unstoppable from then on, despite a pit stop and a virtual safety car, until Nicholas Latifi’s Williams wrecked with five circuits to remaining.
Mercedes believed they couldn’t afford to pit Hamilton because doing so would have meant relinquishing the lead if Verstappen didn’t follow suit – something he may not have done since his tyres were still reasonably fresh after a second pit stop.
However, when Hamilton failed to pit for new tyres, Verstappen did, and it was the deciding factor.
More controversy arose when race director Michael Masi first said that lapped vehicles between Hamilton and Verstappen would not be permitted to un-lap themselves, as is customary.
Red Bull appealed, and Masi changed his decision, letting the lapped cars between the championship contenders to pass Hamilton, putting Verstappen in second place for the last lap.
Verstappen overtook Hamilton entering Turn Five and fought off his efforts to retake the lead down the two straights that followed, completing the lap and leaping in ecstasy.
Whatever one’s opinion of the race’s different mishaps, few would deny Verstappen the championship following a season in which he and Hamilton battled it out from start to finish in one of the most extraordinary F1 seasons ever.
Meanwhile, Hamilton will have to console himself with Mercedes’ remarkable ninth straight constructors’ title triumph.
Hamilton had a tremendous start and passed Verstappen off the line.
There’s Also Drama on the First Lap
At the same time, it was a fitting finale to a season marked by on-track brawls and off-track squabbles between Hamilton, Verstappen, and their respective teams.
The race proceeded as the season had, with Hamilton and Verstappen in a race and league of their own, and the year’s fate looked to be moving towards Hamilton for a long time.
After Verstappen’s terrible start from pole, Hamilton’s explosive start from second on the grid, and the Mercedes went ahead before the first curve, there was drama from the start.
Verstappen followed him through the first few turns, slipstreamed him down the first back straight, then lunged for the inside into Turns Six and Seven’s chicane.
Verstappen passed Hamilton on the inside but drove deep into the curve, his pace propelling him to the outside kerb well before the second right-hand section.
Hamilton swerved around him, like he has so many times this season, and kept the lead by cutting over the chicane.
He slowed slightly for the remainder of the lap to reclaim the edge he thought he’d earned, and the disputes on the pit wall began.
“He needs to give it back,” Verstappen remarked over the radio.
Verstappen was “ahead and remains on track,” according to Red Bull race director Michael Masi.
Masi said, ” “He has compelled him to go. Before the conclusion of the first lap, the whole advantage was reclaimed.”
Officials determined that no inquiry was required, and when apprised of the result, Verstappen said: “That’s fantastic. What are they doing at that location?”
The recriminations will almost certainly continue for some time, especially since Verstappen came into the weekend complaining that the stewards were treating him differently than other drivers following the controversial Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend, and Red Bull has been ratcheting up the tension between the teams with a series of controversial media claims.
On the penultimate lap, Verstappen passed Hamilton.
Hamilton Was Leading the Race Until Fate Interfered
On the track, though, the underlying fact for most of the race was that after Hamilton had passed Red Bull and Verstappen, he and Mercedes just had too much speed for them, as they had for the previous four races.
Hamilton was hammered by Red Bull, who put all they had at him.
After pitting for new tyres, Hamilton and Verstappen left Perez out and told him to keep Hamilton back.
On lap 20, Hamilton overtook Perez down to Turn Six, but was passed again down the following straight.
Perez was subsequently told to “back him up” through the marina part of the course, and Verstappen had cut the gap from 8.7 seconds to 1.7 seconds by the time Hamilton overtook Perez a lap later.
But Hamilton eased back until a virtual safety car was deployed to remove Antonio Giovinazzi’s stalled Alfa Romeo, giving Red Bull a chance.
They pitted Verstappen for new tyres in the last 20 laps, attempting to get up to Hamilton.
However, Hamilton was so powerful that Verstappen could only make little inroads into his lead, and the race looked to be finished until late drama stole it – and what would have been Hamilton’s seventh world championship – from his fingers.
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The “f1 prize money 2020 per race” is the amount of money that each driver will win when they finish a race. This can vary depending on how many laps they complete, and if they qualify for the top 10.
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