History has been made as Formula One has a 34th and its first Dutch World Champion in Max Verstappen. He is only the third driver to stop Lewis Hamilton winning a title. Verstappen is the first driver to win a title not in a Mercedes since 2013, in which Sebastien Vettel was the last.
History has been made as Formula One has a 34th and its first Dutch World Champion in Max Verstappen. He is only the third driver to stop Lewis Hamilton winning a title. Verstappen is the first driver to win a title not in a Mercedes since 2013, in which Sebastien Vettel was the last.
It was an amazing start for Hamilton as he took first place from Verstappen. From the first turn, Verstappen dropped to second with Sergio Perez (Red Bull) in third ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren).
As anticipated, controversary hit the race early. At turn five of the first lap, Verstappen made a lunge into the turn, in which saw Hamilton come off the track and re-enter further down. It appeared as though the Briton was forced off as he avoided contact but was able to keep the lead gained. It was expected that Hamilton would give the place up, yet the stewards decided two laps later there was no investigation necessary.
On lap 14 Verstappen was the first to come into the pits. It would be the first of three the dutchman would make. It was Hamilton’s turn to pit on the following lap which meant Perez took the lead, with Hamilton dropping to second.
With 30 laps to go, on lookers were able to witness some spectacular driving from Perez as he battled it out at the front of the pack with Hamilton. With Verstappen trying to recover lost ground, it was down to Perez to be the ultimate team player and hold Lewis up, which he most certainly did with some excellent manoeuvres. In doing so, Max was able to regain valuable seconds on Hamilton and come back into the race.
On the next lap Perez allowed Max to pass, and it was now Hamilton first and Verstappen second once more.
Disaster came for Kimi Raikkonen in his last race of his F1 career, as his car spun out and crashed following a brake failure.
The following lap, number 28, saw another sad end but for George Russel this time in the Williams car in what was his last race for the constructor. He was forced out as a result of a power unit failure.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi crashed out. Using the opportunity Verstappen came into pit.
Mercedes advised Hamilton to stay out and ultimately gave him a substantially older tyre age.
It was back to racing after lap 38, and no one expected was to come from lap 53. After Nicholas Latifi was forced out in the second Williams car following a crash, the Safety Car was out again.
Max went into the pits to change to soft tyres in anticipation to blitz the final few laps. Coming up to the last lap, it was unclear what was to happen as the safety car continued to guide the entourage.
A decision was made for the four back markers in between first placed Hamilton and fifth placed Verstappen to pass the Safety Car. This left the last lap of the season with an exhilarating race between the Championship hopefuls. It was Verstappen that came out on top and passed the chequered flag to become to the World F1 Champion of 2021.
It has been the most breath-taking season in memory, and despite the controversary surrounding the race, nothing should be taken from either Hamilton or Verstappen. Both performed throughout the season as champions and cannot have any complaints with their own attitudes and performances displayed over the duration of the Championship.
Mercedes do not leave the season empty handed as they gain a record breaking eight constructors’ championship in a row.
The 2022 season will commence in Bahrain on the 20th of March.