Miracle in Marina: Max Verstappen wins first Formula One title in dramatic ending at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

But controversy struck on that lap itself as Verstappen made ground quickly and closed in on Hamilton. He had plenty of room to turn around and take the lead as both cars leapt into a tight corner. But the 24-year-old attempted to choke Hamilton out of the track and succeeded. But Hamilton, rather than give the initiative to Verstappen, decided to cut ahead and take the lead. A team of stewards decided that no action was necessary.

WHAT A COMEBACK!

Max Verstappen holds off Lewis Hamilton to become the first Dutch F1 world champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/h1IDv8Dr6y

— ESPN (@espn) December 12, 2021

The ultimate teammate

Red Bull’s top driver was helped to pole position on Saturday by second driver Sergio Perez. Perez effectively helped Verstappen slingshot ahead of him for the pole position.

During the race on Sunday, Perez was instrumental in slowing Hamilton down after both the race leader and Verstappen had pitted. It allowed the Dutchman a chance to chase Hamilton during the middle of the race. And then in yet another act of good teamwork, Perez helped his teammate slingshot his car yet again using DRS, to mount a challenge on Hamilton’s race.

Possible Mercedes blunder

With 25 laps on intermediate tyres, Mercedes had the catch 22 situation of whether to ask Hamilton to make a pitstop or not. The decision was brought further on out as a yellow flag was brought out and all cars had to slow down.

Crucially at this point, Red Bull decided to bring Verstappen in for a pit stop while Mercedes believed that the 18 second gap between the two cars was too less for a tyre change to be carried out successfully.

Suddenly, Hamilton on 25-lap old tyres, had to defend against Verstappen who was going to be on fresher tyres for the rest of the race. 20 more laps remained at this point.

Hamilton’s tyre management

A major aspect of the British driver’s ability to stay at the top of a sport that rarely allows a driver to do so, is based on his tyre management. Hamilton routinely extracts more from tyres than most other drivers and stays competitive in the face of most pitfalls during a race because of this.

MAX: “It’s insane. I don’t know what to say. I’m so pleased for the team and for all these guys. I love working with them so much.

“Finally today I had a bit of luck. My team know I love them and I want to do this with them for the next 10 or 15 years!”#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/RBbO47DJUY

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 12, 2021

At the Abu Dhabi GP, this was no different as he continued to keep a healthy gap ahead of Verstappen’s oncoming RB16B. With 10 laps to go, Red Bull boss Christian Horner made a comment that it would take a miracle for their driver to win the race and the world championship. Little did he know, that the miracle he was hoping for, would happen five laps later.

Safety car gone wrong

On lap 53, Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi were both racing each other. But as Schumacher pulled away, Latifi overextended his position and crashed into the wall. The stationary car on the circuit meant that race officials decided to bring the safety car out.

At this point of time, Mercedes had another opportunity to make a pit stop. But instead they chose to keep Hamilton out yet again, citing that they would lose top position if he pitted, again.

LEWIS: “Firstly, big congratulations to Max and to his team.

“But I’m so proud of my own team and we gave it absolutely everything. I’ve felt great in the car the last couple of months. We’ll see what happens next year”#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1X6h4nl0fQ

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 12, 2021

Red Bull showed tremendous courage during this period and pulled Verstappen into the pits for one final tyre change. The soft tyres came on and Horner essentially gambled on the race getting one more lap.

And the gamble paid off as at first, the stewards deemed that lapped cars couldn’t unlap themselves. This meant that there would be a significant chunk of cars between Hamilton and Verstappen and with one lap to go, Hamilton would easily be able to decide the outcome of the race.

But then right as the safety car was about to be pulled off, the stewards changed their minds and allowed some lapped cars to unlap themselves. Suddenly, Hamilton and Verstappen were tyre to tyre and would have a lap and a half to race.

The final gambit

With one last lap and a few more metres to decide the world championship, the stewards essentially put Hamilton in the worst possible position. There is also controversy that is still going on with regards to the lapped vs unlapped cars decision since not all lapped cars were allowed to pass through, just the five between Verstappen and Hamilton. FIA race rules clearly state that in the case of a safety car, all lapped cars have to be let through. But doing so would have meant that the safety car would still be out in the final lap and Hamilton would be the champion.

But that wasn’t the case as Verstappen was allowed a clear run on the Brit with fresher, soft tyres and the overtake came. Hamilton tried to get his lost position back but the Red Bull driver kept his cool and closed off any gaps that could have been exploited. He turned into the final corner and took the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as well as his first World Championship.