2021 - Race 22 Abu Dhabi

[Nicko316]

Has there been a reason given for perez's retirement? That seemed pretty weird and even suspicious to me.

Perez retired from the race with three laps to go under the late race-deciding safety car because Red Bull was worried his Honda engine was about to expire. That could have caused the safety car to stay out another lap and prevent Verstappen from overtaking Hamilton for the title.

[Nitrodaze]

They need to do a green-white-checker finish.

Masi's next quote after "It's called a motor race - we went car racing.":

"Boys, have at it"

I think that shows Masi is not the man for the job. If he was remotely smart, he would have red-flagged the race and produced a more interesting four-lap sprint race to the finish. That would have given us the fans a more exciting finish to the end of a very interesting season. The winner would have thoroughly and undisputedly deserved it and won the respect of the entire F1 community.

What we have is a Farcical end to a very dubious season or F1 racing? The title has been given to Verstappen on a platter; though we know that he may have won it in a fair fight if a four-lap sprint had been the end of the race which would have been more respectable. This is not the way to win it. It disappoints me that we did not hear that from Horner or Verstappen. I suppose they have a different level of decency. It certainly is lower than that of Toto Woolfs and Lewis Hamilton's

[Nitrodaze]

Has there been a reason given for perez's retirement? That seemed pretty weird and even suspicious to me.

The rumour is he was short fueled to give him the speed to mess with Hamilton when the situation presented itself. He probably did not have enough fuel to get to the end of the race.

[denkimi]

The rumour is he was short fueled to give him the speed to mess with Hamilton when the situation presented itself. He probably did not have enough fuel to get to the end of the race.

I find that hard to believe just looking at the laptimes. At lap 12, when verstappen went for his first pitstop, perez was already 4 seconds down. Almost 9 to hamilton.

That doesn't look like a lighter car to me.

[Nitrodaze]

I find that hard to believe just looking at the laptimes. At lap 12, when verstappen went for his first pitstop, perez was already 4 seconds down. Almost 9 to hamilton.

That doesn't look like a lighter car to me.

That only suggests that he was slower to conserve fuel.

[ouvreur]

I find that hard to believe just looking at the laptimes. At lap 12, when verstappen went for his first pitstop, perez was already 4 seconds down. Almost 9 to hamilton.

That doesn't look like a lighter car to me.

Perhaps a lighter car that was conserving tyres? The fact he was able to hold up Hamilton on fresh hard tyres that were working very nicely, on pretty ancient softs, for over a lap, makes me wonder if maybe he had been keeping something back. Perez has a reputation for being very, very good at prolonging tyre life...

[Fortitude]

F1 final-lap mayhem watched by nearly 14 million fans in UK and Holland
Max Verstappen won his first-ever F1 title after beating Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
By REISS TIGWELL
13:30, Mon, Dec 13, 2021 | UPDATED: 13:41, Mon, Dec 13, 2021

The mayhem witnessed in the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday was watched by almost 14 million viewers across the UK and the Netherlands. The masses watched on as Max Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton at the last to become world champion.

A combined TV audience of 7.4 million tuned in across Sky Sports and Channel 4’s coverage, which represents a 60 per cent audience share.
Channel 4 itself registered a peak viewership of 4.4 million - big figures for TV coverage on a Sunday lunchtime.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...Lewis-Hamilton


Toto Wolff sends Max Verstappen text message after FIA reject two Mercedes protests
TOTO WOLFF was incensed at how the final lap in Abu Dhabi played out on Sunday.
By CHARLIE GORDON
15:00, Mon, Dec 13, 2021 | UPDATED: 15:25, Mon, Dec 13, 2021

With only one lap remaining, the Red Bull man took his chance and passed Hamilton to claim his first world title.

Mercedes immediately protested two incidents that occurred towards the closing stages of the race, although both were promptly slapped down.

Wolff and co. later announced their intention to appeal those decisions, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner making his way back to the UK to prepare for a legal fight.

However, The Times claim that the Silver Arrows are now preparing to abort that plan for the good of the sport.

In a new development, Sky Sports News presenter Craig Slater claims: "Max Verstappen told me that Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, had sent him a text message, congratulating him on being World Champion and saying that he fully deserved it, so make of that what you will.

"I haven't heard anything from Mercedes about them deciding not to proceed with that protest."

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...horner-f1-news


'This has been manipulated!': Lewis Hamilton claims his dramatic F1 title loss was RIGGED, in a previously-unheard rant to his team over the radio, after Max Verstappen overtook on the last lap for his controversial win
• Mercedes were left furious after Max Verstappen won the 2021 F1 drivers' title
• Lewis Hamilton led until the last lap, when the Red Bull star overtook him
• Hamilton was gracious following the controversial ending in Abu Dhabi
• Previously unheard radio footage caught Hamilton questioning the events
By DANNY GALLAGHER FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 14:52, 13 December 2021 | UPDATED: 15:16, 13 December 2021

Lewis Hamilton verbally lashed out and claimed the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix had been 'manipulated' after being defeated at the death by rival Max Verstappen, and surrendering the championship title as a result.

Verstappen won the race in the most controversial of circumstances, pipping Hamilton on the final lap after having been allowed to make up a window of time following a confusion over the rules regarding a safety car.

After the race Hamilton was gracious in defeat and offered kind words to his Dutch rival, but footage has since emerged showing that he was far less understanding on the team radio.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...en-rigged.html


Honda overjoyed with F1 title: All the struggles finally paid off
Author Mike Seymour
13/12/2021

Honda will leave F1 as title winners after Max Verstappen's dramatic victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Honda F1's Technical Director, Toyoharu Tanabe, has declared that "all the ups and downs and struggles" of Honda's latest spell in the sport were justified after Max Verstappen's title triumph in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen stole the crown away from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in a one-lap shootout following a late Safety Car period, meaning Red Bull's engine partner, Honda, leave F1 as World Champions.

Honda returned to F1 as McLaren's engine partner back in 2015 but struggled for performance and reliability, leading to a split after three seasons.

However, when Honda teamed up with Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in 2018, and the senior Red Bull squad followed suit a year later, significant progress was made - enough for Red Bull to challenge for title glory this season.

https://racingnews365.com/honda-over...nally-paid-off


King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima congratulate Max Verstappen on F1 World Championship win

By Maddalena Mastrostefano

13th December 2021

And, as they had done before, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima took to social media to express their pride and joy at the first Dutch driver winning an F1 world championship.

The Royal couple wrote, “The all-deciding race in Abu Dhabi was the culmination of this exciting season. Verstappen kept his patience during the race. Tactically strong, his team played round after round. Until the blood-curdling final phase. He took his chance and made the difference: Max Verstappen is Formula 1 world champion! Just like all of the Netherlands, the five of us followed the races with excitement. Our heartfelt congratulations on the World Championship!” – WA and Máxima

As the post suggests, the King and Queen must have been watching the race with their three daughters, Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane. Princess Alexia has made her way back to the Netherlands over the weekend following her first few months in Wales, where she is currently enrolled at UWC Atlantic.

https://royalcentral.co.uk/features/...ip-win-169740/

[Fortitude]

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Max Verstappen's 'historical' F1 win sparks celebrations in Netherlands

The fans rode a rollercoaster of emotions in the Bar Club 188 in the Hague, as pole position holder Verstappen saw Lewis Hamilton blast past him in the opening seconds of the race
Agence France-Presse December 12, 2021 23:03:10 IST

Zandvoort, Netherlands: Max Verstappen fans erupted in joy in the Netherlands after the Dutchman won the first Formula One title of his career in a winner-takes-all last lap at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The fans rode a rollercoaster of emotions in the Bar Club 188 in the Hague, as pole position holder Verstappen saw Lewis Hamilton blast past him in the opening seconds of the race.

Just when it seemed Hamilton had secured his eighth world title, a crash involving Nicholas Latifi effectively set up a one-lap race for the title between Verstappen and Hamilton that the 24-year-old Dutchman won.

"What an unbelievable end. I have lost my voice," Tom Alsem, 30, said, his eyes glued to a TV screen showing Verstappen hugging his Red Bull team mechanics in Abu Dhabi.

Like the Verstappen fans following the race in the Gulf, Alsem was dressed head to toe in orange.

His friends dashed to the bar to order a new round of beers, before toasting their idol with cries of "Oh Max!".

"A historical day for Dutch sport," tweeted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "Max Verstappen, congratulations for this phenomenal performance. Really fantastic," he added.

https://www.firstpost.com/sports/abu...-10206141.html


'Super Max' Verstappen sparks joy in Netherlands

Spectators celebrate as Max Verstappen clinches the World Championship title in the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as they watch the race on screens in Breda, Netherlands, on Sunday. AP

In the orange-decked bar in the Hague and in a cafe in Zandvoort near the circuit where the Dutch Grand Prix is held, the fans had a nerve-shredding day.

"I hope he'll win but Hamilton often gets a bit of luck at the crucial moments," keen F1 fan Paul Meester, 61, told AFP as he watched the start of the race in the Hague. Two hours later, he said: "I told my friend he won't win, it's finished."

But within minutes, the race had turned on its head and Verstappen took the chequered flag.

Niels, 34, said at the start of the race he had a bad feeling because "Max is so unpredictable...he could lose it in a rush of blood."

By the end, he was hailing Verstappen's "immense performance", saying it was one of the greatest moments ever in the history of Dutch sport, normally dominated by football.

The best-known player in the Dutch team, Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk, tweeted: "WHAT A BOSS."
Agence France-Presse

https://www.gulftoday.ae/sport/2021/...in-netherlands


Max Verstappen's "Historical" Win Sparks Celebrations In Netherlands
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Formula 1: Max Verstappen defeated Lewis Hamilton in a dramatic final lap to win his maiden world championship title.
• Agence France-Presse
• Updated: December 12, 2021 11:35 PM IST

https://sports.ndtv.com/formula-1/fo...rlands-2648082


Max Verstappen interview: 'It was all worth it now, all the travelling over Europe in a van'
13/12/2021 | 15:20 PM
Neil Briscoe

The 2021 Formula One season could only have finished in controversial circumstances. For all the pre-race pleas of ‘good, clean, racing’ it has heroically unlikely that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final round of a long 22-race slog, would end quietly

Speaking to BreakingNews.ie the day after hoisting the title in hugely controversial circumstances, Verstappen said that reaching the peak of the sport wasn’t about to change him. “No, it’s the same” said Verstappen. “Of course, I’m always happy to win it, but that shouldn’t change you as a person anyway.”

There was one tiny admission of just how draining the season had been, though - “It’s been a really intense season, so I’m quite happy to have a bit of time off now,” said Verstappen.

He won’t get much time off. Quite apart from the media scrum over the dramatic season and its startling last lap, there is much to do. Red Bull will be working overtime to develop a brand new car for the 2022 season, to match a raft of changes to the ways the cars are constructed and regulated.

On top of which , the team must contend with a change of engines - its current partner, Honda, is leaving the sport and so from next year Red Bull will be making its own engines, albeit using Honda’s existing tech as a basis from which to work.

“It was all worth it now,” he says. “All the travelling all over Europe in a van. I always kept believing in it, I always kept pushing. I think that is the key - keep believing.”

Verstappen said that he has no intention of winning his title and then quitting the sport, as 2016 champ Nico Rosberg did. He’s clearly still hungry for more. More racing. More fights with Hamilton. And almost certainly more controversies yet to come.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/ma...n-1227669.html

[denkimi]

Perhaps a lighter car that was conserving tyres? The fact he was able to hold up Hamilton on fresh hard tyres that were working very nicely, on pretty ancient softs, for over a lap, makes me wonder if maybe he had been keeping something back. Perez has a reputation for being very, very good at prolonging tyre life...

But then why would they let him start on the softs then?

The only way that would make sense is when their plan was to have perez pass Hamilton at the start and then keep him busy for 15 laps.

But that would be a very unlikely situation.

[Nitrodaze]

But then why would they let him start on the softs then?

The only way that would make sense is when their plan was to have perez pass Hamilton at the start and then keep him busy for 15 laps.

But that would be a very unlikely situation.

Perez had to start on softs because he did not have the pace in the mediums to be close to the pair upfront. Redbull needed to guarantee he was on the second row. He always had a row to play and he played it very well. They just needed to fuel him to get him beyond the Mercedes stop window, where he was planned to be ahead in order to slow Hamilton into Verstappen or keep Hamilton behind to let Verstappen getaway in front. Whichever scenario arose.