I know I’ve been gone for a while, but now I’m back and we’ll have posts quite often from now on!
This is going to be the last and best post of this series!!!
The atmosphere of the Yas Marina Circuit (where the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 was held), was completely different, compared to the previous three days. Crowds were cheering for either Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) or Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
Incase you missed my posts on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Day 2 & 3, here are the links:
The World Championship was in the evening, from 17:00-19:00 hrs, on the 12th of December, 2021.
- Drivers Track Parade at 15:20 hrs
The drivers came together for a group photograph, and then went for the track parade:
- TEN minutes before the start of the World Championship!!!!!
At 16:45 hrs, the UAE National Anthem was played and after that, all the ten teams were getting both their drivers and cars ready for the race, due in just ten minutes from then!
FIA F1 Grand Prix (58 Laps/120 Minutes)- 17:00 to 19:00 hrs
- At exactly 17:00 hrs, there was the initial lap after which the race officially began.
- 17:04 hrs- The first lap (1/58):
As the racers finished their first lap of the race, the crowds cheered:
Hamilton (Mercedes) leads the race!!!
In the 20th lap of the race, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was helping his Red Bull team to defend against Lewis Hamilton. This brought Perez to the first position, Hamilton to the second and Verstappen third for a while.
On the right, the person portrayed on the wall is Kimi Raikkonen, as it was his last season in Formula 1. The Finnish racer won the World Championship in 2007 with Ferrari, and retired in 2021. He was racing for Alfa Romeo in his last season.
18:27 hrs- Safety Car deployed:
Nicholas Latifi (Williams Racing) crashed in the 54th lap, resulting in the safety car being deployed at around 18:27 hrs till the final lap:
By 18:35 hrs, the race got over and once the World Champion for 2021 crossed the chequered flag, the fireworks immediately started. The top-three winers went on to the podium.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull), was the winner and got his first World Championship Title in 2021. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) lost out on his record-breaking eighth World Title. If he had won, he would have broken Michael Schumacher’s record of seven-world titles, with whom he has a tie.
As we got our seats in the Main Grandstand, we couldn’t directly witness Verstappen overtake Hamilton, but here is the video showing how he did so:
Verstappen Wins Title With Final Lap Overtake! | 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2021 World Champion! – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Second Position- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Third Position- Carlos Sainz Jr. (Scuderia Ferrari)
P3- Carlos Sainz (Scuderia Ferrari):
World Championship Winner- Max Verstappen (Red Bull):
There have been mixed views amongst a section of F1 watchers on how Verstappen clinched his title.
There were 58 laps in total in the almost two hours race. Hamilton dominated for almost the whole race, until Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed on a barrier, with just five laps to go. During the safety car period, Red Bull pitted Verstappen to fit fresh tyres , while Mercedes couldn’t do the same as apparently they felt that Hamilton would have lost the lead in the race. So, Hamilton stayed with older tyres. Verstappen, with new tyres, overtook Hamilton in the final lap of race and won.
Subsequently, following much debate on the issue of allowing lapped cars, The FIA has brought in improvised rules for this year’s (2022) season.
The results:
#AbuDhabiGP
That’s it for this post and series guys!
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Very nice. Congrats.
Thank you!