Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021
The championship will be played in one last round!! The Dutchman overtakes Hamilton on the last lap and Verstappen will become world champion!! It’s incredible this outcome for Verstappen who is world champion! Lewis Hamilton is 2nd and Carlos Sainz on the podium
We are on lap 57 and the safety car is still on the track.
There are three laps left to cover and the drivers follow the safety car. Will the last race of the season end under a safety car regime?
Verstappen returned to the pits to put on soft tires! Hamilton remained on the track and was furious in his radio message.
Accident of Nicholas Latifi which causes a yellow flag and a safety car.
Eight laps to cover and a lead of 10 seconds for Hamilton. We are monitoring the condition of the tires following Lando Norris' puncture.
There are 10 laps remaining and Lewis Hamilton has a lead of 11 seconds. Max Verstappen continues to climb but will it be enough?
Only 13 rounds left to cover before the end of this season. Lewis Hamilton has a lead of 13 seconds over Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton regains pace but catches up on latecomers, namely the two Alpine and the two AlphaTauri. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas, still 6th, fails to overtake Lando Norris.
Verstappen strings together the best laps and the lead shrinks. 15 seconds behind Hamilton now.
Hamilton did not return to the pits and the virtual safety car ended. Verstappen has hard tires and there are 21 laps left to cover. The two drivers are separated by 17 seconds.
Max Verstappen takes the opportunity to return to the pits and put on hard tires. He comes out in 2nd place. Lewis Hamilton decides to stay on the track.
New abandonment at Alfa Romeo. Antonio Giovinazzi stops on lap 36. The commissioners decide on a virtual safety car.
The gap between the two leading men is 5″2 seconds to Hamilton’s advantage.
In addition to Kimi Räikkönen, George Russell also dropped out. The British driver raced for the last time with the Williams team before joining Mercedes next season
The battle between Perez and Hamilton:
Sergio Pérez's incredible defense of Lewis Hamilton 🛡️#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 | #RDVauDernierVirage
▶ https://t.co/7plkVVV12v pic.twitter.com/pm9DotHxUM
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) December 12, 2021
Kimi Räikkönen indicates on the radio that he has lost the front brakes. The Finnish driver seems to be heading towards retirement.
On lap 25, Hamilton is still in the lead with a lead of 2″7 over Verstappen. Despite Perez's incredible work, the Dutchman was unable to get closer to the Mercedes.
Hamilton takes the lead in this Grand Prix but Verstappen remains glued to him by just over a second. “Checo is a legend” exclaims the Dutchman on the radio to salute the admirable work of his teammate.
Great defense from Sergio Perez who, initially overtaken by Hamilton, activated his DRS at the finish line to overtake the Briton. Now the Red Bull is in the lead and slows Hamilton down as much as possible. A profitable strategy for Verstappen who returns to 1 second!