MAX SERENDIPITY!

Do you believe in miracles? If you don't, now might be a good time to start believing in them. Why, you ask? Because a miracle is what Red Bull Racing were hoping for, and a miracle is what they got, that funnily enough came thanks to Nicholas Latifi, a Williams Mercedes driver.

Max, Max, Max! Super Max!

Max Verstappen. Champion of the world!

With 10 laps to go and more than 10 seconds between him and Hamilton in front, this would've sounded absurd. It might sound unreal to some even now because I honestly can’t believe what we witnessed in Abu Dhabi this season.

2021 wasn’t the fairytale ending to the Turbo-Hybrid Era that Mercedes were hoping for. Coming into 2021, they had won every Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship since the start of the Turbo-Hybrid Era in 2014 and were hoping to make it a 100% winning record this season. Of the seven Drivers’ Championships before 2021, Hamilton won six of them. The only year he didn’t win was 2016, when his then-teammate Nico Rosberg won it in the title-decider at Abu Dhabi.

A title decider at Abu Dhabi. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because it happened again! An inter-team Championship battle! Verstappen versus Hamilton. Red Bull versus Mercedes. It all came down to the last race. And guess who was there to rain on Hamilton’s and Mercedes’ parade? Max Verstappen and his raging Bulls.

People say Max is an aggressive driver. He is. But he’s the right amount of aggressive. Granted, this “aggressiveness” cost him more than once this season, but it is also why he isn’t a future World Champion anymore.

“What matters is that you perform on track when it counts.” And that’s what he did. He performed when it mattered and made the most of his chances. He drove his heart out this season.

With five laps to go, Red Bull had nothing to lose by bringing Max in for new softs. And they had everything to gain. Luck wasn’t on their side this entire season, but when it really mattered, it came at the best possible time of calling.

What was at one point five cars separating Lewis and Max was, in a matter of a lap, just them, one behind the other for one final lap. Lewis, P1, with old hard compound tyres. Max, P2, with fresh softs. And an 8th World title that Lewis came oh-so-close to winning was snatched from him through no fault of his own. And history was made, not by the Briton but by the Dutch. Max Verstappen is a World Champion!

Sir Lewis Hamilton, gracious in defeat

Did Lewis Hamilton deserve to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix more than Verstappen? Given his fantastic start and how he dominated the entire race up until the last few laps, maybe. Did he deserve to lose the Championship the way he did? No. But did he deserve to win the Championship more than Verstappen did? Not one bit. They both drove exceptionally well this season, pushing each other to their limits, which is one of the many reasons we witnessed such an epic season of racing. If anything, both of them deserved the Championship just as much as the other.

Max drove like a champion all year, but so did Lewis, especially in the second half of the season. After his victories in the US and Mexico, Verstappen looked well on course to win the Championship. But Brazil is where we began to see the fighter that is Lewis Hamilton. Winning in Brazil, Qatar, and then in the season’s penultimate race in Saudi Arabia, he levelled the Championship going into the last race.

After the first lap in Abu Dhabi, right until the penultimate lap, it looked like Mercedes were going to maintain their 100% winning record in both Championships. But it wasn’t meant to be.

They say it’s not the number of Championships you have that makes you great. It’s not the way you react after a win, either. It’s the way you react after a tough loss. And this was the toughest of losses for Lewis. But the respect he had for Max even after the race, which, in his words, was "manipulated", is what makes him great.

He knows what it feels like to chase a first Championship. He knows what it feels like to win one. He also knows what it feels like to have controversies overshadow a win which is why he might’ve asked Mercedes to withdraw their protests. If that isn’t selfless and gracious, I don’t know what is.

And maybe this loss might make him come back stronger, fight harder, and we just might get to see this rivalry blossom further.

"Checo is a legend."

For anyone who needed affirmation of the legendary-ness of Sergio Perez, a World Champion said it himself - Checo is a legend.

Ever since he joined Red Bull, he's done exactly what was expected of him. He might not have been up there fighting in the top four every race, but when Max and Red Bull needed him, he delivered. And he’s had to compromise his race strategy to favour Max on multiple occasions this season. But I guess he knew that’s what he would have to do after joining Red Bull - be the ideal second driver for their golden boy.

Max versus Lewis has been amazing to watch, but Lewis versus Checo on track has been phenomenal. Their duel in Abu Dhabi on Lap 20 and 21, sublime. What looked like an easy overtake for Hamilton in a faster Mercedes with fresher tyres was anything but. Sergio “The Animal” Perez, in P1, practically doubled the width of his car to keep Hamilton behind. Verstappen, in P3 with fresh tyres, at the start of Lap 20, was about seven seconds behind Hamilton. The third sector of the Yas Marina Circuit is a particularly challenging portion of the circuit to overtake in. After Perez, on used soft tyres might I add, successfully defended in the first two sectors of the lap, he backed Hamilton up by driving slowly to let Verstappen catch him - a move Hamilton called “dangerous”, which ironically was the same move he pulled in 2016 while trying to back Rosberg into Vettel and Verstappen. By the time Hamilton finally got past Perez on Lap 21, the gap between him and Verstappen was down to 1.5 seconds.

He pushed his engine to its limit, which was part of the reason he had to retire his car in the last few laps of the race. And Red Bull decided to retire his car instead of letting him continue behind the Safety Car only because they did not want to risk Max’s chances of racing by bringing out another Safety Car due to Checo’s engine failure. 

Sergio played the ultimate team game the entire season, and there’s no doubt he’s been a huge part of Max Verstappen’s first World Championship.

Smooooth Operatorrrr

Carlos Sainz Jr., the Smooth Operator, carried out one of the smoothest operations of his Formula 1 career - one that saw him finish ahead of his teammate and his former teammate in the Drivers’ Championship in his first-ever season with Ferrari. 

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Another chaotic race in 2021, another podium for Carlos. He’s one of those drivers who maximise their chances when chaos ensues on the race track, something that has happened way too often this season. And he’s been there, making the most of these opportunities and, in the process, rightfully being crowned the best-of-the-rest in 2021.

At the halfway mark, Lando Norris looked like he was in contention for third at the end of the year. But with a rejuvenated Bottas and a much better settled Perez, that spot seemed a little too optimistic. But if third wasn't to be, best-of-the-rest for him looked almost inevitable. 

Ferrari had other plans, though. They came back with a vengeance and took that spot in the Constructors' Championship and the Drivers' Championship, much of the reason being Sainz’s consistency. And this isn’t taking anything away from the engine upgrades Ferrari brought in because they were tremendous. It’s just that Carlos took the most out of them and his car, and in the end, got what he deserved - P5 in the Championship.

When told over the radio after the race that he had once again beaten Lando (that’s three years in a row now), the chuckle he let out showed just how much it meant to him, a chuckle he'd been holding in for the past two years. He had now got a chance to let it out, having once again beaten his former teammate.

He believes no one will remember his podium. But I believe his entire first season with Ferrari, the consistency he's shown, will go down as one of his best seasons in Formula 1.

Before the season had even started, Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binnoto said that Mick Schumacher would drive for Ferrari in 2023. Given that Leclerc’s contract is till 2025, he would take Carlos’ seat. But the way Carlos just got into that Ferrari and beat their golden boy in his first season there, Binnoto might have some thinking to do.

"We went car racing."

Throughout this season, we’ve heard glimpses of Michael ‘Sassy’ Masi. But this radio comms to Toto Wolff about the last lap confusion takes the top prize. The right call or not, this was the sassiest of responses.

The stewards haven’t had it easy this year. There wasn’t one race weekend that didn’t involve the stewards’ room, and the Championship decider was no different. After the controversial conclusion to the 2021 F1 season, Mercedes protested Article 48.12 of the FIA Sporting Regulations not being carried out properly. According to this article, lapped cars are required to unlap themselves, that is, pass all cars on the lead lap, after which every car on the grid would be on the same lap. When Latifi crashed on Lap 53, every car behind Gasly in P6 had been lapped. So if the article had been followed completely, all nine cars (P7 to P15) should have been allowed to unlap themselves. But that didn’t happen. At this point, there were five cars between Hamilton in P1 and Verstappen in P2. When the Safety Car first came out, the teams were told that the lapped cars wouldn’t be allowed to pass the Safety Car. But on Lap 57 of 58, only the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were instructed to unlap themselves.

The article also states that once the lapped cars have unlapped themselves, the Safety Car will come in the following lap. Since the unlapping was done on the penultimate lap, the race, and more importantly the Championship, would’ve ended behind the Safety Car. And ending this phenomenal season like that would’ve been criminal. So the stewards decided to let only the five cars between P1 and P2 unlap themselves instead of all the nine cars and brought in the Safety Car on the same lap to get one final lap of racing. 

Was this unfair on Hamilton? Not really, because this is standard procedure. So why did Mercedes protest? Because the stewards changed the rules of the article and brought in the Safety Car to get a lap of racing. But they didn’t really break any rules because Article 48.13 states that the Safety Car can be called in when the clerk of the course decides the circuit is safe to race on. And he believed it was safe because all the debris from Latifi’s crash was cleared, and we did get one lap, which was arguably the most exciting lap of racing this season.

People might say this was done for entertainment purposes. But everything that happened on that last lap perfectly sums up the entire season - absolutely epic! We saw two Alpha Tauris overtake a Mercedes to get their best result of the season, with Yuki Tsunoda in P4 and Pierre Gasly in P5; we saw the Championship lead change from Hamilton to Verstappen; but most importantly, we watched a kid live his dream of becoming World Champion.

***

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix reminded me of the 2017 Australian Open Men’s Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

 

AO: Roger and Rafa. Best of five sets. Two sets apiece, going the distance.

F1: Race 22 of 22. Max and Lewis. 369.5 points each.

AO: Rafa, 3-2 up with a break, on course to win his 15th Grand Slam. 

F1: Lewis overtakes Max at the start to take the lead and is on course to win his 8th World Championship.

AO: Roger breaks back, turns the match around and wins four games in a row to win his 18th Grand Slam. 

F1: Latifi crashes, the Safety Car comes out, Max pits for fresh soft tyres, we get one lap of racing, Max overtakes Lewis going into Turn 5, retakes the Championship lead and takes the checkered flag to win his first World Championship.

But what Roger said after the match is what got me. “Tennis is a tough sport. There are no draws. But if there was going to be one, I would’ve been very happy to accept a draw tonight.” They both deserved to win that day, just like both Hamilton and Verstappen deserved the Championship in Abu Dhabi. But Formula 1 is tough too. There could only be one winner, and it was Max Verstappen. 

The Australian Open Final reignited the age-old rivalry between Roger and Rafa, and the 2021 F1 season has hopefully ignited a rivalry like theirs between Lewis and Max. 

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - the culmination of a season-long battle. Down to the wire. Lights out. A controversial first lap. A controversial last lap. A race like no other. A season like no other. A first-time World Champion. A dumbstruck seven-time World Champion. Pure, unbridled joy for one team. Utter speechlessness (and occasional rage) for the other. An intense rivalry. Overwhelming emotions on either side. This is sport. This is Formula 1.

Aditi Krishnan

aditikrishnan21@gmail.com