By Joe Murphy
A chaotic, controversial and unmissable climax to the Formula 1 action of 2021 befitted the season that came before it. A last lap dash for the title capped a race filled with pockets of drama and some questionable-at-best race directing created one of the most memorable moments in the sports’ history, for both right and wrong reasons. The season finale was no doubt entertaining, perhaps as incredible as F1 has been since 2008. However, with the race result guaranteed to be a talking point for years to come, there are some points that need to be discussed here and now. No better place, than Wheel2Wheel’s final race review of the year.
Max becomes world champion as Lewis has it taken from him on final lap…
Lewis Hamilton had one hand on the trophy. He dominated the race, leading from the first corner and keeping his Dutch title rival behind him for all but half a lap. With five laps remaining, and a ten-second cushion, a record breaking eight world title seemed a certainty. An ill-timed safety car following Latifi’s run into the barriers in the final sector eradicated this lead completely. In short, the lapped cars weren’t scheduled to overtake and, originally, weren’t given permission to do so. This meant the race would conclude under safety car conditions. This decision was changed at the last minute by Race Director Michael Masi, who in the space of thirty seconds allowed some cars to lap, most noticeably the one’s between Verstappen and Hamilton. This decision, as well as the timing of the announcement, left Hamilton a sitting duck and defenceless against the new soft tyres on the Dutchman’s Red Bull. As a result, Verstappen dived down the inside at turn five to take the lead for the first time since lights out. He then narrowly held off the Brit through the final sector to win his first world championship. I refuse to use the word ‘stolen’ in the subtitle above. Max isn’t an undeserving champion. However, without question, the FIA made a blunder that changed the fate of the title. In essence, they broke their own rules in the name of entertainment. Ecstasy for Max, his fans and the neutrals watching on. Agony for Hamilton, who will be more determined than ever to make it eight, with the help of his team, next season. With Mercedes themselves securing their eighth consecutive constructor’s title making it an up-and-down day, for Totto Wolff and those with him in the garage.
Checo is a legend…
The aforementioned safety car may have cut Lewis’ lead from twelve seconds to basically nothing, but it was Sergio Perez who initially brought Verstappen back into play. He played the ultimate team game in defending miraculously from a faster, already stopped, Hamilton. He kept the Mercedes behind him for over two laps longer than Hamilton would have wanted, leading to Verstappen singing his praises over the team radio, shortly afterwards. The Red Bull driver has had a mixed season, eventually concluding with him being a solid fourth in the final driver standings. Whereas the controversy in the final stages will, without doubt, continue to take all the headlines, we shouldn’t forget just how well the Mexican held up the Merc in the earlier stages of the race. With another season next to Verstappen ahead, many spectators will be hoping that he can achieve more success with the team and, perhaps rather optimistically, mount some kind of title challenge himself.
Kimi is also a legend…
It wasn’t the way he would have wanted his career to end, nor the way his millions of fans wanted to see it conclude, however, it is the way we were given. Kimi Raikkonen raced his 349th and final Grand Prix in a career that has spanned over two decades. fourteen years after his only world championship win, he has called it a day from Formula 1. Enough has already been said and written about his retrospective career highlights since the announcement was made a few months ago. One thing is for sure, the sport will miss the Finn and his brief, simple answers to questions. He may crop up again in other forms of motorsport, but that has already been tried and he returned to F1 after the realisation it was the pinnacle. The most likely scenario is that he simply enjoys a lucrative and private retirement where he can spend more time with his beloved family. He can finally be left alone now. Sunday’s driver of the day does, after all, know what he’s doing.
Smoothly operating to a podium everyone forgot about…
All the drama, it is easy to forget that Carlos Sainz scored yet another podium in his Ferrari to secure fifth place in the driver’s standings, and consolidate his team’s position ahead of McLaren. Behind the frontrunners, the Spaniard was the clear ‘best of the rest’ ahead of Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly. A feat even more impressive, when you consider this is only his first season with the Tiffosi. There will be millions of fans around the world who will hope this is a sign of better things to come as Ferrari should be more of a threat to Mercedes and Red Bull, than they were this year. Achieving multiple podium finishes is a good start, but the next thing on the ‘smooth-operator’s’ agenda has got to be that maiden race win. Fingers crossed this can occur in 2022.
Alpha Tauri end the season strongly…
Pierre Gasly ran another solid race in finishing fifth in Abu Dhabi whereas his Japanese teammate went one further in scoring a season best twelve points with his fourth placed effort. A solid result gives the Italian constructor their highest ever points tally and left them in sixth, just a handful of points behind Alpine. With Gasly showing increasing levels of both maturity and experience, there is hope that the Frenchman can go even better than he did this campaign. As for his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda will no longer be a rookie when 2022 rolls around and, after a year on the F1 grid, will hope to get closer, if not match, the efforts of Gasly himself.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 