SUPER MAX WINS ABU DHABI AND CHAMPION TITLE

Max Verstappen won his first Champion Title at the end of one of the most intense race deciders in Formula 1 history, passing rival Lewis Hamilton to take the lead and the race win on the last lap of a dramatic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

With 54 laps of the race gone and with Hamilton in an apparently comfortable 11-second lead, Verstappen’s chances of taking the title appeared to be over, but when Nicholas Latifi crashed out and the safety car was released, the Red Bull driver was handed another chance.

He pitted, took on Soft tyres and when the safety car left the track he attacked. He closed on Hamilton, who was on old Hard tyres, and with a late diver down the inside of the Mercedes AMG grabbed the lead. The Briton fought back on the following straight but Verstappen resisted to take his 10th win of the year and his first championship title.

It is a pity that this incredible season will have its end today, at least on the track, but it looks like it will end at the green table during the winter break. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix had a fantastic rating, and the echoes of this final will entertain us during long.

Only once in history, in 1974, did two contenders for the title reach the final race with an equal number of points. Then the last was the 15th race, and the points were obtained according to other rules. This season will become legendary, will be remembered and cited as an example.

The two strongest teams in recent years supplied by two different power unit manufacturers, one the usual favorite, the second outsider.

Two title rivals, two completely different drivers, by age, character, driving style, entered the last race of the longest season in F1 history with the same number of points. Lewis Hamilton controlled the race on a lap before the end, but it took Max half a lap to take it away.

It could not end in a draw, so today one side together with its army of fans remain sad, and the other celebrates victory. But the question remains whether that may change in the near future.

Today's race marks the end of current technical regulations. Next year, the cars will be completely different, which will start a new page in the history of Formula 1.

The race in Abu Dhabi was the 350th and the last in the career of Kimi Raikkonen, he is the absolute leader in this record, but in 2022 the top will be taken by Fernando Alonso, who now has 333 races.

Antonio Giovinazzi, the only Italian driver, will end his career in Formula 1. Antonio was supported by Ferrari, but now Alfa Romeo has other priorities. It is the only team that will completely change its driving lineup.

Valtter Bottas ended his career at Mercedes AMG, coming with the hope of winning the title, but only becoming a good "WINGMAN". From next weekend, he will test for Alfa Romeo, where he will replace Kimi Raikkonen, becoming a teammate with the debutant Guanyu Zhou.

George Russell will end his career at Williams and become a teammate of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes AMG. It will be very interesting to watch their fight. Alex Albon returns to Formula One, relinquishing his Red Bull sponsorship and resuming his F1 career, this time with Williams.

New Year holidays, Christmas, presentations of new cars, winter tests, forecasts and expectations are coming. But first, let's find out how this season ends, which, despite the wishes to end on the track, is already being decided by the stewards, and probably later in the ICA.

When the lights went out at the start, Hamilton got the better start and took the lead into Turn 1 ahead of Verstappen. Behind them, Sergio Pérez made a good start and took third place from McLaren’s Lando Norris who went wide.

Having lost the lead, Verstappen slotted into the slipstream of Hamilton’s Mercedes and closed up to the Briton on the run to Turn 7. He attacked with a move down the inside and Hamilton went wide.

The Mercedes AMG rejoined the track in the lead and the incident prompted the stewards to take a closer look but ultimately they ruled that there was “no investigation necessary” and Hamilton was free to march on in the lead.

He then set about building a gap to Verstappen, who began to complain of tyre wear, and by lap 13 the Dutchman was five seconds behind his title rival. That was the cue for the Dutch driver to head towards the pit lane and in a 2.1s stop he took on hard tyres. He rejoined in P5 behind Norris, quickly passed the McLaren and then set about chasing down Carlos Sainz.

Mercedes AMG reacted to Verstappen’s pit stop by bring Hamilton in at the end of lap 14 and he took on hard tyres in a 2.4s stop, rejoining in P2, 11 seconds behind new race leader Pérez. Behind, Verstappen claimed P3 by comfortably dismissing Sainz but ahead Hamilton began to reel in Pérez.

Ove the next six laps the Mercedes driver closed the gap to the Mexican and with DRS support he attacked on the pit straight, passing the Mexican with apparent ease. Pérez was in no mood to relinquish the lead, however, and in the following DS zone he powered back past the Briton to reclaim top spot.

Pérez’s feisty defence had the effect of allowing Max to erase much his deficit to Hamilton and when the British driver finally made it past the Mexican under DRS on the next lap, Pérez quickly moved aside to let Versatappen power through to second place, just a few seconds behind Hamilton and with both now on hard tyres.

It was a brief resurgence, however. As the second stint evolved, Hamilton began to once more slowly draw away from Max and by lap 33 he was five seconds ahead of the Red Bull driver.

The complexion of the race changed on lap 36 when Antonio Giovinazzi pulled over at the side of the track with gearbox issues. The Virtual Safety Car was deployed and with Hamilton staying out on track, the Team quickly called Max in for another set of hard tyres. Pérez also pitted under the VSC and he rejoined in third place.

Verstappen rejoined almost 17 seconds behind Hamilton and when the track went green the Red Bull driver began to close on the Mercedes at the rate of eight tenths of a second per lap.

But as the final stint unfolded it became clear that the pace in the new tyres wouldn’t be strong enough to put Verstappen close to the race-leading Mercedes AMG. With 10 laps left Verstappen was 12 seconds behind Hamilton and running out of time, bu on lap 53 the pendulum once again swung back towards the Dutchman.

Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed and the Safety Car was released. Verstappen immediately pitted and took a set of soft tyres as Hamilton stayed on track. On lap 57 race control decreed that the five cars on track between Hamilton and Verstappen would be allowed to unlap themselves and that the Safety Car would come in to provide for a single lap of racing.

And when the track went green Max was immediately on the attack. He closed on Hamilton on the run to Turn 5 and with a brave dive down the inside he claimed the race lead.

Hamilton fought back on the next straight and drew alongside the Dutchman and almost got past, but Max held the line, held his nerve and kept the lead until the finish line, and until he had claimed his first FIA Formula One World Drivers’ Championship title.

However, in the wake of the race, Mercedes lodged two protests against the result. Decisions relating to the protests were still awaited at the time of publication.

2021 ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 58 laps, 308.450km., Weather: Dry/Night.
CLASSIFIED:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1h30:17.345
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	+ 2.256
3.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	+ 5.173
4.	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+ 5.692
5.	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+ 6.531
6.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 7.463
7.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 59.200
8.	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	+ 1.01.708
9.	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 1.04.026
10.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 1.06.057
11.	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+ 1.07.527
12.	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	+ 1 lap
13.	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1 lap
14.	Mick Schumacher	Haas	+ 1 lap
15.	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	+ 1 lap
FASTEST LAP: MAX VERSTAPPPEN - 1:26.103
NOT CLASSIFIED:
16.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	crash
17.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	technical
18.	George Russell	Williams	technical
19.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	crash
HYBRID HISTORY - YAS MARINA 2021 Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 1h30:17.345 @МкФормула1 - Република Македонија @MkFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

FINAL CLASSIFICATION
DRIVERS:
1.	Max Verstappen	395.5
2.	Lewis Hamilton	387.5
3.	Valtteri Bottas	226
4.	Sergio Pérez	190
5.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	164.5
6.	Lando Norris	160
7.	Charles Leclerc	159
8.	Daniel Ricciardo	115
9.	Pierre Gasly	110
10.	Fernando Alonso	81
11.	Esteban Ocon	74
12.	Sebastian Vettel	43
13.	Lance Stroll	34
14.	Yuki Tsunoda	32
15.	George Russell	16
16.	Kimi Räikkönen	10
17.	Nicholas Latifi	7
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	3
19.	Mick Schumacher	0
20.	Robert Kubica	0
21.	Nikita Mazepin	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	613.5
2.	Red Bull	585.5
3.	Ferrari	323.5
4.	McLaren	275
5.	Alpine	155
6.	AlphaTauri	142
7.	Aston Martin	77
8.	Williams	23
9.	Alfa Romeo	13
10.	Haas	0