First day

Fans of Formula 1 this year had a grandiose climax. For the first time in five years, the fate of the title was decided at the last stage, the role of which is traditionally played by the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. And if then the argument was led by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton inside Mercedes, now representatives of different teams have become the main rivals - all the same Hamilton and Max Verstappen from Red Bull.

Their fight this season turned out to be the most exciting in the history of the "royal races".

Suffice it to say that by the time they arrived in the UAE, they scored the same number of points - 369.5 points each.

The same situation occurred only once in 1974, when future champion Emerson Fittipaldi was on a par with Clay Rigazzoni.

But then there were fewer stages and points to be played.

In modern conditions, such parity to the last stage was considered impossible, but Verstappen and Hamilton were able to achieve it.

After 21 races, nothing splits Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton



Who will be crowned champion of the world on Sunday?

🏆 # AbuDhabiGP |

# F1 |

# HistoryAwaitspic.twitter.com / UqOjuXEpQQ

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 10, 2021

The Dutch pilot still had a tiny advantage before the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He scored ten wins against Hamilton's eight, so if the tie remains, it will be the Red Bull driver who will be declared champion. But the likelihood that this criterion will have to be applied is extremely small. You can end the season with the same number of points only in two cases - either if one driver becomes tenth with the best lap, and the other takes ninth place, or if both leave as a result of an accident. At the same time, Formula 1 racing director Michael Masi warned Verstappen in advance that he had no right to deliberately shoot down Hamilton, since then he would be deprived of some of the points he earned.

In previous years, the winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix could be determined by the results of qualifications. The Yas-Marina autodrome, due to the slow turns, could not be attributed to those where overtaking often occurs. However, this season the organizers have drastically changed the configuration of the track, as if anticipating what a great battle it will become. She became faster compared to the times when Hamilton won five times on it.

The new version turned out to be quite suitable for Verstappen.

In the very first Friday training session, he led the protocol, ahead of Valtteri Bottas from Mercedes by two tenths of a second and almost a third - Hamilton.

But the evening session, during which the sun sets over the horizon and the asphalt cools down sharply, should have become more indicative and close to racing conditions.

This time, Verstappen did not even enter the top three, losing not only to two Mercedes drivers, but also to Esteban Okon from Alpine.

There were plenty of thrills and spills in the second practice session 🍿 # AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 # F1

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 10, 2021

Second day

Although the role of qualification in Abu Dhabi should now decrease, nevertheless, in the face of the sharpest struggle between the two best pilots in the world, its importance still remained enormous.

Before Saturday's main event, the riders again trained at Yas Marina, and Hamilton consolidated his lead.

Despite the fact that right before the free practice session he had problems with the brakes, the Briton was still out of reach for everyone.

Verstappen moved up to second place, 0.214 seconds behind the world champion.

While we wait for qualifying ...



Catch up with all the action from the final practice session of 2021 #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 # F1

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 11, 2021

At the beginning of qualification, the pilot of Red Bull was able to reduce the gap from Hamilton to a minimum.

However, he did not leave for the second attempt in the first session, and then the Briton tried not only to improve the time, but to achieve a psychological advantage.

The Mercedes driver won the main competitor for half a second, and Bottas also sent Verstappen to the third intermediate place.

But the Dutchman's answer was not long in coming.

In the second round, he first approached Hamilton at a distance of four thousandths of a second, and then completely surpassed the Briton's time when he changed his shoes to faster tires.

He did not take an example from the current winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and kept the old tires, on which he now had to start the race.

In the qualifying finals, Hamilton got an extra set of the fastest tires, but this again did not help him.

Verstapenna was rescued by his team-mate Sergio Perez, who organized a slip stream.

With him, the Dutchman showed such a time that Hamilton could only fight for second place, with which he confidently coped.

Verstappen took the final pole position of the season, with his main rival on the grid next to him.

On pole for the final race of an incredible season 🚀



What a lap from @ Max33Verstappen! #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / H9XQdyXBGq

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 11, 2021

Race

Given that Hamilton not only ended up behind Verstappen, but also got slower tires for the race, the favorite in the starting duel seemed obvious. However, the Briton instantly destroyed all preliminary layouts. Right at the start, he overtook the Dutchman and took the lead. Verstappen tried to counterattack and pushed Hamilton off the track, but he cut off the turn and stayed first. The stewards had to immediately analyze an episode that could affect the fate of the title, and they decided to abandon the investigation.

Hamilton continued to build on his success and showed the best time of the day on almost every lap. The gap from Verstappen was gradually growing, and the Red Bull pilot could not do anything about it. When he began to concede even to Perez, who climbed into third place, the need for a pit stop became obvious. The leader of the championship drove into the pits when he was already losing six seconds, and returned to the track fifth. But Hamilton did not stay on the track - he also changed the tires, choosing the toughest option.

This did not prevent the Briton from still updating the best circles and being ahead of Verstappen by more than seven seconds.

Then Peres had to intervene in their dispute.

He went first and was ordered to contain Hamilton at all costs.

The Mexican did his duty to the team perfectly - the fierce defense against the Briton allowed Verstappen to close the gap to two seconds and re-engage in the fight for the world title.

LAP 21/58



Epic stuff at the front as race leader Sergio Perez battles hard to keep Lewis Hamilton frustrated



Hamilton eventually gets past to take P1, but his lead over Verstappen is cut to two seconds



"Checo is a legend" says Max over team radio #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / Thc5IPQV09

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 12, 2021

But on his own the Dutchman could not restrain the leader of the race. He really needed the second pit stop, but Bottas, who was going third, prevented him from making it. Finn was ready to throw himself under the wheels of an opponent just as Perez did. The perfect moment for the Red Bull driver came when Antonio Giovinazzi of Alfa Romeo had a technical problem. He had to withdraw from the race, and for a while, a virtual safety car mode was introduced. Verstappen quickly got new tires and was 17 seconds behind Hamilton - a response to the pits would send the Briton to second place.

For 24 laps the situation on the track has changed dramatically.

Now Verstappen was rapidly closing the gap with Hamilton.

To win, he needed to drive each lap 0.7 seconds faster, and the Dutchman really did it once.

Then the Red Bull pilot played less, but the circulars began to interfere with the leader.

By all accounts, Hamilton should have kept the lead, but anything could happen in the race.

And luck smiled at Verstappen after all.

With five laps to go, Williams' Nicholas Latifi crashed his car.

The race had to be interrupted by the departure of a safety car.

Verstappen immediately changed tires, and Hamilton refused this, risking immediately losing the first position.

It took quite a long time to clear the track from the debris of Latifi's car, and the race was returned to combat mode only on the last lap.

Verstappen, on fresh tires, immediately began to attack Hamilton, who was driving right in front of him.

He managed to get ahead on one of those new turns that the organizers made.

The Briton counterattacked twice, but each time he was left behind.

Verstappen, who spent most of the day holding on to the back of his main rival, finished first and became the 34th in the history of the world champion in the Formula 1 class.

Hamilton missed the chance to win the eighth title and surpass the achievement of Michael Schumacher.

The most incredible season in history ended with a worthy denouement.

That extraordinary final lap of the 2021 title race in full 😮 # AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / kknTMDfpAF

- Formula 1 (@ F1) December 12, 2021