The final round of the 2021 season is here! The Yas Marina circuit has gone through some changes after last year. Turns 5 and 9 have become a lot faster, and turns 12, 13 and 14 are now a bit more gradual compared to the former lay-out. The number of turns has decreased from 21 to 16, and the circuit is now 5,3 km long. Coming to the season finale, Hamilton and Verstappen were tied on points.
Medium rubber was the preferred choice in the second session of the qualifying. Mercedes, Red Bull and AlphaTauri sent their drivers out on the medium Pirellis. Also McLaren's Norris and Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi opted for the more durable rubber on their first runs. Verstappen left only four thousandths of a second shy of Hamilton's benchmark, but on his second run the Dutchman got his tyres flat-spotted due to a lockout. Starting to the race on those tyres was to jeopardise Max's race on Sunday. Due to this mistake of his own, Max had to opt for the soft compound at the end of the second session. Teammate Perez opted for similar tyre strategy, and the Red Bull teammates were the fastest men on the track. In the end, only Hamilton and Bottas set their fastest lap times on the medium compound in addition to the AlphaTauri duo of Gasly and Tsunoda. Against the odds, Gasly failed to make it among the ten fastest.
There was lots of tension in the air, as the shootout for pole began. On their first runs Red Bull opted for a team effort; Perez gave his teammate a tow on the straight, and Max pulled out a magical lap, being half a second faster than title rival Hamilton. AlphaTauri's Tsunoda drove a phenomenal lap, jumping third in the standings, but unfortunately the Japanese's lap time was deleted due to exceeding the track limits in Turn 16. Bottas was fourth, a massive second off the pace, followed by the Scuderia duo of Sainz and Leclerc. There were no improvements at the end, which meant impressive 10th pole of the season for Verstappen. Hamilton had to settle for playing the second fiddle this time. McLaren's Norris was a surprise third, but the young Briton was 8 tenths down on Verstappen already. Perez qualified 4th for Red Bull, with Ferrari's Sainz 5th. Surprisingly, Bottas was left down in P6. Leclerc in the sister SF21 was 7th and AlphaTauri's Tsunoda 8th. Alpine's Ocon and Ricciardo in the sister McLaren rounded out the top ten.
The differing tyre strategies of the two top teams made the grid super exciting. The sun was setting, as the lights went out for the final time this season. Against the odds, Hamilton took a phenomenal start on the medium tyres and accelerated into the lead before Turn 1. Verstappen was second, and his teammate Perez jumped third and Ferrari's Sainz moved fourth. Norris, who had started to the race from P3, dropped down to P5. Bottas, too got a poor start, and the Finn dropped two positions down to P8. Verstappen was right at the very tail of Hamilton and made an unrealistic overtaking move at the chicane on the back straight. Hamilton ended up wide, and he rejoined the track clearly ahead of Verstappen. The jaw-dropping battle had just started.
Hamilton's pace was frightening, as the Briton banged fastest lap times one after another. Max was a couple of tenths slower every lap. On lap 14 the Dutchman pitted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis and rejoined the track in P5. However, Max immediately attacked Norris in his McLaren, claiming P4. Mercedes called Hamilton in on the sequential lap, and the 7-time world champion switched to the hard compound as well. Perez in the sister RB16B was now leading the race. Verstappen was a second per lap slower than Hamilton, as the Red Bull ace was stuck behind Ferrari's Sainz. Finally Max managed to overtake his ex teammate on the back straight, moving up to 3rd.
On lap 19 Hamilton had chased down race leader Perez, who hadn't pitted yet. Perez's strategy was clear: he was to hold up Hamilton as long as he possibly could, to help his teammate close the 7-second gap to Hamilton. The Briton managed to get past Perez on both straights, but the Mexican fought like a hyena. Hamilton forced an overtaking move on Perez in the end, but thanks to Perez's defensive battle, Max had decreased the gap to Hamilton into 1.5 seconds. "Checo is a legend", Max reported on the team radio.
Unfortunately Kimi Räikkönen, who was driving his farewell race, faced a DNF in his career-ending race. A brake issue forced the Iceman to park his Alfa Romeo in his pit box on lap 27. Also teammate Antonio Giovinazzi's Alfa Romeo came to a halt on lap 35. The Italian's retirement was caused by a gearbox failure. Virtual safety car was deployed.
At this point things got very interesting. Verstappen pitted for a second time for another set of fresh hards, as did teammate Perez. Hamilton on the other hand decided to stay out. With 20 laps to go, Hamilton's lead to Verstappen was 17.9 seconds. This meant, that Verstappen needed to be 8 tenths faster per lap than Hamilton to take the battle to the Briton in the end.
With 10 laps to go, Verstappen was still over ten seconds behind Hamilton, whose pace was amazing in spite of the worn tyres. Bottas moved up to 5th, as Norris suffered a slow puncture and had to make an extra pit stop. Bottas was four seconds off Sainz, who was driving an impressive race.
With five laps to go, it seemed, that Hamilton was cruising to his 8th world title. But what a dramatic turn the season finale saw on lap 54! Williams' Latifi lost control of his car, ending up to the barriers. There was debris on the track, and safety car was deployed! Was the world championship going to be decided driving behind safety car? Verstappen pitted immediately for soft rubber, whilst teammate Perez had to drive into the pits and retire the car due to a technical issue. Hamilton stayed out on his out-worn hards.
Safety car came in just in time for the final lap of the final race of the season. Verstappen saw his chance on the fresh softs and attacked Hamilton like a lion, forcing his way past his title rival. Hamilton fought as hard as he could, but Max had already decided to win the race. Max crossed the finish line as the race winner, clinching his maiden world championship! Disappointed Hamilton finished as the runner-up, and Sainz in his Ferrari completed the podium. AlphaTauri's Tsunoda was stunning 4th, with his teammate Gasly 5th. Bottas had to settle for P6 in his very last race for Mercedes. Despite the outstanding qualifying Norris finished 7th for McLaren, Alonso 8th and Ocon 9th for Alpine, with Leclerc bringing the last point for Ferrari. Mercedes sealed the 8th consecutive constructors' title. Ferrari did take the 3rd place in the constructors' standings, and Sainz's P3 lifted him 5th, ahead of Norris and teammate Leclerc, in the drivers' standings.
Now we have the first-ever Dutch F1 world champion! Congratulations on Max! What an epic and nerve-wracking season this has been! Now it's time to charge batteries and tune in for the holiday season.
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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