2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sunday, December 12, 2021
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
F1 World Championship

It should have been a thrilling showdown to close a dramatic season, but the last-lap safety car debacle at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP gave Max Verstappen a hollow victory over Lewis Hamilton.

Max Verstappen celebrates winning the 2021 F1 championship on the podium at Abu Dhabi — Kamran Jebreili/Getty Images

Maybe it was destined to end this way. Maybe it was engineered to.

But either way, the 2021 season simply could not end with a boring race. And just when it looked like it would, the year had one final on-track twist that could lead to so many more off it.

Max Verstappen’s stunning pole position looked to have handed him an advantage on Saturday, but he desperately needed to cement it with a clean start on the soft tyres compared to Lewis Hamilton’s mediums. He didn’t get it.

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