F1 Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins Abu Dhabi GP, claims title
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina on Sunday to claim the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship, passing rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes on the final lap of the season.

Hamilton took the lead at the start, after pole-winner Verstappen made a poor getaway, but Max lunged to the inside of Lewis at Turn 6 on the opening lap. Hamilton took the run-off in avoidance and retained his lead despite missing the second element of the chicane.
Hamilton took control of the race, although Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez played his wingman role to perfection by holding up Lewis for two laps and negating the majority of his advantage over Max.
A late safety car for a crashing backmarker allowed Verstappen to pit for soft tyres, and race control made a call to allow the lapped cars between the title contenders past the safety car and to restart the race for a final lap.
On his fresher and softer tyres, Verstappen passed Hamilton to claim the most dramatic of victories and the world title.
2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race results
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | |
Red Bull | 58 | 1:30'17.345 | 26 | ||
2 | |
Mercedes | 58 | 1:30'19.601 | 2.256 | 2.256 | 18 |
3 | |
Ferrari | 58 | 1:30'22.518 | 5.173 | 2.917 | 15 |
4 | |
AlphaTauri | 58 | 1:30'23.037 | 5.692 | 0.519 | 12 |
5 | |
AlphaTauri | 58 | 1:30'23.876 | 6.531 | 0.839 | 10 |
6 | |
Mercedes | 58 | 1:30'24.808 | 7.463 | 0.932 | 8 |
7 | |
McLaren | 58 | 1:31'16.545 | 59.200 | 51.737 | 6 |
8 | |
Alpine | 58 | 1:31'19.053 | 1'01.708 | 2.508 | 4 |
9 | |
Alpine | 58 | 1:31'21.371 | 1'04.026 | 2.318 | 2 |
10 | |
Ferrari | 58 | 1:31'23.402 | 1'06.057 | 2.031 | 1 |
11 | |
Aston Martin | 58 | 1:31'24.872 | 1'07.527 | 1.470 | |
12 | |
McLaren | 57 | ||||
13 | |
Aston Martin | 57 | ||||
14 | |
Haas | 57 | ||||
15 | |
Red Bull | 55 | ||||
|
Williams | 50 | |||||
|
Alfa Romeo | 33 | |||||
|
Williams | 26 | |||||
|
Alfa Romeo | 25 | |||||
|
Haas | 0 | |||||
View full results |
How the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix unfolded
From pole position Verstappen, who started on soft tyres, made a poor getaway, allowing Hamilton on mediums, to sprint into the lead. McLaren’s Lando Norris ran wide at Turn 1 from third on the grid, allowing Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ahead of him.
Verstappen lunged inside Hamilton at Turn 6 on the opening lap. He got to the apex first, briefly nosing ahead as Hamilton took to the run-off area, but Lewis then regained a big lead at the exit of Turn 7 having cut that corner. Stewards decided no investigation was necessary, as they felt then Hamilton slowed down enough, despite not giving up his track position.
Hamilton pulled out of Verstappen’s DRS range and was over 2s clear by Lap 7 and was 5s ahead by Lap 12. Perez was well clear of Sainz in third, while Norris had the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for company in fifth – and began to suffer some gearbox issues.
Verstappen pitted on Lap 14 for hard tyres, rejoining just ahead of Leclerc, who went off at Turn 3 and lost a place to Tsunoda. Verstappen quickly passed Norris for fourth.
Hamilton pitted a lap later to cover Verstappen and also took hard tyres. He rejoined ahead of Sainz – 5s ahead of Verstappen who was still behind the Ferrari. Verstappen had a big moment behind Sainz at Turn 15, sliding off the track. Meantime, Hamilton set fastest lap and opened the gap even more.
Verstappen got past Sainz at Turn 6 on Lap 18 but was now 8s behind Hamilton, who was closing on the long-running leader Perez.
On Lap 20, Hamilton DRS-ed passed Perez into Turn 6 but Perez lunged back ahead. Perez spent the next lap holding up Hamilton as much as he could, until Hamilton DRS-ed him again at Turn 6 a lap later. That allowed Verstappen, who Perez allowed past immediately, to get within 1.3s.
Once clear, Hamilton get back into fastest-lap setting mode and pulled clear again by 5s. The long-running Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas pitted from third on Lap 31, opening the door for Verstappen to make a second stop.
Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo ground to a halt at Turn 9 on Lap 36, causing a virtual safety car. With Verstappen 6s behind, he pitted under the VSC for fresh hard tyres as Hamilton stayed out. He rejoined 17s behind Hamilton as the race went green again and pushed hard to catch him.
Norris lost fifth place when he picked up a slow puncture, putting fifth in the championship at risk, having been in a position to jump ahead of Leclerc, who’d made an extra stop under the VSC and was outside the top 10.
With five laps remaining, Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams at Turn 14, bringing out a safety car. Hamilton stayed out as Verstappen stopped for softs. Perez retired with three laps to go, handing third place to Sainz.
The race restarted with one lap to go, with Verstappen right on Hamilton’s tail and on fresh tyres. Verstappen outbraked Hamilton at Turn 5 to grab the lead, Hamilton fought back but just couldn’t find a way past again.
Verstappen pulled away to win the title on the last lap, beating Hamilton, Sainz, Tsunoda and Gasly. Norris battled back to seventh, ahead of Alonso, Ocon and Leclerc.
Kimi Raikkonen retired from his final F1 start when his Alfa suffered a brake issue and he spun into the wall at Turn 6. He was forced to retire, as did George Russell who lost drive from his Williams.
Nikita Mazepin didn’t start the race after testing positive for Covid-19 before the finale.
Mercedes claimed the 2021 F1 Constructors’ Championship.
After the race, Mercedes lodged two protests over the race result.
2021 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest laps
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | |
Red Bull | 39 | 1'26.103 | 220.800 | ||
2 | |
Red Bull | 51 | 1'26.419 | 0.316 | 0.316 | 219.993 |
3 | |
Mercedes | 43 | 1'26.615 | 0.512 | 0.196 | 219.495 |
4 | |
McLaren | 58 | 1'26.762 | 0.659 | 0.147 | 219.123 |
5 | |
Mercedes | 51 | 1'26.862 | 0.759 | 0.100 | 218.871 |
6 | |
AlphaTauri | 49 | 1'27.342 | 1.239 | 0.480 | 217.668 |
7 | |
AlphaTauri | 50 | 1'27.496 | 1.393 | 0.154 | 217.285 |
8 | |
Alpine | 58 | 1'27.607 | 1.504 | 0.111 | 217.010 |
9 | |
Ferrari | 51 | 1'27.618 | 1.515 | 0.011 | 216.982 |
10 | |
Alpine | 58 | 1'28.249 | 2.146 | 0.631 | 215.431 |
11 | |
Aston Martin | 58 | 1'28.303 | 2.200 | 0.054 | 215.299 |
12 | |
Ferrari | 40 | 1'28.433 | 2.330 | 0.130 | 214.983 |
13 | |
Aston Martin | 48 | 1'28.567 | 2.464 | 0.134 | 214.657 |
14 | |
McLaren | 48 | 1'28.723 | 2.620 | 0.156 | 214.280 |
15 | |
Williams | 30 | 1'29.293 | 3.190 | 0.570 | 212.912 |
16 | |
Alfa Romeo | 33 | 1'29.442 | 3.339 | 0.149 | 212.557 |
17 | |
Haas | 42 | 1'29.457 | 3.354 | 0.015 | 212.522 |
18 | |
Alfa Romeo | 23 | 1'29.698 | 3.595 | 0.241 | 211.951 |
19 | |
Williams | 23 | 1'30.647 | 4.544 | 0.949 | 209.732 |
View full results |
2021 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix pitstop times
Driver | Chassis | Time |
---|---|---|
|
Haas | 22.124 |
|
Red Bull | 21.152 |
|
Mercedes | 21.595 |
|
Ferrari | 22.461 |
|
Alpine | 21.677 |
|
McLaren | 21.380 |
|
Alfa Romeo | 22.283 |
|
McLaren | 21.449 |
|
Ferrari | 22.213 |
|
Red Bull | 21.471 |
|
Aston Martin | 22.288 |
|
Alfa Romeo | 22.338 |
|
AlphaTauri | 22.455 |
|
Aston Martin | 21.221 |
|
Williams | 21.241 |
|
Mercedes | 21.669 |
|
Ferrari | 21.173 |
|
Red Bull | 21.871 |
|
Red Bull | 21.413 |
|
Alpine | 21.304 |
|
AlphaTauri | 22.133 |
|
McLaren | 22.173 |
|
Red Bull | 21.453 |
|
McLaren | 22.056 |
|
Aston Martin | 22.661 |
|
Red Bull | 21.385 |
|
Haas | 22.070 |
|
AlphaTauri | 21.909 |
|
AlphaTauri | 21.920 |
View full results |
Related video

Verstappen wants to stay with Red Bull forever after "unbelievable" F1 title win
Hamilton congratulates Verstappen after "most difficult of F1 seasons"

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