F1 Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins Abu Dhabi GP, claims title

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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	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	58	1:30'17.345			26
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	1:30'19.601	2.256	2.256	18
3	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	58	1:30'22.518	5.173	2.917	15
4	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	58	1:30'23.037	5.692	0.519	12
5	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	58	1:30'23.876	6.531	0.839	10
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	58	1:30'24.808	7.463	0.932	8
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	58	1:31'16.545	59.200	51.737	6
8	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	58	1:31'19.053	1'01.708	2.508	4
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	58	1:31'21.371	1'04.026	2.318	2
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	58	1:31'23.402	1'06.057	2.031	1
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	58	1:31'24.872	1'07.527	1.470
12	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	57
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	57
14	Mick Schumacher	Haas	57
15	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	55
	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	50
	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	33
	George Russell	Williams	26
	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	25
	Nikita Mazepin	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.

2021 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	39	1'26.103			220.800
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	51	1'26.419	0.316	0.316	219.993
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	43	1'26.615	0.512	0.196	219.495
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	58	1'26.762	0.659	0.147	219.123
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	51	1'26.862	0.759	0.100	218.871
6	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	49	1'27.342	1.239	0.480	217.668
7	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	50	1'27.496	1.393	0.154	217.285
8	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	58	1'27.607	1.504	0.111	217.010
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	51	1'27.618	1.515	0.011	216.982
10	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	58	1'28.249	2.146	0.631	215.431
11	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	58	1'28.303	2.200	0.054	215.299
12	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	40	1'28.433	2.330	0.130	214.983
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	48	1'28.567	2.464	0.134	214.657
14	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	48	1'28.723	2.620	0.156	214.280
15	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	30	1'29.293	3.190	0.570	212.912
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	33	1'29.442	3.339	0.149	212.557
17	Mick Schumacher	Haas	42	1'29.457	3.354	0.015	212.522
18	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	23	1'29.698	3.595	0.241	211.951
19	George Russell	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
Mick Schumacher	Haas	22.124
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	21.152
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	21.595
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	22.461
Esteban Ocon	Alpine	21.677
Lando Norris	McLaren	21.380
Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	22.283
Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	21.449
Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	22.213
Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21.471
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	22.288
Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	22.338
Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	22.455
Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	21.221
Nicholas Latifi	Williams	21.241
Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	21.669
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	21.173
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	21.871
Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21.413
Fernando Alonso	Alpine	21.304
Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	22.133
Lando Norris	McLaren	22.173
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	21.453
Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	22.056
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	22.661
Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21.385
Mick Schumacher	Haas	22.070
Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	21.909
Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	21.920
View full results