My thoughts + Opinions on the Dramatic 2021 F1 finale

My heart was pounding, hands shaking, leg bouncing as lights out approached. I had so many concerns over the fact that Verstappen was on pole with the faster soft compound tyres, and the fact that Perez was also on softs, directly behind Hamilton. Anything could happen… Max could take the lead, Perez could jump in front of him, or worse- Hamilton could have crashed out.
To my surprise, Hamilton’s jump from the line was superb. He maximized his medium tyres and took the lead, despite the late lunge by Verstappen. From then on, the pace was there. Even if Hamilton had to give back position to Verstappen for passing off track on lap 1, the pace was undeniably there. He still would have passed him again.

Pic of my VERY stressed husband watching the Austin GP

Race Summary

Mercedes elected to keep their strategy safe. With Hamilton in the lead, and the pace unmatched, they could simply respond to Verstappen’s pit stops, and maintain the lead. Now… It wasn’t just Hamilton running away with it so easily. Following Hamilton’s pit stop, Perez put up a very staunch defense to allow Verstappen to gain 4-6 crucial seconds on Hamilton, and closing the lead to 1.5 or so. But again, with the superior pace, Hamilton took off and re-extended his lead once he was successfully around Perez.

Under the Virtual Safety Car following Giovinnazi’s stall out on lap 35, Verstappen was able to get a “free” pit stop, while Mercedes elected to keep track position (sending Hamilton to the pits would have resulted in loss of track position). Toto Wolff, Mercedes Principal, lobbied Race Director, Michael Masi, to not bring out the safety car, presumably to keep the gap Hamilton had gained. Despite my allegiance to Mercedes and Wolff, I don’t love the lobbying done by any team in any sport, but I also understood that having been “burned” on the safety car pit stop the weekend before, he was just ensuring that Masi wouldn’t change his mind at the last second, thus affecting their strategy (oh if only it were that simple… more to come with that).

No safety car was deployed, the Alfa Romeo was removed, and racing resumed. Hamilton had a 16 second lead or so at this point, and commentators stated that Verstappen would need to gain .8 of a second per lap to have a chance. Even with the fresher tyres, Verstappen was struggling to hit those targets, because of the sheer pace of the Mercedes. With 5 laps to go, Hamilton still had an 11 second lead, and things felt somewhat secure- it was * theoretically * his to lose.

However, Latifi and Schumacher, who were fighting for last place, were racing hard, and ultimately, that led to Latifi sliding into the wall, deploying the safety car and neutralizing the race. Here is where the real problems begin.

THE Controversy  

With 5 laps to go, and Red Bull principal, Christian Horner, admitting earlier in the race that they needed a “miracle”, they pitted Verstappen for the faster soft tyres, and hoped he could get a chance to race. Mercedes elected not to pit, as the timing would have surrendered track position, putting Hamilton in P2 and Verstappen in P1. The logic was that it was unclear if there would be more racing due to how late in the race the crash was, meaning the GP would finish under a safety car- no overtaking allowed. Some may say it’s anti-climactic, but it’s happened loads of times. There is currently no rule for extending a race in event of safety car or incident, so if a wreck happens with 5 or less laps, there’s a chance the race will end under a safety car. Hamilton, who had just finished lapping 4 cars, was in P1 l, but on very worn Hard compound tyres (the slowest). Verstappen had lapped half of the 5 cars in between he and Hamilton before the incident, and was behind all 5 again after Verstappen’s pit. According to the rules, the race director can determine if the lapped cars can unlap themselves or not. Masi’s initial decision was that they weren’t going to be allowed to, therefore, putting a 5 car buffer in between the two title contenders. Even though the lapped cars would be obligated to get out of the way, because only 1 final lap of racing was going to happen, he likely couldn’t overtake them all, and Hamilton before the chequered flag. However, following more lobbying, this time by Red Bull’s Christian Horner, Masi changed his mind and said that the lapped cars could un-lap themselves, but only the 5 in between Verstappen and Hamilton would be allowed, leaving 3 additional cars that were left that were not permitted to unlap themselves. Notably, there were cars in between Sainz in P3 and Verstappen in P2, which affected Sainz’s ability to race Verstappen and fight for P2. Undeniably, if all 8 cars would have unlapped themselves, the safety car would have remained for the final lap, and the positions would have stood, Hamilton P1 and Verstappen P2. Michael Masi used his override powers to choose which cars would unlap themselves and that there would be one final lap of racing. (There is a lot of debate over what these override powers include, and if this was an appropriate use of them or not).

Despite Hamilton’s best attempt to stay ahead, Verstappen’s fresher tyres gave him just enough pace to get by and beat Hamilton to the chequered flag by 2.2 seconds. The advantage of certain tyre compounds are factual. Masi absolutely knew that Hamilton had no defense for Verstappen once the lapped cars were out of the way. Masi defended his decision to Wolff saying that this is “Motor Racing”, so that’s what we’re doing… We’re racing.

My Thoughts

Wow. See how long that last bit was? All the deciding actions happened with 5 laps to go. Hamilton absolutely DOMINATED. Verstappen and Red Bull had no real answers, and they knew it. It was one man’s decision to bend the rules that opened the door for Verstappen to claim the victory. It is a real shame that a decision was made in the name of spectacle and entertainment, and not rules and integrity. Hamilton had the better car and was the better driver at Abu Dhabi, and deserved the win. Period. Too many people have quickly jumped to “well Max dominated this season, so he deserved it”, but if he dominated, it probably wouldn’t have been tied going into the final GP, right? Verstappen made some critical errors throughout the season that the more experienced Hamilton was able to take advantage of, keeping the title fight close.

The closest title battle since 1974, which saw the top 2 tied going into the final race, was decided by a man in a room, and not the racers on the track. Honestly, any decision after his bungling of the safety car, was going to leave someone furious. Hamilton had the win in the bag, and had procedures been followed, I am confident he would have won. Verstappen isn’t responsible for the choice made by Michael Masi, so obviously, it would suck to take it away, but wasn’t it arguably taken from Hamilton?

As the drama and emotions are still high, and no sign of it dying down, I just have one final thought… Michael Masi wanted a spectacle, and now he’s getting one, with many fans (of various teams and drivers) demanding either a new Race Director or at the very least, crystal clear guidelines and rules. 

Regardless, 2022 should be an exciting season, set to begin in March. In the meantime, Netflix will be working fast and furious to pump out the drama filled next season of Drive to Survive. Until then, I need a drink.