Abu Dhabi Grand Prix HIGHLIGHTS, Formula 1: Red Bull's Max Verstappen Pips Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton In Thriller To Win Maiden Title

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Formula 1 Highlights: Red Bull's Max Verstappen overtook Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in the final lap to win his maiden F1 World Championship title.

Neelav Chakravarti
Updated:December 12, 2021 08:05 pm IST

Read Time: 1 min

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix HIGHLIGHTS, Formula 1: Red Bull's Max Verstappen Pips Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton In Thriller To Win Maiden Title

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 Highlights: Max Verstappen has won his maiden c'ship title.© AFP

In what turned out to be a thrilling finish to this Formula 1 season, Red Bull's Max Verstappen defeated Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to win his maiden F1 world championship title in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit. Verstappen had to wait till the end and was also helped by the safety car to overtake Hamilton in the final lap. The race also saw Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, Nicholas Latifi, A Giovinazzi and G Russell retire. Latifi's crash in Lap 54 was the game-changer for Red Bull and cleared the way in the end for Verstappen to pip Hamilton.

Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, F1 World Championship Battle Between Lewis Hamilton And Max Verstappen, Highlights From Yas Marina Circuit

December12202120:05 (IST)
MAX VERSTAPPEN FINISHES WITH THE LEAD! HE IS WORLD CHAMPION!
The race is over! Verstappen overtook Hamilton at the end and is the new world champion! Bad luck for Hamilton, he couldn't snatch a record-breaking victory!
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December12202120:03 (IST)
Lap 58/58
Verstappen is in the lead now!!! He is snatching the world championship title from Hamilton!
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December12202120:03 (IST)
Lap 58/58
Hamilton and Verstappen are side by side. They are aching to seal the race!
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December12202120:01 (IST)
Lap 57/58
Everyone is still behind the safety car in the penultimate lap. Too much drama!
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December12202120:00 (IST)
LAPPED CARS NOT ALLOWED TO OVERTAKE!
Verstappen to the news that lapped cars are not allowed to overtake: "TYPICAL DECISION". Verstappen's work increases! There are five cars between Verstappen and Hamilton.
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December12202119:59 (IST)
Lap 56/58
Perez is back in the pits and his car retires!
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December12202119:58 (IST)
Lap 55/58
Hamilton is in danger. If the race restarts, he will be easily overtaken due to his old tyres to Verstappen's newer ones. The Red Bull is on soft ones now!
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December12202119:54 (IST)
N Latifi has crashed!
Williams' N Latifi has crashed at TUrn 14 and a safety car is called. More drama now and Latifi is fine. Verstappen also pits.
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December12202119:53 (IST)
Lap 53/58
The gap is 11.1s and five more laps to go. Hamilton still hasn't changed his tyres and the new layout could degrade them more!
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December12202119:51 (IST)
Lap 52/58
The gap has suddenly increased a bit between Hamilton and Verstappen. The Red Bull driver is currently trying to lap Leclerc and Ricciardo.
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December12202119:50 (IST)
Lap 51/58
The gap is now 11s and Hamilton's tyres are 37 laps old.

Over the team radio, he has been warned, "We think the problem kerb is Turn 15 and 16".
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December12202119:48 (IST)
Lap 49/58
Verstappen has taken another full second out of Hamilton's lead!
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December12202119:46 (IST)
Lap 48/58
Ocon has hurt Hamilton now. The Brit had to wait for some corners to go past him. Thereby, he has lost a full second to Verstappen.

Also, Hamilton on the team radio: "How many laps?"
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December12202119:44 (IST)
Lap 47/58
The gap is 13.3s now and Verstappen is lapping a couple of tenths faster. Hamilton has overtaken Ricciardo and the Alpine pair is next for him!
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December12202119:43 (IST)
Lap 45/58
Hamilton still has the lead but bad news for him. He hasn't changed his tyres yet and they are degrading. Other than being chased by Verstappen, he is also up against back markers in the guise of Leclerc, Ricciardo, Ocon and Alonso.
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December12202119:41 (IST)
Lap 44/58
The gap is 13.9s now at the front. Hamilton is still on top with Verstappen chasing behind him. Perez is third and is 41.4s off the lead.
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December12202119:39 (IST)
Lap 43/58
The gap is now 14.1s.

Hamilton is still on old tyres. Meanwhile with newer tyres, Verstappen is second. Its championship time now!
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December12202119:34 (IST)
Lap 40/58
Hamilton still leads but he hasn't changed his tyres yet. Verstappen is still chasing.
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December12202119:32 (IST)
Lap 39/58
Fastest lap by Verstappen and he covers up half a second. Hamilton is still in the lead and Verstappen needs eight tenths a lap.
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December12202119:29 (IST)
Lap 36/58
Whatever Hamilton, Verstappen is doing the opposite. The Red Bull driver pits and changes to new hard tyres fast. He comes back and is still second.
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December12202119:26 (IST)
Lap 35/59
Another new fastest lap by Hamilton and he has snatched half a second out of Verstappen. HAMILTON IS ON A MISSION HERE!
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December12202119:25 (IST)
Lap 34/58
Verstappen has made amends and has made ground on a couple of tenths. He was defeated down to Turn 1 at the start and Hamilton has been comfortable since the first lap incident the Brit cut a corner.
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December12202119:21 (IST)
Lap 32/58
Alonso and Gasly have climbed to fourth and fifth position respectively.
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December12202119:20 (IST)
Two DNFs
CONFIRMATION: Williams' G Russell and Alfa Romeo's K Raikkonen are both out!
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December12202119:17 (IST)
Lap 29/58 | "It's a long way for these tyres", says Lewis Hamilton
The gap is 3.6s at the front now and Hamilton still leads. Although he did say in the team radio, "It's a long way for these tyres" and seemed concerned.
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December12202119:15 (IST)
Kimi Raikkonen retires in his last race!
Raikkonen has retired! he was facing braking issue and his mechanics couldn't really do much!
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December12202119:10 (IST)
Lap 23/58
Hamilton is now with a 2 second buffer at the front. Verstappen is still second and Tsunoda is third. Tsunoda also hasn't pitted yet like Bottas in fourth.
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December12202119:08 (IST)
Lap 22/58
Perez pits and his place in the front is over. What an important team contribution by the Red Bull man for Verstappen.
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December12202119:06 (IST)
Lap 21/58 | TEAMWORK BY SERGIO PEREZ AND MAX VERSTAPPEN
Hamilton overtakes Perez into turn 6. He also let his teammate Verstappen go into second place.
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December12202119:03 (IST)
Lap 19/58
Perez is now leading by 3.8s with soft tyres. Verstappen has 8.2s to make up so that he can challenge for the title again!
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December12202119:00 (IST)
Lap 18/58
Bottas is up to P7. He is chasing down Tsunoda.
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December12202118:59 (IST)
Lap 16/58
Perez leads Hamilton with over 10s between them.
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December12202118:58 (IST)
Lap 15/58
Hamilton pits now and he changes to hard after a 2.4s pit stop. Perez gets the lead and Hamilton is second now!
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December12202118:56 (IST)
Lap 14/58
Red Bull are in the pit line and Mad Max pits. Its early and he changes to hard tyres.

The team nails the stop and it was just 2.1s.
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December12202118:54 (IST)
"My rear tyres are really struggling!"
On the team radio, Verstappen said, "My rear tyres are really struggling!"

Bad news for Red Bull fans!
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December12202118:52 (IST)
Lap 12/58
Hamilton is on fire! Another fastest lap and he now has his lead up to 4.4s. Sainz is 20 seconds down the road, with Norris and Leclerc near him.
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December12202118:49 (IST)
Lap 9/58 | Lewis Hamilton extends his lead
Hamilton has extended his lead and now has 2.4s of breathing room behind him.

Bad news for Verstappen fans. He just said, "Rears are starting to struggle a little bit".
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December12202118:46 (IST)
Lap 8/58
Hamilton is still ahead and Verstappen is trying his best to stay in touch and only loses a tenth.

Will Max go for an aggressive undercut to grab the lead?
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December12202118:43 (IST)
REPLAYS OF INITIAL LAP INCIDENT!
Replays show that Verstappen pulled his car alongside but then went wider through the corner. The question is did he give Hamilton enough room?

This will be something which will be talked about a lot after the race!
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December12202118:41 (IST)
Lap 4/58 | Lewis Hamilton leads by 1.6s
Hamilton is still leading, by 1.6s from Verstappen. Perez is third and Sainz is fourth!
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Topics mentioned in this article

Red Bull

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula 1 Live Blogs

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