Verstappen took the pole position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Hamilton and Norris. During the race, Hamilton had a better start and took the lead into the first turn. At turn six Verstappen attempted to pass, forcing Hamilton to evade by going off the track. Emerging from the corner still in the lead, Hamilton was instructed to give up the advantage he had gained.
The pair settled in their positions until the first round of pit stops, with Hamilton gradually extending his lead. He later lost much of his advantage when Pérez, Verstappen's teammate with Red Bull, and who had yet to make a pit stop, made it difficult for Hamilton to pass him, though Verstappen was unable to capitalise. Later, a virtual safety car period allowed Verstappen to change his tyres without losing track position; however, despite the tyre advantage Verstappen was unable to challenge Hamilton. With seven laps remaining, the safety car was brought out for a crash involving Latifi. Red Bull used the opportunity to give Verstappen a fresh set of soft tyres, while Hamilton, still on his now-quite-old hard compound tyres, was not pitted. Race director Michael Masi took the decision to allow the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to un-lap themselves before restarting the race with only one lap remaining.
Upon the restart, Verstappen quickly passed Hamilton and held him off for the remainder of the lap to win the race and the championship. The most bizarre thing about the final laps were the officiating decisions from F1. Officials were adamant that the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen would not be allowed to clear themselves on the restart. That would have provided a buffer for Hamilton to likely win a record-breaking eighth championship and cement his status as the best Formula 1 driver of all time. Hamilton was fastest in qualifying in Brazil, but was disqualified the following day for a technical infringement.
Bottas won the qualifying sprint, giving him pole position for the Grand Prix. By finishing second in the sprint, Verstappen increased his championship lead over Hamilton by two points, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished third, increased Ferrari's championship lead over McLaren. Hamilton finished fifth in the sprint from last on the grid, but a five-place grid drop due to taking a new engine relegated him to tenth on the grid for the Grand Prix. On race day, both Verstappen was able to overtake Bottas on the first lap.
Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Sainz were involved in a separate incident, with Norris getting a puncture. On lap 48, Hamilton caught up to Verstappen and attempted an overtake, but failed and resulted in both of them going off track. He won the race from Verstappen, decreasing Verstappen's championship lead from 21 points to 14 points.
In France, Verstappen got his second pole of the season, only to go wide at the first turn and lose the lead to Hamilton in the first lap. After regaining first with an undercut in his first pit stop, Verstappen found himself under heavy pressure from both Mercedes drivers. Verstappen relinquished his lead to pit a second time, one of two drivers to do so, returning to the track 18 seconds behind Hamilton. The speed advantage allowed him to make up the lost time, overtaking Bottas on lap 44 and Hamilton on the penultimate lap, for his third win of the year and his thirteenth win overall. Hamilton, now 12 points behind in the Drivers' Championship, did secure second, and with an overtake on lap 49, Pérez managed to take third place, pushing Bottas to fourth. It was the first race of the season where the race winner also took pole position and the fastest lap, and the first race of the season with no retirements.
Red Bull extended their lead over Mercedes in the Constructors' championship to 37 points after the race. Hamilton took pole position in Qatar, while a penalty for failing to respect double waived yellow flags during qualifying forced Verstappen to start from seventh. Verstappen quickly recovered to second place but was unable to threaten Hamilton's race lead despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race. Fernando Alonso used a one-stop strategy to finish third, less than three seconds ahead Peréz in fourth, it was Alonso's first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Bottas and Nicholas Latifi retired from the race after they and multiple others suffered punctures on track. The result reduced Verstappen's lead in the Driver's Championship to eight points while Mercedes' lead in the Constructor's Championship was reduced to five points. Leclerc took pole again in Azerbaijan, this time he was able to start the race. He led for one lap before Hamilton got past on lap 2 at turn 1.
Hamilton was held up in his pitstop to allow Gasly to pass him in the pitlane, handing Verstappen the net race lead. On lap 30, Lance Stroll crashed out due to a tyre failure and brought out the safety car. With Verstappen comfortably leading with six laps to go, he suffered a tyre failure, causing him to crash on the pit straight, bringing out the safety car and then the red flag on lap 46 and 48, respectively. Hamilton went up the inside of Pérez at the restart, but forgot to adjust his brake bias and missed the corner. Pérez won for the second time in his career and took his first win for Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel took Aston Martin's first podium in Formula One, while Gasly took his third career podium.
Hamilton had a record eighth championship ripped away with five laps remaining when a crash by Nicholas Latifi triggered the safety car and gave race director Michael Masi a decision. The season-ending race and championship could be decided under yellow, or, the track could be cleaned for one final lap of racing. Bottas won sprint qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, but was forced to start from the back of the grid after exceeding the quota of one on his power units' components. Verstappen started at the front with the McLarens second and third.
Formula 1 Race Winners A slow stop for Verstappen meant that he ended up alongside Hamilton after the latter made his pitstop. Hamilton and Verstappen collided, ending their races prematurely. Ricciardo led to the end to take his first victory since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and McLaren's first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. His teammate, Norris, finished behind him to secure the team's first 1–2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and the first 1–2 finish of the season. And Bottas, after a penalty applied to Pérez, came third from the back of the grid. After the race, Verstappen was judged by the stewards to have been predominantly at fault for the collision with Hamilton.
As a result, he was given a 3-place grid-penalty for the next race and two penalty points on his super licence. At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton took pole from Pérez and Verstappen. Verstappen went into the lead at turn 1 on lap 1, after it started raining on race day.
Mazepin and Nicholas Latifi crashed at the exit of turn 13, bringing out the safety car. Under the safety car, Schumacher lost control of his car and spun into the pit exit, losing his front wing. On lap 31, at turn 7, Hamilton made a mistake, hitting the wall and damaging his front wing. After approximately a minute in the gravel, he rejoined. The moment he did, his teammate Bottas and George Russell had a crash at over 320 km/h on the start-finish straight, bringing out the red flag.
After the race restarted, Norris overtook Charles Leclerc for second, but the former was overtaken by Hamilton, resulting in a podium of Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris. Mercedes immediately lodged two separate protests against the race's result. Both protests were dismissed, but Mercedes immediately announced their intention to appeal the dismissal of the protest regarding the handling of the restart following the safety car period. Following the race there was multiple criticism of the race director, that he "didn't follow the rules", and that they "made a late call that prioritized entertainment over classic notions of competitive integrity".
The decision to bring the safety car in was noted to be against the usual procedures, and perhaps against the sporting regulations. There has since been a lot of criticism of the race director's decision on how to finish the race, with further commentary that "he knew the rules". Another lawyer later confirmed this view that Mercedes has a "good legal basis" for their protest. Mercedes didn't want to lose track position and decided to leave Hamilton out. Verstappen, on the other hand, had nothing to lose and pitted once again for fresh softs.
Race director Michael Masi initially stated that lapped drivers won't be allowed to overtake the Safety Car, to leave enough time for one last lap sprint. The decision would favour Hamilton since there were five lapped drivers between him and Verstappen. However, Masi reversed the call ahead of the final lap, allowing the five drivers to unlap themselves.
Lewis Hamilton looked to have won a record eighth drivers' championship with only a few laps to go, but a late safety car changed the dynamic of the race and Verstappen made his move on fresher tyres to take the title. Verstappen took pole from Russell and Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix in a wet qualifying session. The race was heavily affected by rain, which initially saw the start delayed by 25 minutes. After two formation laps behind the safety car, the race start was suspended and red-flagged due to poor conditions and lack of visibility. A nearly three-hour delay followed before the race was resumed. After a further three laps, the race was red-flagged again.
It was not restarted, becoming the shortest race in Formula 1 history and the sixth to award half-points as less than 75% of the race was completed. Verstappen won by default, with Russell in second and Hamilton in third place. As a result, Hamilton's lead in the championship was cut to three points from Verstappen. Hamilton was fastest in qualifying to start in first place for the first ever sprint in the British Grand Prix. On lap five of the sprint, Pérez spun, dropping him to the back of the field, and later retiring, forcing him to start from the pits for the race. On the first lap of the Grand Prix, Verstappen and Hamilton collided at approximately 290 kilometres per hour at Copse corner.
Hamilton made contact with Verstappen's right rear wheel, causing the tyre to come off and Verstappen travelled into the barrier, causing the race to be stopped temporarily. Hamilton was penalised for the contact with a ten-second penalty, which he served during his pit stop. Leclerc led most of the Grand Prix, but finished second after Hamilton overtook Norris, Bottas, and Leclerc in the late stages to win the race. Hamilton reduced his gap to Verstappen from 33 points to eight points. Max Verstappen looked down and out, but late safety car drama saw him snatch the world title away from Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the 2021 season. Mercedes fumed at the race officials for allowing the race to restart on the final lap, with backmarkers allowed beyond the safety car to leave Verstappen on Hamilton's wheel.
The engines are roaring almost as much as the crowd as the pit lane opens and the cars make their way to the grid for the final time in 2021. The big talk is on tyres, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton starting the race on different compunds . Despite that, though, Pirelli expect the one-stop to be the fastest, no matter the starting tyre with hard tyres the choice at the stop. The altered Yas Marina layout hasn't affected tyre wear enough for a two-stop to become profitable unless a safety car intervenes. Nicholas Latifi has crashed big time in the final sector and the safety car has to be called. Verstappen pits for soft tyres but Hamilton stays out again!
If we get a restart then Verstappen could be in an ideal position to attack and take the title. Hamilton isn't pleased with his team's decision to leave him out. Leclerc took pole at the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing in the final minutes.
The crash caused a driveshaft failure, meaning he was unable to start the race. Verstappen started at the front and led from Bottas and Carlos Sainz Jr. On lap 30, Bottas was forced into retirement after his front-right tyre would not come off during a routine pitstop.
Verstappen took the victory, as well as the championship lead for the first time in his career; Red Bull came away from this race with a one-point lead in the constructors' championship. Behind Verstappen, Sainz took his first podium for Ferrari, and Norris took his second podium of the season in third place. There is one bonus point available for the driver who records the fastest lap of the race.
However, they must also finish in the top 10 in order to qualify for the point. This is to stop all the drivers outside the top 10 pitting for fresh tyres in the last few laps in an effort to set a fastest lap, which would compromise the integrity of the race. Meanwhile Stroll was by the accident ahead and drove into the side of Leclerc. After a safety car, teams were told there would be a standing start from the grid, but just beforehand all the drivers except leader Hamilton dived into the pits for slick tyres, as the track was drying. The biggest disappointments from the race would be Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.
Vettel's race was marred by bad luck right from the time the pit lane opened for pre-race reconnaissance laps. The Aston Martin driver had brake overheating issues that led to extensive repair work on the start grid. The team were unable to finish their work and bolt the four tyres before the 5 mins mark and that resulted in a 10 second stop-go penalty in the race. Finally, the former World Champion retired on the penultimate lap with gearbox issues.
Hamilton had looked to be cruising to a record eighth world title with five laps to go. However, the deployment of a safety car following an innocuous crash by Williams' Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi allowed Verstappen to dive into the pits and change his tyres and then catch back up to his rival. One of the most bizarre races in F1 history ends with Verstappen crawling at snail's pace behind a safety car for a few laps on a circuit drenched by hours of heavy rain. After it restarted nearly three hours late, the race is shortened to last one hour with only half points awarded to the winner. Pole-sitter Verstappen needed to complete only two laps to earn 12.5 points.
Verstappen looks imperious at the Azerbaijan GP but keeps pushing for fastest laps instead of nursing his lead. From the restart, Hamilton makes an astonishing error by switching his brakes off and goes straight off track. Neither scores points but damage limitation goes Verstappen's way in the first of several dramatic races that shape a unique season. If his startling showing in pre-season testing is anything to go by this diminutive newcomer is poised to make a sizeable impact on his first season in the fast lane. With only Max Verstappen in front of him, Tsunoda outperformed his hero Lewis Hamilton and a host of others to clock the second-best time. He was named FIA rookie of last year after finishing third in his debut season with British team Carlin in the Formula 2 championship.
With a record 95 race wins and a record-sharing seventh world title, Hamilton has done what many thought was unimaginable, occupy the same lofty pedestal as Michael Schumacher. Then the FIA race director Michael Masi was contacted by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "You only need one racing lap." Shortly after which the FIA then approved the five cars in question could unlap themselves, removing them from between Hamilton and Verstappen. However, had they allowed all the lapped cars to unlap themselves there would not have been time to complete a final racing lap. Within which arcane and apparently arbitrary calculation lay the ire of Mercedes.
Ercedes argued that Masi should have allowed all the lapped cars to unlap themselves rather than just the five in between the two title contenders. Additionally they argued that the safety car should have stayed out for one more lap, meaning the race would have finished under a safety car and Hamilton would have been crowned champion. As F1 heads to the Middle East for inaugural races in Qatar and Saudi Arabia talk is about sports washing and human rights.
On the track, Hamilton wins both to pull level with Verstappen heading into the last race. Wolff and Horner crank up the pressure with an astonishing war of words in a press conference more befitting of an MMA fight _ and those were Wolff's words. Tensions increase between Hamilton and Verstappen after he calls the Dutchman ``crazy'' following their Jeddah joust.
