Absolutely insane final Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi yesterday left us with a Dutch World Champion in Max Verstappen, though not without a significant amount of controversy...
Going into this weekend, Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (reigning and 7-time champ) were tied in the points. Qualifying Saturday had Max in P1 and Lewis in P2, but due to some poor judgment by Max's team, he ended up having to start Sunday's race on a soft compound tyre which is not ideal because while it is the fastest tyre, it doesn't last very long which meant the ideal, 1-pit stop race was all but out of the question; Lewis behind him in P2 started on the ideal medium compound.
As soon as the race started, Lewis got the jump on Max and managed to take the lead. Not to be outdone, on the second lap, Max lunged into the first chicane and forced Lewis off track in a straight line which ironically kept him in the lead on the other side of the chicane. Typically, when a driver gains an advantage by exceeding track limits, race stewards require them to give the gain back, i.e.: cede their place or slow to allow the driver that was taken advantage off to regain the lost space. Despite it being clear that Max would have taken P1 again had Lewis stayed on track or re-entered the track inside the chicane, stewards decided no investigation was necessary as they'd felt Lewis had "allowed" Max to regain enough pace. Obviously, Max and Red Bull were not happy with the ruling, but the race continued on, and Lewis and Mercedes showed they had the pace to win as the gap between himself and Max continued to grow.
After pit stops saw the pack shuffled a bit, Max's teammate Sergio Perez was in the lead over Lewis. Red Bull team orders asked Sergio to slow down and hold up Lewis in P2 to allow Max to catch up to them, and what followed was some masterful defense; you'd have though Sergio's car was the width of the track. When Max was with a few car lengths, he finally allowed Lewis to pass into P1 while simultaneously giving Max the slipstream to slingshot and latch onto Lewis' tail. Quoting Max at that moment on team radio: "Checo (Sergio) is a legend!"
There wasn't much fighting as Lewis and Mercedes continued to show good pace, and he and Max, again in a race all their own out front, ran into lap traffic (cars at the rear of the pack that must make way for those coming in behind them on the lead lap.) This was a good thing for Lewis as they created obstacles to slow Max's pursuit, and Lewis was going long on his hard tyres, and couldn't afford to push them in a fight. In the final 10 laps or so, it was a forgone conclusion Lewis was going to win.
Then it happened.
Mick Schumacher* (Haas) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams) collided. Nothing too serious, but Latifi was pushed onto a dirty part of the track and his tryes collected some grit compromising his control of the car. A few turns later, he hit a wall causing a yellow flag and safety car. Under a safety car, all cars must slow to 40% of their speed, no overtaking is allowed and stewards decide if it's safe to allow lapped cars to unlap themselves (pass the safety car to get back on the lead lap.) At this point, there were about 4-5 lapped cars between Lewis in P1 and Max in P2, and when they safety car came out, Max shot into the pits to exchange his hard tyres for a new set of soft tyres for a final push to try and catch Lewis. Initially, it sounded like the stewards weren't going to allow the lapped cars to unlap themselves, and out of no where, they decided to allow it, but not ALL of them... just the cars between Lewis and Max putting Max (on fresh, soft tyres) right next to Lewis (on worn hard tyres) close enough to kiss, and the session resumed with one lap to go.
As expected, Max shot out like a bullet and took the lead within seconds. and a minute and half later, Max was crowned champion.
I'm now fan of Lewis', and I certainly do not like Max, so I didn't care who won, but this was utter bullshit. The stewards didn't want to end the race under a yellow flag; they wanted at least one lap of racing, but the way they went about it clearly gave Max an extremely unfair advantage. Max got fresh soft tyres expecting to have to navigate lapped traffic, and the stewards put it on easy mode by removing the lapped traffic. For all intents and purposes, they GAVE Max the win; there was no way Lewis could have won at that point without some extremely reckless driving, and even then, it would have be nigh impossible fighting a driver as aggressive as Max.
Unlike Max who stormed off the podium last week in Saudi Arabia, Lewis was gracious, even congratulated Max on his "win," and during his 2nd place speech, had nothing but high praise for him and his skill.
*For some poetry, Mick Schumacher is the son of Michael Schumacher, a 7-time F1 world champion. Lewis Hamilton is currently tied with that record; had he have won yesterday, he would have broken that record. Not saying it was intentional, but Mick protected his father's legacy by being the catalyst that set off the chain of events that altered the outcome of the race.
