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The Formula 1 season came down to the final lap, and a decision filled with controversy.
Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to secure his first World Driver’s Championship and break Hamilton’s run of four straight titles, preventing him from breaking Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of eight.
Hamilton, 36, held a commanding lead in the race, but Nicholas Latifi crashed with five laps remaining, causing a safety car. Verstappen, 24, then pitted for new tires, with Mercedes keeping Hamilton out as they felt they couldn’t afford to lose track position.
That ended up being decisive — as was race director Michael Masi’s call to let lapped cars unlap themselves prior to the safety car coming in. Originally, Masi decided that lapped cars wouldn’t be allowed to unlap themselves so that they could finish the race under green flag conditions. But that would have put five cars between Verstappen’s Red Bull and Hamilton’s Mercedes, effectively ending the race.
After Red Bull complained, Masi allowed the lapped cars to pass the safety car before one lap of racing for the world title ensued. On his newer soft tires, Verstappen had the advantage over Hamilton’s worn-out hard tires, passing him into Turn Five and holding him off for the rest of the lap.
As Verstappen rode to the world title, Mercedes team director Toto Wolff could be heard on the radio saying, “Michael, this is not right.”
Verstappen and Hamilton came into the final race of the season tied on 369.5 points after an up-and-down season in which they crashed on tracks in Britain and Italy, with further controversy in Saudi Arabia. Verstappen’s lead in the World Championship had shrunk after Hamilton won three straight races in Brazil, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, including a run from last to first on the grid in Sao Paulo.
Verstappen was on pole position in Abu Dhabi, but Hamilton took the lead at the start. Despite some help from teammate Sergio Perez to hold up Hamilton prior to his pit stop, and despite a virtual safety car that gave Verstappen a free second pit stop, he didn’t look to have the pace to catch up to Hamilton.
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