Motorsport News 16/12/21

It was impossible to ignore the excitement in the build-up to the dramatic climax of the Formula 1 World championship last weekend. It was even mentioned on Saturday night’s Match of the Day, which opened its broadcast by telling viewers it was a show featuring more penalties than Max and Lewis had accrued between them all season… What the race served up was, in effect, an excellent snapshot of the season as a whole. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were streets ahead of the rest and indulged in some wheel-to-wheel combat worthy of two men at the very top of their game. From the opening lap, the grand prix fizzed with controversy and action. It was hard for the viewers to catch their breath, and the simmering tension boiled up…

It couldn’t all come down to the final lap, could it? “Insane!” That’s how Max Verstappen described the most extraordinary title showdown in Formula 1 history. One lap to decide the World championship and a controversial end that continued to be argued off-track, long after the chequered flag. Given the year we’ve had, it was almost inevitable the final race under the floodlights inAbu Dhabi would end in acrimony. It looked as if Lewis Hamilton was on the verge of a historic eighth World title. Then Nicholas Latifi crashed. With his wrecked Williams littering the track, the safety car was deployed, just five laps from the end of the race.Across the world, nerves were shredded. Hamilton had taken the lead from lap one, getting a better getaway than pole position-holder Verstappen. He’d had the…

Mercedes has lodged its intention to appeal the result of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Initially the losing team protested Red Bull, claiming Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton behind the safety car. That was rejected. But a second protest claimed two breaches of the sporting regulations. The first was in reference to the fact not all the lapped cars – only the five between Max and Lewis – were allowed to unlap themselves. The second is the rules state the safety car must return to the pits the lap following the lapped cars passing it. The protest was dismissed by the stewards who determined the race director has control over the use of the safety car, which included its withdrawal and that once “Safety car in this lap” has been displayed…

Britain’s George Russell has described the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as “unacceptable” after Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton to win the title. Russell retired from his final race for Williams with a gearbox problem on lap 26 and watched the final laps from the pitlane. In the immediate aftermath of the finish, he took to social media to vent his frustration at Mercedes’s defeat. “Max is an absolutely fantastic driver who has had an incredible season and I have nothing but huge respect for him, but what just happened is absolutely unacceptable,” said Russell. “I cannot believe what we’ve just seen.” Russell will join Mercedes as teammate to Lewis Hamilton in 2022 and was one of the first members of the Mercedes camp to vent his anger in the aftermath…

11 Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin-Mercedes) +1m07.527s; 12 Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren-Mercedes) -1 lap; 13 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) -1 lap; 14 Mick Schumacher (Haas-Ferrari) -1 lap; 15 Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) 55 laps/engine; 16 Nicholas Latifi (Williams-Mercedes) 50 laps/accident; 17 Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 33 laps/retired; 18 George Russell (Williams-Mercedes) 26 laps/gearbox; 19 Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 25 laps/ wheel. Drivers’ championship: 1 Verstappen 395.5 points; 2 Hamilton 387.5; 3 Bottas 226; 4 Perez 190; 5 Sainz 164.5; 6 Norris 160. Constructors’ championship: 1 Mercedes 613.5 points; 2 Red Bull 585.5; 3 Ferrari 323.5; 4 McLaren 275; 5 Alpine 155; 6 AlphaTauri 142.…

Q: First of all, the race, how do you begin to sum-up those 58 laps? Max Verstappen: “Hectic. In the beginning of course, we were clearly lacking pace, but I just tried to stay with [Lewis Hamilton] as long as I could in whatever fashion. We just didn’t have the pace. Already the start wasn’t good, somehow but then yeah, it was just really difficult out there. I was, of course, a bit on my own. Checo [Perez] then did an amazing job to try and keep Lewis behind, so then the gap was again reduced, so then we started over again but clearly, he was again pulling away. Then we tried something different with the virtual safety car, but it didn’t really work out because clearly, we still didn’t have…