When Mercedes-led Toto Wolff complained to Michael Massy about the race decision while crossing the line, the latter said: "This is racing!" Toto: "What..."
This is the fiercest battle F1 has ever played into the 1.6T hybrid era, and it will also be the most controversial. Hamilton was more worthy of the title, leading 57 laps in the race and trying to do everything right, despite distractions. But lost to the tournament officer on the final 58th lap...
When Red Bull Verstappen and Mercedes Hamilton entered Abu Dhabi, the final station of 2021F1, with the same score, the last time F1 encountered two drivers sharing the same points was in 1974.
I'm not a Fan of Hamilton or a Fan of Verstappen. So in theory, it doesn't matter who wins. I love the Mercedes team because they did almost everything right in the 1.6T hybrid era, including car development and policy, except for a few small details this year.
But Red Bull + Honda is also a great team because they work too hard and have the best performance every year when the resources are not as good as people. Take the Abu Dhabi finale station, seizing the opportunity of two safety cars to replace Verstappen with a new hard and soft tire, and it is this spirit of never giving up that makes luck come back to him on the last lap.
Emotionally, the team prefers Red Bull to win, and this is Honda Engine's last battle away from F1, but the unlucky but super hard working Honda in F1 should be worthy of a world champion. What's more, Mercedes has been winning for eight years in a row, and winning any longer is not good for the development and excitement of the race from F1...
Maybe my above ideas are exactly what the FIA thinks. So from the time Verstappen began to be competitive to win the championship, many fans believed that the decisions of the race officer were biased in his favor. For example, on the last stop in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen was too many small actions...
Let's replay the final leg in Abu Dhabi:
In fact, before the start of the race, Verstappen won more, because he not only won the qualifying round (which is a more difficult track to cross), but although he and Hamilton scored the same points, he had one more station champion than Han, even if everyone withdrew from this race Verstappen is still the championship.
But the moment he started, Hamilton overtook Verstappen, and then the 57 laps of the 58-lap race, whether it was from technical performance or racing speed, he never gave his opponents a chance to get close to him.
But Red Bull Racing apparently didn't give up, seizing two safety car opportunities and putting verstappen with new tyres. The fiercest battle of the whole game came from Verstappen teammate Perez defending Hamilton, which was a textbook attack and defense, which won a valuable 5 seconds for his teammates.
It wasn't until the last ten laps, when it was certain that Verstappen would have no chance of catching up with Hamilton with speed, I actually had a slight idea. Because the car didn't make it to the finish line at the end, anything could happen. Because this is the Abu D'a race track, remember 2010 when Vettel reversed Alonso here to win his first world championship?
But the story that happened next, that is, God can make it up.
Williams Racing's Latifie made a mistake and hit the wall, eventually triggering a safety car, at which point Red Bull once again recalled Verstappen, this time replacing him with the fastest new soft tire. Hamilton, who was in the first place, just missed the entrance, and he did not dare to enter the station, because entering the station meant losing his position.
This is the last thing Hamilton wants to see, because he also uses a hard tire that has already run dozens of laps, which is completely uncompetitive in front of Verstappen's new soft tire.
But the safety car kept going, and finally there were only 2 or 3 laps left to end the race.
At this point, the FIA race officer can do two things: either just keep the safety car all the way to the end of the race, so that Hamilton wins the championship. They can also choose to suspend the race and have the two drivers have a fair stand-off duel like the last stop in Saudi Arabia, while the red flag can choose to change the tyres for both drivers.
But what everyone didn't expect was that the race side chose to let the safety car go on forever, and then suddenly resumed the race at 57 laps. This practice has not historically been practiced.
With only one last lap left before the race, Hamilton's old hard tyres were quickly overwhelmed by the attack of the new Verstappen's new soft tyres. The last few corners Hamilton watched outrun his rivals and complete his first world title.
So there is also the first paragraph of the article, where Mercedes team leader Toto Wolff complained to the race officer Michael Massy while crossing the line, but the latter said: "This is racing!" Toto: "What..."
As soon as the match ended, Mercedes officially protested against the Verstappen champion, corresponding to articles 39.8 and 39.12 of the sports rules, respectively. 39.8 Verstappen is suspected of overtaking under the safety car, while 39.12 means that after the trap car has been unset, the safety car needs to enter the station on the next lap, but in this race the safety car is immediately returned to return to the maintenance area.
But soon the FIA officially stated that Mercedes' appeal against sports rules 48.8 and 48.12 failed. Verstappen confirmed as the drivers' overall champion of the 2021 F1 World Championship.
That's the beauty of F1, and you can't be sure who's going to win until the last moment of the dash.