The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will conclude what has been an exciting year for the sport and bring teams back to the place that ended the 2021 season in a controversy that still rages to this day.
Heading into the final race of 2021 at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton were tied for the Driver’s Championship.
Verstappen secured the pole position in qualifying and looked poised to take his first-ever title. However, Hamilton dominated the race from the beginning.
With hope seemingly lost for Verstappen late in the race, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed and necessitated a safety car to slow down the race while they cleared his car from the track.
Here the controversy began. With only a few laps left, race control decided to allow only the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves — to essentially get out of the way. This was contrary to the customary rule, which is to let all lapped cars unlap themselves before resuming racing.
Unlapping all of the cars would have taken too long as the race would have ended under the slow speed and unchanging order of a safety car. A disappointing conclusion to one of the greatest title fights in the history of the sport.
The decision was made to ensure that there was at least one final racing lap left in which Hamilton and Verstappen could battle it out for the title.
The larger problem was that Verstappen had pitted under the safety car and was on the fastest tires possible, while Hamilton was forced to stay out on a slower and more worn compound. In Formula One, tires matter.
The resulting lap was a classic where the two battled around multiple turns until Verstappen completed an overtake that stuck and never looked back.
Verstappen was a champion, but Hamilton felt robbed. For the thousands of new fans in North America, it was a dramatic and controversy-filled welcome to Formula One in their first season following the sport.
Now, with both the 2022 Driver’s and Constructors’ Championships in hand for Verstappen and Red Bull, there is no title on the line in Abu Dhabi, but the results of the 2021 season will still loom large over the weekend.
While Yas Marina Circuit is relatively new, having opened in 2009, it has been a perennial favorite of drivers and a place Mercedes has dominated. With their first win of the season last week in Brazil, the team looks to finish 2022 on a high note with another top-of-the-podium finish.
Within the drivers’ standings, the battle for second is alive and well, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez entering the race tied with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
After some consternation between Perez and Verstappen in Brazil, in which Verstappen refused to give up his position for Perez, Red Bull has been clear that they will prioritize Perez in this race. They will do what they can to secure him the second spot in the standings.
Amongst the teams, the fight for fourth and “best of the rest” seems secured by Alpine after a fantastic finish in Brazil. However, Mclaren is still very much in the hunt as well.
Behind them, Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin are vying for the sixth spot in the team standings, only being separated by five points. Similarly, Haas and AlphaTauri are in a battle for eighth with just two points difference between them.
In a change from the previous three races, Pirelli is nominating the three softest and fastest compounds for this weekend.
“Last year’s modifications to some of the straights and corners on the Yas Marina track have made the circuit faster, balancing the longitudinal and lateral demands on the tyres, whereas previously it was more about traction and braking,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director.
“Despite these changes to the layout, there is still going to be a lot of attention paid to the rear tyres in order to guarantee the best traction over long stints,” he continued.
And while oddsmakers still like Verstappen (+125), Hamilton (+250) is close behind, followed even more closely by his teammate George Russell (+350).
Qualifying begins on Saturday, November 19, at 8 a.m. CST. The race kicks off Sunday, November 20, at 7 a.m. CST.