2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | ||||
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Race 22 of 22[1] in the 2021 Formula One World Championship
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Race details | ||||
Date | 12 December 2021 | |||
Official name | Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 | |||
Location | Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |||
Course | Permanent racing facility | |||
Course length | 5.281 km (3.281 miles) | |||
Distance | 58 laps, 306.183 km (190.253 miles) | |||
Weather | Clear | |||
Pole position | ||||
Driver | Red Bull Racing-Honda | |||
Time | 1:22.109 | |||
Fastest lap | ||||
Driver |
![]() | Red Bull Racing-Honda | ||
Time | 1:26.103 on lap 39 (lap record) | |||
Podium | ||||
First | Red Bull Racing-Honda | |||
Second | Mercedes | |||
Third | Ferrari | |||
Lap leaders |
The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 December 2021 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The race was the twenty-second and final round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The race decided both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships; Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both had 369.5 points coming into the race. Verstappen won the race on the final lap, after a controversial safety car restart in the last moments of the race.
With Verstappen's win, he won the first Formula One World Drivers' Championship of his career. Mercedes won their eighth consecutive Formula One World Constructor Championship, setting a new record. The Grand Prix was also the final race for former world champion Kimi Räikkönen; the 42-year-old Finn retired from the sport after a two-decade career spanning 349 Grands Prix.
Background
The race was originally scheduled to take place on 5 December, but it was rescheduled after the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]
Circuit redevelopment
Yas Marina underwent redevelopment that shortened the track and the expected lap time in order to increase top speeds and overtaking opportunities.[3] The chicane after turn 4 was removed, and the turn 5 hairpin (which was turn 7 before redevelopment) was widened. The four corner sequence of turns which was turns 11–14 became one banked turn 9. The radius of turns 12–15 (previously 17–20) were increased, to allow cars to carry more speed, with the changes to turn 15 allowing cars to be able to travel flat out through the corner.[4]
Entrants
The drivers and teams were initially the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[5] Jack Aitken drove for Williams in the first practice session, in place of George Russell.[5] Nikita Mazepin withdrew prior to the race after being tested positive for coronavirus, but was not replaced by the reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi because he had not taken part in at a session prior to the race.[6][7]
The Grand Prix marked the last Formula One race for the 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, who had announced his intention of retiring at the end of the championship, ending his Formula One career after 19 seasons.[8] It also marked the last race for Antonio Giovinazzi, who is due to move to Formula E, and the final races for George Russell and Valtteri Bottas at Williams and Mercedes respectively, as they move to Mercedes and Alfa Romeo Racing.[9] Bottas raced with a special helmet for the occasion, featuring photos of all the moments he spent at Mercedes, and he sported a special set of blue racing overalls. This race also marked the last race for Honda, as the Japanese company ceases their engine supply to the Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri teams,[9] though they will provide assistance to Red Bull Powertrains, who take over the engine supply.[10]
Championship standings before the race and title permutations
Title rivals Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) both entered the round with 369.5 points, leaving the championship contenders level on points for the final round for the first time since 1974 and for the second time in the sport's history. The Drivers' Championship was decided in the final round for the 30th time, and the first time since 2016.[11] The driver who scored the most points would win the Championship; if the drivers had scored an equal amount of points, Verstappen would have won the Championship due to having won more races (nine to Hamilton's eight) prior to this race.[11][12]
In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led with 587.5 points, 28 ahead of Red Bull on 559.5, with 44 still available; this was the first first time since 2008 that the final round of the season decided the Constructors' Championship. In the midfield, Ferrari led McLaren in the battle for third place in the constructors by a margin of 38.5 points.[11]
Acrimonious on-track battles throughout the season led to concerns that one of the drivers might cause a deliberate in-race collision in an attempt to win the championship: the 1989 championship battle between McLaren teammates Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost was decided by such an incident at the Japanese Grand Prix; the 1990 championship rematch—with Prost now at Ferrari—ended in Senna's favour with another collision at the Suzuka race; Michael Schumacher's collision with Damon Hill at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix took the Briton out of title contention that year; and an unsuccessful collision engineered by Schumacher against Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix led to the German driver's disqualification from that year's championship.[13] In response to the concerns, race director Michael Masi warned that Verstappen or Hamilton could be subject to further sanctions from the FIA if one of them decided to manufacture a deliberate race-ending collision in an attempt to engineer a favourable championship result, up to and including championship disqualification or future race bans.[14][15]
Tyres choices
Sole tyre supplier Pirelli provided the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds—the softest selections available—for use in dry conditions.[16]
Practice
Three practice sessions were scheduled over the course of the weekend. The first session took place at 13:30 local time (UTC+04:00) on Friday 10 December. The second session took place at 17:00.[17] The third session took place at 14:00 on Saturday 11 December.[17] The first practice session passed without incident and ended with Verstappen setting the fastest time, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton.[18] The second practice session ended with Lewis Hamilton fastest by 0.3 seconds to second-placed Esteban Ocon, Bottas was third fastest ahead of Verstappen, 0.6 seconds behind Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen crashed at Turn 14 just as the session was concluding, but was unhurt.[19]
Qualifying
Qualifying started at 17:00 local time on Saturday 11 December.[17] The first qualifying session was briefly suspended after a Haas driver collided with a bollard, but was resumed without further incident, with the Mercedes drivers of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas recording the fastest times of the session.[20] In the second qualifying session, initial flying laps on medium-compound tyres gave Hamilton a four-millisecond advantage over Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. A lock-up on his second flying lap led to Verstappen's return to the pits to change to soft tyres. At the end of the session, Verstappen improved to take first place on the timesheets; however, setting the time on the faster soft-compound tyres locked him into starting the race on Sunday, and Hamilton was likewise locked into using the more durable medium-compound tyres.[20] In the third and final qualifying session, Verstappen was able to use the slipstream of his teammate Sergio Pérez to secure pole position for the race, with Hamilton only able to take the second spot on the grid.[20]
Qualifying classification
Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Final grid | ||
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Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |||||
1 | 33 | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing-Honda | 1:23.322 | 1:22.800 | 1:22.109 | 1 |
2 | 44 | ![]() |
Mercedes | 1:22.845 | 1:23.145 | 1:22.480 | 2 |
3 | 4 | ![]() |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:23.553 | 1:23.256 | 1:22.931 | 3 |
4 | 11 | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing-Honda | 1:23.350 | 1:23.135 | 1:22.947 | 4 |
5 | 55 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 1:23.624 | 1:23.174 | 1:22.992 | 5 |
6 | 77 | ![]() |
Mercedes | 1:23.117 | 1:23.246 | 1:23.036 | 6 |
7 | 16 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 1:23.467 | 1:23.202 | 1:23.122 | 7 |
8 | 22 | ![]() |
AlphaTauri-Honda | 1:23.428 | 1:23.404 | 1:23.220 | 8 |
9 | 31 | ![]() |
Alpine-Renault | 1:23.764 | 1:23.420 | 1:23.389 | 9 |
10 | 3 | ![]() |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:23.829 | 1:23.448 | 1:23.409 | 10 |
11 | 14 | ![]() |
Alpine-Renault | 1:23.846 | 1:23.460 | N/A | 11 |
12 | 10 | ![]() |
AlphaTauri-Honda | 1:23.489 | 1:24.043 | N/A | 12 |
13 | 18 | ![]() |
Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1:24.061 | 1:24.066 | N/A | 13 |
14 | 99 | ![]() |
Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 1:24.118 | 1:24.251 | N/A | 14 |
15 | 5 | ![]() |
Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1:24.225 | 1:24.305 | N/A | 15 |
16 | 6 | ![]() |
Williams-Mercedes | 1:24.338 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
17 | 63 | ![]() |
Williams-Mercedes | 1:24.423 | N/A | N/A | 17 |
18 | 7 | ![]() |
Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari | 1:24.779 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
19 | 47 | ![]() |
Haas-Ferrari | 1:24.906 | N/A | N/A | 19 |
20 | 9 | ![]() |
Haas-Ferrari | 1:25.685 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
107% time: 1:28.644 | |||||||
Source:[22][23] |
Race
Start and opening laps
Haas driver Nikita Mazepin withdrew from the race after testing positive for COVID-19.[24] The race started at 17:00 local time on Sunday 12 December.[17] Hamilton immediately took the lead from Verstappen on the race start, prompting Verstappen to attempt to regain his position at the Turn 6 chicane.[25] Verstappen's trajectory forced Hamilton off the track, and the Briton re-entered slightly further ahead of the Dutch driver than he was before the corner. Red Bull protested the racing line taken by Hamilton—arguing that he should have ceded the position to Verstappen—and were told by radio that Hamilton had ultimately given back any advantage gained.[25] The incident was referred to the stewards, which concluded that no further investigation was necessary.[25] Hamilton then utilised the durability of his medium-compound tyres to extend his lead over Verstappen, whose soft-compound tyres were suffering from greater degradation.[25]
Pit-stops and virtual safety car
Verstappen made his stop at the end of lap 13 with Hamilton following suit one lap later, both opting for a set to the hardest tyres. The lead drivers pitting elevated Pérez to first, with the Mexican driver being informed his strategy was to hold up Hamilton to allow his teammate Verstappen to catch up.[25] Hamilton caught up with Pérez on lap 20; a spirited defence from the Red Bull second driver allowed Verstappen to close the gap. Verstappen was ultimately unable to take advantage, with Hamilton's superior pace extending the gap to four seconds by the midpoint of the race.[25]
On lap 26, Räikkönen collided with the barriers at Turn 6, prompting his retirement due to brake issues in his 349th and final Formula One race. On the same lap, Russell retired in his final race for Williams due to gearbox issues. On lap 35, Giovinazzi retired his car alongside the track due to gearbox issues, which triggered a brief virtual safety car period. Red Bull used this opportunity to bring Verstappen in for a fresh set of the hard-compound tyres without losing track position; Mercedes, not wishing to give up track position, directed Hamilton to stay out. Using the advantage of fresher tyres, Verstappen gradually reduced the post-stop deficit from seventeen seconds to eleven, but not at a rate which would have been sufficient to catch Hamilton before the end of the race.[25]
Final laps
On lap 53, a crash for Nicholas Latifi brought out the safety car. Hamilton again stayed out without pitting, while Verstappen pitted behind him for a fresh set of the softest available tyres. Pérez retired under the safety car due to engine problems. After Verstappen's pit stop, he retained second, but with five lapped cars—those of Norris, Alonso, Ocon, Leclerc, and Vettel—between himself and Hamilton (in first). As the debris from Latifi's crash was being cleared by the race marshals, the lapped drivers were initially informed that they would not be permitted to overtake. During lap 57, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner asked race director Michael Masi why the lapped cars were not directed to overtake; Masi then gave the direction that only the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were to unlap themselves.[26]
Immediately after Vettel passed the safety car to join the lead lap, race control announced the safety car would enter the pits at the end of the lap to allow for a final lap of green-flag racing, leading to angry remonstrations from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. On the final lap, Verstappen used his fresh soft tyres to pass Hamilton into Turn 5 to take the lead of the race. He held off counter-attacks from Hamilton to win the race and his first World Drivers' Championship, with Hamilton in second and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. in third. Mercedes gained enough points to win their eighth consecutive Constructors' title, extending their own record.[27] Over the radio, Wolff appealed to Masi to reinstate the order of the penultimate lap, to which Masi gave the reply "Toto, it's called a motorrace, ok, [we] went to car racing".[26]
Mercedes' post-race protests
Mercedes protested the result of the race on two counts: for Verstappen overtaking under the safety car contrary to Article 48.8 of the Formula One sporting regulations, and that they believed race director Michael Masi did not follow the correct procedure under Article 48.12 by only allowing the cars between Verstappen and Hamilton before the restart at the end of lap 57, despite initially rejecting requests from Red Bull to do so.[28] The first protest was dismissed as the stewards ruled that Verstappen being momentarily ahead of Hamilton's during the safety car restart procedure did not constitute an overtake.[29]
The second issue was more contentious, with Mercedes retaining legal counsel for the protest. Mercedes argued that if a message for lapped cars to overtake is issued under Article 48.12, then all lapped cars are required to unlap, and that the safety car was required to wait until the end of the following lap to return to the pit lane; if this process was complied with, Mercedes submitted that Hamilton would have won the race and therefore the championship, and requested that the classification be amended as such. Red Bull argued that a) the regulation stated "any cars", not "all cars" were required to overtake under Articles 48.12; 48.13, which governs the withdrawal of the safety car, overrides Article 48.12; c) Article 15.3 gives the race director (Michael Masi) overriding authority over the use of the safety car; and d) the race result would not have changed if all eight lapped cars were permitted to unlap. Masi argued that the principle behind Article 48.12 was to remove cars which "interfered" with drivers racing on the lead lap and that all teams had agreed in principle that all races should end under racing conditions.[30]
The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement: ... e) The use of the safety car.
If the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message "LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE" has been sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system, any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car. ...
Having overtaken the cars on the lead lap and the safety car these cars should then proceed around the track at an appropriate speed, without overtaking, and make every effort to take up position at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car. ... Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.
When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the safety car the message "SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP" will be sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system and the car's orange lights will be extinguished. This will be the signal to the Competitors and drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap. At this point the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than ten car lengths behind it. […] As the safety car is approaching the pit entry the SC boards will be withdrawn and, other than on the last lap of the sprint qualifying session or the race, as the leader approaches the Line the yellow flags will be withdrawn and a green flag and/or green light panel will be displayed at the Line.
— Articles 15.13, 48.12, and 48.13, 2021 Formula One Sporting Regulations[31]
The second protest was also dismissed; the stewards ruled that although Article 48.12 was not applied in full, Red Bull's argument that Article 48.13 and Article 15.3 overrode that rule was correct, and that deleting the last lap would "effectively [shorten] the race retrospectively" and was therefore inappropriate.[30] With the protests dismissed, Verstappen was provisionally confirmed as World Champion, pending any appeal. Mercedes have lodged their intention to appeal to the FIA's International Court of Appeal citing potential breaches of Article 15 of the International Sporting Code and Article 10 of the FIA's Judicial and Disciplinary Code, with the team given 72 hours after the race has concluded to decide whether they wish to take the matter further.[32][33]
Race reactions
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In a last-lap radio message to his race engineer Peter Bonnington that was not played on the television feed, Lewis Hamilton said that the race result had been "manipulated".[34] George Russell, who will be Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes in 2022, called the race finishing decision of race director Michael Masi "unacceptable".[35] Lando Norris—who was situated at the front of the five cars permitted to unlap—said the decision to go racing again on the last lap was made "for TV", and Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, and Sebastian Vettel—the drivers of the other four cars in the pack—also expressed confusion at the sudden instruction to unlap.[36] Daniel Ricciardo—who was situated immediately behind Verstappen during the safety car period and was thus not permitted to unlap himself—said he was "speechless" at the instruction, especially as it did not allow him to also race the five-car pack on newer soft-compound tyres, and Carlos Sainz—who was positioned behind Ricciardo and Stroll's cars upon the restart and was under pressure from Tsunoda, Gasly, and Bottas—opined that the decision to resume racing under the circumstances "nearly cost [him his] podium".[36][37]
Masi's decisions were criticised on social media and by racing drivers as unusual and to contrive excitement.[38] Former world champion Damon Hill noted that the decision appeared without precedent, stating that it was "a new way of running the sport, where the Race Director can make these ad hoc decisions".[39] Former world champion Nico Rosberg felt that Masi "did not follow the rules" and that Christian Horner demanding "one more lap of racing" to Masi via radio was inappropriate,[40][41] but sympathised with Masi saying that "He's got the whole world watching and he has to decide in the next 15 seconds what he’s doing."[42] Writing for Fox Sports, Jack Austin stated that F1 "engineered" the finish to increase viewer excitement.[38] Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic echoed a similar sentiment, suggesting that Masi's decision was to ensure that "Netflix gets another juicy storyline for the next season of Drive to Survive" and questioned his capability in effectively officiating a race.[43] Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad noted the role that luck had played throughout the season, and that it was not Verstappen's fault that his win had "become tainted with controversy."[44] In de Volkskrant, the need for race control to make decisions quickly and under pressure was noted.[45] It was also noted that Masi's decision to allow some but not all the lapped cars to unlap themselves behind the saftety car contradicted a comment he made to the media after 2020 Eifel Grand Prix where he said "there's a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past."[46]
Race classification
Notes
- ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.
- ^2 – Sergio Pérez was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.[47]
- The classification is subject to an appeal lodged with the International Court of Appeals.[47]
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
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Constructors' Championship standings
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
Notes
- ^ Nikita Mazepin is Russian, but he competed as a neutral competitor using the designation RAF (Russian Automobile Federation), as the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a ban on Russia competing at World Championships. The ban was implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency in response to the state-sponsored doping program of Russian athletes.[21]
References
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- ^ a b Connelly, Gary; Holter, Felix; Warwick, Derek; Al Hashmi, Mohamed (9 December 2021). "2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). FiA. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
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- ^ Foster, Michelle (12 December 2021). "Nikita Mazepin out of Abu Dhabi GP after positive for Covid test". PlanetF1. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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- ^ a b Beer, Matt (12 December 2021). "Six F1 Eras End in Abu Dhabi – Which Will Be Missed?". The Race. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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- ^ Benson, Andrew (6 December 2021). "Lewis Hamilton v Max Verstappen: 'It could well end in a messy situation'". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mitchell, Scott (9 December 2021). "FIA issues points deduction warning ahead of F1 title decider". The Race. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
- ^ "2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Preview". Pirelli. Milan. 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
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- ^ Smith, Luke (10 December 2021). "Abu Dhabi F1 GP: Verstappen outpaces Mercedes duo in FP1". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 – Practice 2". Formula 1.com. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "Verstappen snatches pole from Hamilton in thrilling Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ Luke Smith (5 February 2021). "Mazepin set to race under neutral flag after CAS ruling extends to F1". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Nikita Mazepin ruled out of Abu Dhabi GP after positive Covid-19 test | Formula 1". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Wilde, Jon (12 December 2021). "Race: Max Verstappen clinches Formula 1 title in remarkable Abu Dhabi GP finale". PlanetF1. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ a b Slater, Luke (13 December 2021). "Safety cars, furious radio calls and Michael Masi's intervention: How F1's most controversial title-decider unfolded". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix report and highlights: Brilliant Verstappen claims maiden title after victory in Abu Dhabi season finale after late Safety Car drama". F1. Formula One Administration. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Stewards dismiss Mercedes protest for Verstappen overtaking behind safety car". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Full FIA stewards' verdict on Mercedes protest over Abu Dhabi GP race restart". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "2021 Formula One sporting regulations" (PDF). FiA. 8 December 2021. pp. 12, 50–51.
- ^ "Stewards dismiss Mercedes' Abu Dhabi Grand Prix protests, as team lodge intention to appeal". F1. 12 December 2021.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Decision - Mercedes Protest Art. 48.8" (PDF). FiA. FiA. 12 December 2021.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Hamilton felt Abu Dhabi GP was "manipulated" in unplayed radio message". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ George Russell [@GeorgeRussell63] (12 December 2021). "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. I cannot believe what we've just seen" (Tweet). Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 13 December 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b "F1 drivers left confused by "made for TV" safety car unlapping call". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "'Why am I here?': Ricciardo reacts after getting surprise view of Max's 'crazy' F1 win". Fox Sports. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ a b Wood, Author Ida (12 December 2021). "Norris: Race director's lapped cars decision 'was for TV'". RaceFans. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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- ^ ""This is a new way of running the sport": Former F1 Champion slams FIA Race Director Michael Masi for being inconsistent with his verdicts throughout the 2021 season". The SportsRush. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "'Didn't follow the rules': F1 mess explained after 'unacceptable' call". Fox Sports. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ Foster, Michelle (13 December 2021). "Nico Rosberg weighs in on Abu Dhabi controvery, feels for Michael Masi". PlanetF1. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Bianchi, Jordan. "F1's day of debacle is an unacceptable ending to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton's year-long duel: Bianchi". The Athletic. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ Sondermeijer, Vincent (12 December 2021). "Verstappen had het geluk op het juiste moment aan zijn zijde" [Verstappen had the luck of the right moment on their side]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ de Lange, Pepijn (13 December 2021). "'Misschien ontwikkelt Max' maatschappelijke kant zich nog, alles is nu anders voor hem'". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ https://www.planetf1.com/news/michael-masi-contradicts-lapped-car-clarification/
- ^ a b c "Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ "Formula 1 Etihad Airwaus Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 – Fastest Laps". Formula1.com. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.