F1 and F3 race procedures at the Italian GP bring Lewis Hamilton’s Abu Dhabi 2021 debacle back on the map
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Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battling it out at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021
The Monza track has had its own fair share of racing action and mishaps. This weekend, the situation that arose was far more intense. A Grand Prix ended this Sunday with Max Vertsappen emerging champion. All he needs is to seal the next one in Singapore to emerge world champion in 2022.
Sunday brought back memories of the last race in 2021 at Abu Dhabi where the race ended in a controversial manner. At that time, Lewis Hamilton felt he had been robbed.
The F3 race took place before that F1 race where Victor Martins who drove for ART was deemed as the champion after the feature race. Although he was handed a penalty for exceeding track limit, the race ended early due to a red flag which was brought out by Kush Maini and Brad Benavides who came into contact. With penalties applied to more than one driver, it was a bit confusing as to who would be the champion due to the small points margin between Martins, Maloney and Bearman. Martins said post race that he was incredibly scared that something like Abu Dhabi 2021 would happen to him as the race was red flagged with 5 laps remaining.
The main event of the weekend, the F1 Grand Prix had a similar essence. Pole sitter Charles Leclerc started well and managed to pull ahead of George Russell in P2 but Max, who had started in 7th was gaining on him. Ultimately, after a bunch of pit stops to try out different strategies, Charles was 17 seconds behind Max with a few laps remaining when the safety car was brought out because of Daniel Ricciardo.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the McLaren car could not be removed from the track quickly which resulted in the race finishing under the safety car. Max Verstappen simply cruised to victory while Charles finished in P2 which was a disappointing result for the Tifosi as they expected him to win.
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“Anyone who can’t see that is not a racing enthusiast,” Nick Knowles on the Abu Dhabi GP controversy
“News from F1 & F3 today confirms fia have only broken their own rules once to take a WDC away from Hamilton to stop him winning an 8th title & gift it to Verstappen,” he said.
“Anyone who can’t see that like Skysports F1 pundits is not a racing enthusiast but wanted a new champ at any cost,” He continued.
Abu Dhabi 2021 is and always will be a major talking point for the fans of the sport. Both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen equally deserved the title. Unfortunately for the Brit, the circumstances went into Verstappen’s favour. That’s racing.
Everyone saw how boring the ending of the Italian GP was with Max Verstappen simply cruising to victory and this is one of the reasons why there was no safety car finish in the season finale last year.
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Varad Joshi
(940 Articles Published)