Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen showdown at Abu Dhabi GP nominated for BAFTA

Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen showdown at Abu Dhabi GP nominated for BAFTA

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton

The 2021 season of Formula One was unlike any other as it gave us one of the fiercest rivalries that we have ever witnessed in the form of 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton being pitted against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. 2021 made sure to keep us all hooked to the entire coverage of Formula One as there was absolutely no shortage of unprecedented twists and turns in the famed motorsport.

With the Abu Dhabi climax established as a winner-take-all type of situation, the tension was palpable even before the contentious climax and off-track pandemonium. Although F1 fans may believe this prize is a foregone conclusion, it faces stiff competition from coverage of the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics and England’s Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark.

F1 last won a BAFTA in 2011 for its reportage of Sebastian Vettel’s first championship victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the preceding year. F1 was shortlisted last year for the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, which was highlighted by Romain Grosjean’s heart-stopping accident.

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What was the showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

After a head-to-head season with each other, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton entered the last race of the season, the Abu Dhabi GP with 369.5 points each. The title could only be claimed by one of them and this was one of the most awaited Formula One races in Formula One history.

The race started with Hamilton dominating everyone else on the grid for the first 57 laps and leading the race until Williams Racing’s Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi crashed. This crash led to the employment of a safety car situation where all the cars were made to slow down and further on the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were allowed to unlap themselves by former Formula One race director Michael Masi.

Verstappen took advantage of this decision and was able to attack Hamilton in the last lap and then go on to clinch his maiden title. It was this decision of Masi that garnered worldwide controversies and a lot of tension on the grid itself which ended with Masi getting replaced as the race director earlier in February.

Also Read: “We pushed it a bit too far but it was a useful learning exercise,” Andrew Shovlin on Lewis Hamilton’s set up at Jeddah