Max Verstappen is the 2021 Formula 1 world champion. On our final episode for the year we’re joined by esteemed journalist, broadcaster and former Williams F1 team manager Peter Windsor to discuss all the big talking points from the controversial finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, look at where to now for Red Bull Racing and Mercedes and wrap up a thrilling 2021 season.
This is a hot-take-free zone in which we calmly discuss how Max Verstappen won an uncontroversial Super Fax Grand Prix and nothing else happened. Please forward all complaints to our legal representatives.
Michael Lamonato joined Matt Grubelich on Sports Drive to cover all the thrills and spills from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Max Verstappen passes Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the final race of 2021 to make himself the new world champion, Featuring former F1 driver Alex Yoong.
Read the full 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix strategy analysis here.
Max Verstappen is the 2021 world champion after a chaotic and controversial single-lap dash with Lewis Hamilton to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has beaten Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 world championship in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but Mercedes is protesting the outcome after a last-lap safety car restart turned the race on its head.
Max Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and sensationally claim the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.
The Dutchman had been on course for a sound defeat to Hamilton, who jumped Verstappen off the line and controlled the race, until five laps from the finish, when a safety car was deployed to clean up Nicholas Latifi’s wrecked Williams, which had come to a crashed end in the barriers at Turn 14.
Hamilton didn’t have the margin on Verstappen to make a safety stop, gifting the Dutchman a free switch to a set of softs to combat the Briton’s badly worn hard rubber.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen will start on pole in the race of his life, but Lewis Hamilton from second will have the more favourable strategy to fight for the title in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand prix.
Max Verstappen has snatched the all-important pole position from championship rival Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen stunned championship rival Lewis Hamilton by taking a comfortable pole position for the season-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton started qualifying as the favorite after a strong series of practice sessions, whereas a lackluster Saturday practice left the Dutchman as the underdog, the Red Bull Racing car apparently off the pace.
Matters seemed to get only worse for Verstappen in Q2, when a lock-up on what should have been his race-starting set of medium tires forced him to switch to softs and what is thought to be an inferior strategy for the grand prix.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton will start the crucial final qualifying session as the fastest man after beating title rival Max Verstappen in final practice in Abu Dhabi.
The Briton blazed a blistering pace throughout the hour, which he spent predominantly on the fastest soft-compound tire, progressively lowering the bar until he was more than a second quicker than Verstappen with 10 minutes remaining with a best time of 1m23.274s.
Verstappen’s first half-hour was more subdued, spent on the slower medium-compound tire before being recalled to his garage for a rear wing change. Red Bull Racing had identified a potential reliability issue and mechanics were seen analyzing the DRS actuator — a known problem part for the RB16B — before making the wholesale change to the car to try to maintain a lower-downforce package in an attempt to keep pace with Mercedes down the straights.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton laid down the gauntlet in the second practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix while title rival Max Verstappen — who led the way in the opening session — trailed off the pace.
Mercedes’ Hamilton spent the hour lowering the benchmark, first on the medium tires and later on the softs for his qualifying simulation run as the sun set and the track cooled. After a false start with a lock-up, he embarked on his ultimate lap, lowering the benchmark to 1m23.691s, which stood until the end of the session.
The practice session was red flagged as the clock expired when Kimi Raikkonen endured a heavy smash through Turn 13 exiting the hotel section of the track. The Finn, who is entering his final Formula 1 grand prix this weekend, lost the rear of his Alfa Romeo as he navigated the off-camber turn, smacking into the barriers rear first before rotating sideways, dealing his car substantial damage and ensuring a long night for his mechanics.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen claimed top spot in first practice at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton had his best time deleted for exceeding track limits.
The Dutchman used two sets of soft-compound tires to set a time of 1m 25.009s, pipping Valtteri Bottas by 0.196s despite complaining of a right-leaning steering wheel during the first half of the session.
Lewis Hamilton had taken second spot with a fresh set of softs of his own to trail Verstappen by just 0.033s, but the time was erased for running wide exiting the last corner, dropping him to third and 0.346s short of his title rival. Sergio Perez completed the top four just 0.008s further adrift.
Continue reading on RACERYou simply couldn’t write it. After 21 rounds Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are tied on points and brimming with animosity after a dynamite inaugural grand prix in Saudi Arabia, and it’s anyone’s guess who’s going to leave Abu Dhabi with the championship this weekend.
It’s all happening in F1. The championship race is going down to the wire between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Formula 1 expert Michael Lamonato joins us.
Down to the wire. Lewis Hamilton wins in Saudi Arabia to level the scores and set up a do-or-die championship showdown Max Verstappen. With Phil Horton from Auto Week.
Read the full 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix strategy analysis here.
David Coulthard, 13-time grand prix winner and two-time victor in Melbourne, joins us to talk about the chaotic first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that set up a winner-takes-all showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi and reflects on his time as teammate to the retiring Kimi Raikkonen and driving for the late Sir Frank Williams.
Jutta Kleinschmidt has always had smarts, but did she have skills? At age 30 she decided she had to know, and she traded her high-flying engineering job at BMW for the dust and sand of the Dakar. The rest is history: she smashed through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated off-road scene to become the first and so far only woman to win the Dakar Rally.
Cross-country had its first queen, so when Extreme E appeared on the horizon, the German national couldn’t help but get herself involved as an advisor, championship driver and, unexpectedly, a full-timer for Abt Cupra.
James and Michael sat down for a chat with Jutta to discuss her switch from the factory to the track, her historic Dakar victory and getting thrown in the Extreme E deep end in her happy place in Senegal.
And with one round to go in the inaugural Extreme E season, we check in with the Count Us In challenge to learn how we can all make practical commitments to fight climate change.