10 moments that tipped the 2021 F1 world title in Verstappen's favour

The controversial events of the closing laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix meant this feature could not be published in the aftermath of Formula 1’s 2021 season finale, where Max Verstappen won the race and the drivers’ title, but in such circumstances that both were provisional and under considerable threat.

But now Mercedes has withdrawn its intention to appeal the rejection of its protests over the circumstances of Lewis Hamilton’s last-gasp defeat, it is official: Verstappen is the winner of the best F1 season in a decade. To many, it was one of the best ever.

The final year of the current technical rules package was a thriller, while also the second F1 season to take place in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. It had two brilliant teams headed by two exceptional drivers doing battle, for the duration. There were thrilling passes, contentious crashes and stunning single-lap performances. It shared the biggest win spread between all the teams since 2012 with 2013 and 2020, and F1 got a title decider at the final race for the first time in five years.

The Red Bull vs Mercedes, Verstappen vs Hamilton story threaded through all 22 races, with the Dutchman eventually coming out on top, just when it looked as if his British rival would become the most successful driver in F1 history on titles won alone.

But even before the Abu Dhabi race began, there had been pivotal chapters in how the season turned out as it did. We present those, and the season’s stunning conclusion, here.

Verstappen lost the Bahrain season-opener to Hamilton, but Red Bull clearly had a performance advantage

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

1. Rear floor rule changes give Red Bull early pace edge

F1 gets the first hints that change is coming when Red Bull dominates testing, while Mercedes struggles badly. The rule changes agreed during the first coronavirus lockdowns to use broadly the same car design allied to a later agreement to change the rear floors and other small tweaks at the back of the cars – done to ease the pressure on Pirelli’s tyres in the face of ever-faster lap times – means a significant downforce cut.

Hamilton wins the first race after Mercedes’ aggressive strategy to take the first of its two stops early means his rival has to make a late-race charge to get back to first, which goes wrong when Verstappen runs wide during the crucial pass and has to give the place back

But it impacts the teams running low-rake aerodynamic concepts, Mercedes and Aston Martin, much more than the rest on a high-rake approach – pioneered by Red Bull. This means Mercedes, which now admits it both should’ve spotted the potential downforce-losing impact on the W12 earlier and also that it was a touch over-confident in its ability to manage with the changes before a season-long effort to get on top of the resulting problems with rear-end instability and tyre warm-up, starts the season well off Red Bull’s pace.

PLUS: 10 things we learned from F1 testing 2021

Verstappen takes pole for the Bahrain season-opener by 0.388s but Hamilton wins the race after Mercedes’ aggressive strategy to take the first of its two stops early means his rival has to make a late-race charge to get back to first. But this goes wrong when Verstappen runs wide during the crucial pass and has to give the place back. He wins next time out in Imola, however, despite giving away pole with a small off-track mistake.

Hamilton, who picks up damage in their lap one Tamburello clash, makes a bigger error in the race going off at Tosa lapping George Russell, but is saved by the red flag resulting from a massive crash between his soon-to-be former and current team-mates. He charges to second ahead of the impressive Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc when things resume, while Verstappen disappears after a nervy restart.

Leclerc should have started from pole at Monaco, but legacy damage instead left the way clear for Verstappen

Photo by: Jean Petin / Motorsport Images

2. Leclerc's Monaco DNS hands Verstappen a golden chance

After Hamilton takes a pair of wins in the back-to-back Portuguese and Spanish races, the latter an unerringly similar strategy battle that ended in his 2019 Hungary triumph with Mercedes outfoxing Red Bull on strategy, Verstappen gets a big break at F1’s most famous race.

Charles Leclerc takes pole for his home grand prix, but only after his Q3 run two crash stops others improving. It also means he fails to line up in it as Ferrari fails to spot his SF21’s left driveshaft hub is broken ahead of the race, with Verstappen inheriting ‘pole’ ahead of Valtteri Bottas. He wards off the Mercedes at Ste Devote and then easily runs clear of it before Bottas suffers pitstop catastrophe as a misaligned wheelgun machines the nut on his right-front, which takes 43 hours to come off and he retires.

PLUS: The seven reasons why Monaco 2021 wasn’t a better F1 race

Carlos Sainz Jr then chases Verstappen, who backs off to allow team-mate Sergio Perez space to overcut three cars – including Hamilton – while the Mexican is in the net lead before stopping. Verstappen comes home to take a dominant win ahead of Sainz, while Norris holds Perez at bay to take third and Hamilton is left frustrated at Mercedes’ strategy in seventh. He’d struggled with tyre warm-up issues all weekend, but ends up having space to pit to successfully chase the fastest lap bonus point, which means Verstappen’s first standings lead, in any single seater category, sits at four.

Verstappen was unstoppable in Austria, winning both races at the Red Bull Ring to extend his points lead

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

3. Verstappen's dominant run through the early summer

After Hamilton misses his chance to capitalise on Verstappen’s Baku blowout in a race the Red Bull driver had been dominating, the points gap between them is preserved heading to Paul Ricard – where Mercedes is undefeated in the turbo hybrid era.

Verstappen takes pole, although he gifts Hamilton the lead with a Turn 2 off, caught out in the wind exiting the first corner. But Mercedes underestimating the undercut's power and Red Bull giving Verstappen an aggressive two-stopper results in a chance to get back ahead after all, which Verstappen converts into a famous win – passing Hamilton on the penultimate lap.

Verstappen is so far ahead he too gets an extra stop, which he uses to secure the fastest lap as well. His lead leaving Austria is a massive 32 points

Verstappen then unleashes a double drubbing on Red Bull’s home turf in Austria. In the Styrian race he leads every lap ahead of Hamilton, who can do nothing about his rival’s ultimate pace or suddenly superior tyre degradation, which had been a key issue in Verstappen’s defeat in Spain.

A week later, Verstappen is even more dominant to win the Austrian GP ahead of Bottas and Norris, who gets a contentious penalty for tagging Perez after the early safety car. Norris then battles Hamilton, who compliments him after passing, and drops behind Bottas while serving his pitstop penalty.

PLUS: How Norris and McLaren finally took on F1’s top teams “on merit”

But Hamilton’s car getting damaged on the Red Bull Ring’s vicious kerbs means he has to stop again after allowing Bottas through and Norris nipping back ahead. Verstappen is so far ahead he too gets an extra stop, which he uses to secure the fastest lap as well. His lead leaving Austria is a massive 32 points.

Conservative tyre strategy left Hamilton battling back through the pack to second in Hungary when he should have won easily

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

4. Hungary chaos costs Hamilton points

After the first of those crashes at Silverstone, which costs Verstappen major ground in the title battle as Hamilton wins – beating Leclerc’s Ferrari in a thriller in front of a bumper Silverstone crowd, the first sell-out race since the pandemic began – things get worse for the Dutchman in Hungary.

He gets heavily damaged at the damp first corner at Budapest after Bottas badly misjudges his braking and wipes out Norris, while in the background, Lance Stroll’s equally awful driving takes out Leclerc and spins Daniel Ricciardo to trigger a red flag. Red Bull is able to get Verstappen into the race with hurried repairs ahead of the restart, albeit still having so much bodywork missing his team boss Christian Horner jokes he is running with “half a car”.

Insight: 10 things we learned from the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

Verstappen can only salvage 10th on the road with his car shorn of aerodynamic parts and pace, but it could’ve been an even bigger loss. This is because Mercedes underestimates how much the track has dried during the red flag and so can’t pit Hamilton from the lead when the rest do. He takes the restart solo in silly scenes, gets slicks at the end of lap four, but has to recover from last to third (later second) and is held up for a long time in a sensational scrap with Fernando Alonso.

That helps Esteban Ocon take a famous win in the other Alpine, with his pursuer – Aston’s Sebastian Vettel – disqualified post-race for being unable to provide a fuel sample, which promotes Hamilton and Verstappen a spot each. The gap heading into the summer break is eight points in the veteran’s favour.

Spa deluge meant Verstappen took half-points for a race 'win' after two safety car laps

Photo by: Erik Junius

5. Spa farce gains Verstappen free points

The summer break ends in a Spa washout, with rain impacting both qualifying and the race. In the former, Russell is only kept from a sensational first F1 pole by the also brilliant Verstappen – after Norris crashes heavily at Eau Rouge during Q3 – the Williams driver benefitting from an extra warm-up lap and nailing his all-or-nothing final run.

PLUS: The only element of F1's Spa travesty really worth celebrating

But when the overnight rain never stops on Sunday, officials are pushed into making a serious of very tough calls at a track still tinged by recent tragedy and the death of Anthoine Hubert in 2019.

The event is called off, with the result decided on qualifying order and half-points awarded. This gives Verstappen a five-point gain on Hamilton, who calls for “robbed” fans to be compensated

After the race start is delayed four times, the cars complete a formation lap but stop again on the grid in awful wet conditions. A near-three-hour suspension follows before the race ‘resumes’, but with only two laps then completed as evening approaches – the stewards having used force majeure to stop the event’s countdown clock in a bid to get running in if the weather ever abates.

The event is then called off after another 20-minute delay, with the result decided on qualifying order and half-points awarded. This gives Verstappen a five-point gain on Hamilton, who calls for “robbed” fans to be compensated.

Verstappen's engine penalty looked set to heavily damage his title credentials before rain-assisted comeback

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

6. Sochi rain helps Verstappen reduce Hamilton’s engine-penalty points gain

After Verstappen delivers an impressive and intensely-pressured home win at Zandvoort, where Mercedes is behind on pure pace and shows the first signs of the internal combustion engine wear that will blight its season run-in, the title contenders crash again at Monza. This time Verstappen is penalised, with the incident preserving his points lead at five (up from three after Zandvoort for Verstappen’s second place behind Bottas in the Italy sprint race, where Hamilton loses critical ground with a poor start).

It looks set to be slashed at Sochi given Verstappen has to take his first non-allocation Honda engine of the year and so starts last, but the damage actually isn’t as great as it might’ve been. Up front, Norris and Sainz dominate the early stages after they (and Russell) star in qualifying, but Hamilton works his way up to second, with Verstappen also making progress in the pack behind.

But the Red Bull encounters severe graining in his second stint, working its tyres hard with a low-downforce package to aid overtaking, and he drops back in seventh – before the rain changes everything.

PLUS: How Mercedes made the “blind faith” call that won Hamilton his 100 milestone at Sochi

Norris and McLaren mess up the call on when to take intermediates and he loses the lead dramatically, after Hamilton had finally heeded Mercedes’ calls to come in. One factor was Mercedes telling Hamilton Verstappen was already on inters, which he used to make a stunning late rise to second – helped by many other rivals falling off in the rain late-on. The points gap therefore swings to two in Hamilton’s favour when it could’ve been seven or even 14.

Verstappen caused an upset by breaking Mercedes' dominant streak at Austin

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

7. Verstappen stuns Hamilton in Austin

Verstappen finally gets back to winning ways, by triumphing in a nail-biter in the returning Austin event. This follows another contending moment for this list – Hamilton’s recovery from a fresh ICE penalty in Turkey, but the Mercedes driver not finishing third when it was on due to a late gamble to stay out longer in the hope of a slicks-switch that never comes backfires and he ends up staying fifth.

Hamilton can’t get close to make a passing attempt, Verstappen’s cause aided by getting DRS from Mick Schumacher as the Haas is lapped ahead of the final tour. The result puts Verstappen’s points lead at 12

At the start at in the USA, Hamilton leaps off the line to edge out surprise polesitter Verstappen at Turn 1, but it’s clear the Red Bull has the better pace in the opening stint. Verstappen is brought in aggressively early again for his first stop, which Mercedes is obliged to match for Hamilton given Perez’s close proximity in third.

But when the ill and water-less Perez falls back in stint two, Mercedes leaves Hamilton out longer after Verstappen once again stops early. This sets up a reverse Bahrain scenario, with the Black Arrows driver charging with a late-race tyre-life advantage. But he can’t get close to make a passing attempt – Verstappen’s cause aided by getting DRS from Mick Schumacher as the Haas is lapped ahead of the final tour. The result puts Verstappen’s points lead at 12.

PLUS: The details the boosted Red Bull and held back Hamilton in Verstappen’s USA victory 

After a disappointing qualifying, Verstappen fought back with a perfectly-judged move at Turn 1 to take the lead

Photo by: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

8. Verstappen's Mexico save

Red Bull rocks up for the start of F1’s final triple-header of 2021 as the heavy pre-event favourite in Mexico City thanks to its strong recent record of success at the high-altitude venue. But thanks to Mercedes’ engine gains in recent years, the impact of Honda’s jet-engined inspired technology at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is lessened and so Red Bull tries to find an edge with tow tactics in qualifying.

But this backfires massively however. With Mercedes already ahead after the first runs in Q3, Perez goes off as he comes across Yuki Tsunoda blamelessly already off trying to keep out of his way after towing Pierre Gasly down the main straight, which distracts the following Verstappen. That leaves him third on the grid, behind Hamilton and Bottas.

At the start, Hamilton’s launch is so good he draws alongside Bottas, who can’t enact Mercedes’ plan to block Verstappen and the Dutchman makes a brilliantly around-the-outside pass at Turn 1 to seize the lead he won’t lose other than in the pitstop cycle. With Verstappen clear out front, Perez threatens Hamilton with a late-race tyre advantage but can’t get by, and so the gap between the title contenders extends to 19.

PLUS: Why Verstappen was untouchable after "crucial" Mexican GP Turn 1 pass 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 2nd position, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1st position, and Fernando Alonso, Alpine F1, 3rd position, on the podium

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

9. Verstappen's Qatar recovery

Hamilton continues his sensational form after being disqualified from Friday qualifying at the proceeding race in Brazil as he takes pole and puts in a dominant display to win F1’s first race in Qatar. But Verstappen makes a critical race rise after making another mistake in qualifying.

Hamilton’s second win out of a late-season hat-track cuts Verstappen’s lead to eight points, but it could’ve been a harder hit

There, Gasly suffers a puncture and wing damage from a heavy kerb strike at the penultimate corner – a fast left. But he rolls on through the final turn before stopping on the pit straight, yellow flag boards going on and off as he passes them. When Verstappen comes across the hobbled AlphaTauri, he sees the slow car but not a yellow flag being waved by a marshal and so is handed a five-place grid drop, as is Bottas for the same infraction.

But Verstappen makes up several places at the start in the pack following Hamilton, who is never in trouble up front. He’s gifted Gasly’s third place and then passes Alonso before starting a fruitless pursuit of his rival. Punctures blight the race behind, with Alonso completing the podium as Hamilton’s second win out of a late-season hat-track cuts Verstappen’s lead to eight points, but it could’ve been a harder hit.

PLUS: How Hamilton dominated in Qatar despite missing a key Mercedes advantage 

Safety car drama following Latifi's crash gifts Verstappen an opportunity to pass Hamilton on the final lap in Abu Dhabi

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

10. Abu Dhabi luck goes Red Bull's way (eventually)

The title contenders arrive level on points after Hamilton wins a disgraceful race in Saudi Arabia – where Verstappen is twice penalised and heavy crashes interrupt proceedings. But the young challenger puts in a blistering pole lap to head the grid for the decider – although only after he locks up on an innocuous Q2 lap and so has to start on the softs, rather than the more strategically desirable mediums.

The softs do give him a crucial advantage after losing the lead into Turn 1 with a slower start compared to Hamilton, helping him close shoot out of the new Turn 5 hairpin and close in on his rival running down the main straight for the first time. At the end of this, Verstappen divebombs Hamilton again, with the Mercedes cutting the next corner after leaving the door open to an assault and then turning out of contact. To Red Bull’s fury, race director Michael Masi decides Hamilton has not gained a lasting advantage after slowing up over the rest of the first lap and so the Briton keeps the lead.

From there, Hamilton is in command on the superior tyre strategy, as Verstappen’s starting softs turn into a burden, and is heading towards a historic eighth world title after Verstappen’s gain by stopping under a mid-race virtual safety car doesn’t result in enough pace to catch back up. But, having worked his way through a gaggle of backmarkers, Hamilton’s hopes shockingly disappear after Nicholas Latifi crashes with five laps left to run.

Hamilton can’t pit as Perez’s brilliant defence following the first round of stops for the leaders meant the Mercedes lost a big chunk of race time, which made a safety car stop incredibly risky over losing track position to Verstappen should it go wrong. Verstappen can pit so does, then when Masi alters his decision to let the lapped runners by and allow a final lap shootout with no cars between the title contenders, now on wildly differently aged tyres, he’s in the prime spot to jump Hamilton, which he does with a controlled lunge at Turn 5.

PLUS: How Perez's Hamilton defiance was vital to Verstappen's Abu Dhabi triumph

Verstappen wins and takes the title by eight points – once Mercedes’ post-race protests have been thrown out and the team withdraws its intention to appeal those decisions ahead of the FIA prize-giving gala.

Hamilton congratulates Verstappen after losing the title on the final lap

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images