The Abu Dhabi 2021 consequence F1 missed this year

Firmly in darkness after another twilight race ended the campaign, the Abu Dhabi paddock is bustling. The atmosphere fizzing – people moving quickly, others congregating. Hugs flowing, Toto Wolff happily posing for selfies. How the 2022 Formula 1 season ended was rather different to 2021.

Not quite a year before – the event held three weeks earlier this time as F1 wanted to avoid a direct clash with the Qatar football world cup to avoid lower TV ratings – things were so different for Mercedes and the championship overall. In the immediate post-race aftermath of Abu Dhabi 2021, legal wranglings were ongoing, officials and team members talked and argued, the media was updated and briefed.

After avoiding the mandatory media duties following a race where he’d finished so painfully second, Lewis Hamilton made a low-key, dignified exit from the paddock around the time Mercedes’ second protest over that controversial ending was dismissed.

In 2022, the paddock back to normal activity levels compared to the COVID-19-restrictions-requirements of the year before, he stayed on with post-season testing action to come – his fans waiting respectfully for one last glimpse of his movements between Mercedes’ hospitality and its garage as night took real hold.

Now, it's a year to the day since those incredible scenes were etched in F1 history. No one who was there that day will forget the events, the atmosphere, the work or the reaction – from the fans at the track and those watching on from afar, many sharing their thoughts online.

There will be replies to the social media post of this article or comments below the line questioning why this topic is even worthy of discussion again. ‘Move on’, ‘get over it’, ‘bias’ – the unhinged inevitably in our post-truth age.

A year on from the events of Abu Dhabi 2021, things were very different for Mercedes and the championship overall

Photo by: Erik Junius

Certain elements of the other side of the 2021 protagonists – at Red Bull – are keen for the Abu Dhabi saga to remain a mere memory. Max Verstappen said as much when he explained his Sky Sports F1 boycott at the Mexican GP. That was a reaction that stemmed from the events that clinched his first world title being laid out on camera not quite a year on.

But it would be wrong to minimise Abu Dhabi 2021. And for so many reasons.

For anyone who follows F1 for the human drama as much as the sporting action or technical developments, that season finale has surely gone down as the most controversial, disgraceful even, since Jerez 1997. As a talking point alone, it has a massive mark on history.

It’s also an important marker in keeping the FIA committed to improving its processes and rules, with the outcome of many decisions in the campaign just completed proving those efforts are far from complete. That’s if they ever can be in motorsport, where the goal is to get around regulations as much as possible.

The car’s problems meant 2022 didn’t become the campaign Mercedes expected. But it has led to a key change to the ending of Hamilton’s story. For a start, he’s now openly talking about signing a new multi-year contract with Mercedes

For the F1 organisation, Abu Dhabi 2021 represents a close competition level it will now always want to replicate compared to the long-decided subsequent season in 2022. The controversial events were extremely newsworthy for a business that’s part publisher, but they were embarrassing at the same time.

And it was a key moment in the career of two F1 legends.

Rather obviously, Hamilton lost out on taking F1’s top championship tally record for himself, while Verstappen’s first title was sealed. But the outcome had an impact on both drivers, as could be seen in 2022. The Dutchman was a clear step better with the pressure and expectation surrounding a first title charge removed by that success.

For Hamilton, it was something very different. He’d tasted world title defeat before, but this one was a systemic shock. How do you move on from feeling a race had been manipulated to stop you winning? When rules clearly weren’t followed and the system, ultimately, failed you?

Verstappen's 2021 title was a key moment in his career, but also in Hamilton's

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

A mere mortal couldn’t, wouldn’t let this go. One of the world’s top athletes spent the 2021/2022 off-season contemplating his next move. He returned, with an unexpected message.

"If you think what you saw at the end of last year was my best," Hamilton said at Mercedes’ 2022 car launch back in February, "wait until you see this year."

Abu Dhabi 2021 wasn’t forgotten – far from it. Hamilton was openly using it as motivation to hit back at the first available opportunity.

He came out swinging in an age where drivers shy away from such talk because of the risk it will backfire, hand an opponent an advantage, or because circumstances stop the words being backed up with actions. And that’s what happened for Hamilton in 2022.

On the day he made the vow above, Mercedes was discovering the W13’s porpoising problem. It didn’t know how bad it would get because this was its higher-riding, lower-downforce launch specification package, which was also being shaken down at Silverstone during Storm Eunice – described in the UK as the worst storm for over 30 years, which left many glued to watching Big Jet TV as they waited for the winds to pass.

The car’s problems meant 2022 didn’t become the campaign Mercedes expected. But it has led to a key change to the ending of Hamilton’s story.

PLUS: Why Mercedes believes it can make the step F1 needs to fight Red Bull

For a start, he’s now openly talking about signing a new multi-year contract with Mercedes – whereas a year ago there were legitimate fears he could walk away from F1 altogether, which was a possibility even if he had won that eighth title and decided to go out on a high.

Hamilton is considering signing a new multi-year contract with Mercedes

Photo by: Erik Junius

And we know fixing the W13 didn’t quell his fighting spirit, with Hamilton admitting to “constructive arguments” with his engineering team as they dealt with the disappointment of the car’s shortcomings. These would leave the soon-to-be 38-year-old without a win or pole across an F1 season for the first time in his career.

Then there was the Brazil clash with Verstappen.

If they clash again in 2023, will the inner fire on display last February be unleashed again, Hamilton using adversity to reach his best levels once more?

It revealed Hamilton’s determination to make a point with his rival remains. If they clash again in 2023, will the inner fire on display last February be unleashed again, Hamilton using adversity to reach his best levels once more?

PLUS: What the Verstappen/Hamilton Brazil crash teaches F1 about a 2021 rematch

It’s very possible. Hamilton’s final F1 chapters could be filled with a new steely inner core that the 2021 clashes started creating and Abu Dhabi sealed. What that leads to now will be worth remembering and watching for as long as it lasts. 

The Brazil clash revealed Hamilton’s determination to make a point with his rival remains

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images