Formula 1 fever was running high in the Netherlands this week and it took till the last lap of the Abu Dhabi race, but what a finish!
On Sunday Max Verstappen became the first Dutchman to become world champion in Formula 1 racing. In the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, the Red Bull driver finished just fractons ahead of Lewis Hamilton after an insanely tense final lap.
For a long time, it didn’t look like Max Verstappen was going to win this final race. So what happened and why are some Dutchies now celebrating wildly in their homes and bars?
Max losing the first spot right away
Hamilton took the lead at the start from Verstappen, who started from pole position as reported by NU.nl.
A few moments later, a heavily debated moment happened, where Verstappen tried to overtake Lewis Hamilton but the Brit kept the lead by cutting the corner.
The stewards ruled that Hamilton was forced out of the track by Verstappen, and this time the 36-year-old Briton did not have to give his first place back. Whereas last week the roles were reversed and Verstappen did have to give his advantage back, quite a controversial moment which left many Dutchies frustrated behind their televisions.
Heroic racing opposition by Perez
Verstappen and Hamilton made an early pit stop, putting Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez in the lead.
The Mexican managed to hold up Hamilton for quite some time, allowing the Dutchman to get close to Hamilton once again.
But after Hamilton passed the Mexican, the Mercedes driver steadily overtook Verstappen when it came to pure racing speed. For quite a while it looked like Max was racing a lost race.
CHECO IS 𝐀 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃! 🦸♂️
Sergio Pérez houdt Lewis Hamilton heel lang op in een zinderend racegevecht en Max Verstappen kan weer aansluiten! 👏Tune in ↯
📺Ziggo Sport (kanaal 14 & Select)
🎁 Voor heel Nederland gratis te zien!#ZiggoSport #F1 #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/gxPEZnhfLp— Ziggo Sport Racing (@ZS_Racing) December 12, 2021
Safety car at the end changed everything
Verstappen was able to make a second pit stop under the virtual safety car after Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi retired from the race.
Hamilton continued to race hard and had a 17-second lead over the Dutchman with 20 laps to go. Verstappen slowly but surely came a little closer on his new tires, but Hamilton kept a lead of about 10 seconds (which is pretty solid in this sport normally). Many Max fans were losing hope for a final victory at this moment in the race.
But due to a crash by Nicholas Latifi, the safety car entered the track five laps before the end.
Verstappen switched to soft tires in an ultimate attempt to attack Hamilton. After the safety car disappeared, there was still one lap to go, in which Verstappen spectacularly went past Hamilton and wrote racing history by becoming the first Dutchman to become world champion.
🤯🤩🎉 WAT EEN SLOT! #AbuDhabiGP #MaxVerstappen33 pic.twitter.com/32w5jXyKKo
— Roger Scheeren (@RScheeren) December 12, 2021
Did you watch the race? Happy with Max his win? Share below in the comments!
Image: Wikimedia Commons/CC3.0/Alberto-g-rovi
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