Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021

 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021

Racing data
22nd of 22 races in the Formula 1 World Championship in 2021
Surname:	Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021
Date:	December 12, 2021
Location:	Yas Island
Course:	Yas Marina Circuit
Length:	306.183 km in 58 laps of 5.279 km
Weather:	24 ° C, partly cloudy
Pole position
Driver:	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda
Time:	1: 22.109 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda
Time:	1: 26.103 min (lap 39)
Podium
First:	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda
Second:	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Third:	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari

The Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi in 2021 (officially Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021 ) took place on 12 December at the m by 273 shortened Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island instead. It was the 22nd and final race of the Formula 1 World Championship in 2021 .

The title contenders Max Verstappen ( Red Bull Racing ) and Lewis Hamilton ( Mercedes AMG F1 Team ) were tied in the drivers' standings before this last race of the season with 369.5 points. This starting point existed before at the 1974 Automobile World Championship and only for the second time in the history of Formula 1 . For the 30th time in history and for the first time since the Formula 1 World Championship in 2016 , the last race decided the winner of the World Championship.

report

backgrounds

After the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix , Max Verstappen was tied in the drivers' standings ahead of Lewis Hamilton and 151.5 points ahead of Valtteri Bottas . In the constructors' championship, Mercedes led with 28 points ahead of Red Bull Racing and with 280 points ahead of Ferrari . Since the Mexican Grand Prix, only Verstappen and Hamilton have become world champions in the driver’s world championship.

This race was the last of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi in the Formula 1 World Championship .

Yuki Tsunoda (eight), Sergio Pérez , Verstappen (seven each), Sebastian Vettel , Nikita Masepin , Nicholas Latifi (six each), Lando Norris , Lance Stroll , Bottas (five each), Giovinazzi, Pierre Gasly (three each), Räikkönen , Hamilton, Fernando Alonso (two each), George Russell and Esteban Ocon (one each) started the weekend with penalty points.

Five former winners competed with Hamilton (five times), Vettel (three times), Raikkonen, Bottas and Verstappen (once each).

free training

In the first free practice, Verstappen set the fastest time with 1: 25.009, ahead of Bottas and Hamilton.

In the second free practice, Hamilton was fastest with a time of 1: 23.691 ahead of Ocon and Bottas.

In the third free practice, Hamilton set the fastest time with 1: 23.274, ahead of Verstappen and Bottas.

Qualifying

The qualifying consisted of three parts with a net running time of 45 minutes. In the first qualifying segment (Q1) the drivers had 18 minutes to qualify for the race. All drivers who achieved a time in the first section that was a maximum of 107 percent of the fastest lap time qualified. The best 15 drivers reached the next part. Hamilton was fastest, the Haas and Williams drivers and Raikkonen were eliminated.

The second section (Q2) lasted 15 minutes. The ten fastest pilots qualified for the third part of qualifying. Verstappen was fastest, Alonso, Gasly, Stroll, Giovinazzi and Vettel were eliminated.

The last section (Q3) lasted twelve minutes, in which the first ten starting positions were assigned. Verstappen set the fastest time with 1: 22.109, ahead of Hamilton and Norris.

run

On the morning of the Grand Prix, it was announced that Masepin would not compete due to a positive COVID-19 test. Because of the qualifying that had already taken place, there was no substitute driver, which is why Haas only competed with Mick Schumacher .

Verstappen won the race ahead of Hamilton and Carlos Sainz Jr. It was the 20th victory for Verstappen in the Formula 1 World Championship. The remaining points were placed by Tsunoda, Gasly, Bottas, Norris, Alonso, Ocon and Charles Leclerc . Since Verstappen drove the fastest race lap and finished the race in the top ten, he received an additional point.

With this victory, Verstappen became Formula 1 world champion ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. It was the first world title for Verstappen and also the first for a Dutch driver in the Formula 1 world championship. In the constructors 'championship, the first three positions remained unchanged, making Mercedes the eighth consecutive constructors' championship. It was the first time since the Formula 1 World Championship in 2008 that the team of the constructors 'world champions did not provide the drivers' world champions.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance	Mercedes-AMG F1 M12 E Performance	P.
	77	Valtteri Bottas
Red Bull Racing Honda	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing RB16B	Honda RA621H	P.
	11th	Sergio Perez
McLaren F1 Team	03	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren MCL35M	Mercedes-AMG F1 M12 E Performance	P.
	04th	Lando Norris
Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	18th	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin AMR21	Mercedes-AMG F1 M12 E Performance	P.
	05	Sebastian Vettel
Alpine F1 Team	14th	Fernando Alonso	Alpine A521	Renault E-Tech 20B	P.
	31	Esteban Ocon
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari SF21	Ferrari 065/6	P.
	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	22nd	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri AT02	Honda RA621H	P.
	10	Pierre Gasly
Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	07th	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing C41	Ferrari 065/6	P.
	99	Antonio Giovinazzi
Uralkali Haas F1 Team	09	Nikita Masepin	Haas VF-21	Ferrari 065/6	P.
	47	Mick Schumacher
Williams Racing	63	George Russell	Williams FW43B	Mercedes-AMG F1 M12 E Performance	P.
	89	Jack Aitken
	06th	Nicholas Latifi

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} The Williams with the start number 89 was used in the first free practice for Aitken. Russell then took over the vehicle with his number 63 for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	1: 23.332	1: 22.800	1: 22.109	01
02	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1: 22.845	1: 23.145	1: 22.480	02
03	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 23.553	1: 23.256	1: 22.931	03
04th	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda	1: 23.350	1: 23.135	1: 22.947	04th
05	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1: 23.624	1: 23.174	1: 22.992	05
06th	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1: 23.117	1: 23.246	1: 23.036	06th
07th	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1: 23.467	1: 23.202	1: 23.122	07th
08th	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri Honda	1: 23.428	1: 23.404	1: 23.220	08th
09	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	1: 23.764	1: 23.420	1: 23.389	09
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 23.829	1: 23.448	1: 23.409	10
11th	Fernando Alonso	Alpine Renault	1: 23.846	1: 23.460	-	11th
12th	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri Honda	1: 23.489	1: 24.043	-	12th
13th	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1: 24.061	1: 24.066	-	13th
14th	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1: 24.118	1: 24.251	-	14th
15th	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1: 24.225	1: 24.305	-	15th
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1: 24.338	-	-	16
17th	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1: 24.423	-	-	17th
18th	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1: 24.779	-	-	18th
19th	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1: 24.906	-	-	19th
20th	Nikita Masepin	Haas-Ferrari	1: 25.685	-	-	20th
107 percent time : 1: 28.644 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 22.845 min)

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	58	3	1: 30: 17.345	01	1: 26.103 (39.)
02	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	1	+ 2.256	02	1: 26.615 (43.)
03	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	58	1	+ 5.173	05	1: 27.618 (51st)
04th	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri Honda	58	2	+ 5.692	08th	1: 27.496 (50th)
05	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri Honda	58	2	+ 6.531	12th	1: 27,342 (49.)
06th	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	58	1	+ 7.463	06th	1: 26.862 (51.)
07th	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	58	2	+ 59.200	03	1: 26.762 (58th)
08th	Fernando Alonso	Alpine Renault	58	1	+1: 01.708	11th	1: 27.607 (58th)
09	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	58	1	+1: 04.026	09	1: 28.249 (58.)
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	58	2	+1: 06.057	07th	1: 28.433 (40.)
11th	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	58	1	+1: 07.527	15th	1: 28.303 (58.)
12th	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	57	2	+ 1 lap	10	1: 28.723 (48th)
13th	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	57	2	+ 1 lap	13th	1: 28,567 (48th)
14th	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	57	2	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 29,457 (42nd)
15th	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda	55	4th	DNF	04th	1: 26,419 (51st)
-	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	50	1	DNF	16	1: 29.293 (30.)
-	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	33	1	DNF	14th	1: 29,442 (33.)
-	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	26th	1	DNF	17th	1: 30.647 (23.)
-	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	25th	2	DNF	18th	1: 29.698 (23.)
-	Nikita Masepin	Haas-Ferrari	0	0	DNS	20th	-

Remarks

1. ↑ Masepin was unable to take part in the race due to a positive COVID-19 test.

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively. In addition, there was a point for the fastest race lap, as the driver ended up in the top ten.

Driver standings

Item driver constructor Points 01  Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 395.5 02  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 387.5 03  Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 226 04th  Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing Honda 190 05  Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 164.5 06th  Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 160 07th  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 159 08th  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 115 09  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Honda 110 10  Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault 81 11th  Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 74

Item driver constructor Points 12th  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 43 13th  Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 34 14th  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Honda 32 15th  George Russell Williams-Mercedes 16 16  Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 10 17th  Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 7th 18th  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 3 19th  Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 0 20th  Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 0 21  Nikita Masepin Haas-Ferrari 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 1  Mercedes 613.5 2  Red Bull Racing Honda 585.5 3  Ferrari 323.5 4th  McLaren-Mercedes 275 5  Alpine Renault 155

Item constructor Points 06th  AlphaTauri Honda 142 07th  Aston Martin-Mercedes 77 08th  Williams-Mercedes 23 09  Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 13th 10  Haas-Ferrari 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Abu Dhabi GP: Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton tied on F1 points and heading into title-deciding Sunset Showdown. Accessed December 11, 2021 . 
2. ↑ 'Hamilton v Verstappen - it could end in a messy situation' . In: BBC Sport . ( bbc.com [accessed December 11, 2021]).
3. ↑ Formula 1 penalty points 2021: The overview of the current status. Motorsport.com, accessed on October 10, 2021 . 
4. ↑ Mazepin ruled out of Abu Dhabi GP after positive Covid-19 test. In: formula1.com. December 12, 2021, accessed December 12, 2021 .