At the very end of what had been a frustrating season for him, Lewis Hamilton actually experienced a moment of happiness at the port of Abu Dhabi. With eleven laps to go he shot past Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari on the outside, which was nice to see. He improved by one place – and was now an incredible ninth.
And let’s put it this way: Even if this successful duel with the Spaniard is not one that the seven-time world champion Hamilton will remember, one day in the future he should be sitting in a senior citizen’s home with gray hair and kindergarten children talking about his great career in Formula 1 to report. Hamilton’s maneuver meant a world to his Mercedes racing team, which had been beaten so badly after many golden years. At least figuratively. In the end, Sainz would only finish 18th due to a strategy error, but the maneuver now meant that the Silver Arrows saved second place in the team standings from Ferrari – by a hair’s breadth, with a lead of three points. And that was only because Sergio Pérez was given a five-second penalty shortly before the end, which caused him to lose second place and fall behind Charles Leclerc and Hamilton’s teammate George Russell. “I can’t believe it’s only the second podium for me this year,” marveled Russell. But yes, that’s actually how it was.
And when Max Verstappen crossed the finish line as the winner at the season finale after leading the incredible 1,000th lap of his career, you would have wished that his Red Bull had been an advertising pillar. To create enough space to stick every single record he grabbed this season on it. He alone, i.e. Verstappen without his teammate Pérez, would have won the constructors’ championship this season. He scored 575 points, more than anyone before him. But that wasn’t all.
Alberto Ascari became world champion in a Ferrari 71 years ago with six wins in eight races, which corresponded to a win rate of 75 percent. Even Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton couldn’t come close to this at their weddings. Verstappen won the 19th of 22 races on Sunday. That corresponded to an incredible rate of 86 percent. He achieved the most race wins in a season this year anyway. In terms of the number of his race victories, Verstappen has now overtaken Vettel and is third in the all-time best list. And at the age of 26. Only two drivers have collected more than 54 victories, although Lewis Hamilton (103) and Michael Schumacher (91) are still well ahead.
“I got a little emotional on the last lap,” Verstappen admitted later in the interview. “It will be difficult to have a season like that again.” His team boss also sent sentimental congratulations: After Verstappen’s third world title and all the records, “we have to start talking about him as one of the biggest names in sport. I think he has earned his place there,” said Christian Horner.
Second place in the constructors’ championship brings ten million dollars more
Before the race, the Silver Arrows were only four points ahead of the Scuderia in the team standings. “We definitely want this second place,” announced Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. And Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, said that basically he didn’t care because second and third place were both for losers – but you didn’t have to believe him. It was about ten million dollars more or less.
Leclerc rolled into this race in second place, just behind Verstappen and ahead of Oscar Piastri in the McLaren. Russell was the fastest Mercedes driver lurking in parking bay four, Hamilton only had the eleventh best time in qualifying.
The lights went out and Leclerc attacked Verstappen several times on the first lap – but in vain. Russell lost his place to Lando Norris right at the start. And the latter soon set the fastest lap of the race and also shot past his teammate Piastri.
A McLaren mechanic had a bad day – Russell took third place from Norris in the pit lane
And so an exciting duel for the points actually unfolded in Abu Dhabi. After ten laps, the Scuderia took second (Leclerc) and 13th (Sainz), the Silver Arrows were in fifth (Russell) and tenth (Hamilton). The McLaren command post had just praised Piastri for his successful defense against Russell so far, when the Brit took advantage of the Australian’s first little wobble and overtook him.
Mercedes secured second place in the constructors’ championship: George Russell.
(Photo: Erlhof/Imago)
As a racing duet, Norris and Russell headed for their supply garages at the same time, and because one of the mechanics from the McLaren team had a bad day, Russell took third place from Norris in the pit lane. Hamilton caused bad news for Mercedes: his front touched Pierre Gasly’s rear. His front panel was hanging so crooked in the world that he had to have it straightened in the workshop.
Ferrari let Sainz spin 23 laps on his first set of tires, possibly in the hope that the Spaniard would be able to slow down Verstappen after his first pit stop. The plan didn’t work. And when all drivers had stopped, Verstappen was in the lead ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Norris and Piastri.
Mercedes psycho-coaching is fruitful
“Lewis, you’re driving the fastest car right now,” Wolff radioed to Hamilton as he fought his way up to eighth place. That was very cute. Wolff knew he would also need a few points from his seven-time world champion if Russell couldn’t get past Leclerc further up the field. And the psychological coaching even seemed to be fruitful: after the adulation, Hamilton caught up with Alonso, who was circling in front of him, in seven-league boots.
After 34 laps, Norris had fresh tires handed to him for the second time and put Mercedes under pressure with a so-called undercut. “Are you sure we can’t do it with one stop?” Russell asked on the radio: his tires felt fine. If you couldn’t, the answer was that the path to the goal was too long. So Russell also stopped in the pits – and stayed just ahead of Norris.
Russell asked how things are going in the duel between Mercedes and Ferrari. Well, he should drive as fast as possible, the command post replied. At that moment, Ferrari was two points ahead of Mercedes. But then Pérez received a penalty for touching Norris. And Ferrari tried a daring plan: Leclerc let the Mexican pass in second place; he was supposed to gain enough of a lead to stay five seconds ahead of Russell despite being moved back. That went wrong.