Robbed.

 

An insane season of Formula 1 came to an end today with the better driver not ending up as World Champion. 

All eyes across the globe honed in to what was one of the most anticipated finals of a Formula 1 season that nobody, at the start of the year, would have ever even imagined. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, for 20 races, on equal points and the decider in Abu Dhabi would determine who the 2021 World Champion would be. 

Before I continue, I know I try my utmost best to maintain an unbiased point of view when I recap races and the events that have unfolded in front of my eyes but today marks one exception which I apologize for. 

A brilliant getaway off the line saw Hamilton immediately take the lead from Max who had qualified in first place after a smart bit of team work saw him gain the slip stream from his teammate the day before. From there the Briton was able to manage the pace and extend his lead out front showing the skill he had with medium tyres to pull away from both Red Bulls who were on soft tyres which they hoped would keep them in the title fight early on in the race. 

Following the first set of pit stops, Hamilton had to negotiate Sergio Perez who would effectively back him up into his teammate Verstappen till Hamilton finally got past at which point the gap to Max was less than a second. However, once again Hamilton came to the fore and showed why he is a 7 time World Champion by extending his lead over Verstappen to 15 seconds leaving the Red Bull's speechless as to where the raw pace was coming from. 

A glimmer of hope came for the Bull's as Giovinazzi, in his final race for Alpha Romeo, had to stop track side - bringing out the virtual safety car, under which Verstappen pitted to gain fresh hard tyres. Even with fresh tyres, he was unable to reel Hamilton in who was putting mega lap in after mega lap to keep the gap to the Dutchman more than 10 seconds which was comfortably enough for him to win the championship. During an in-race interview, Christian Horner admitted that it would need a miracle from the F1 gods to allow Max to win. And boy oh boy did that miracle come. 

With 6 laps to go Nicholas Latifi crashed into the wall exiting turn 12 bringing out the safety car under which Max pitted once again to soft tyres. However ahead of him remained 5 cars that he had to lap to reach Hamilton who had done the hard work earlier in the race to lap them quickly so that he did not lose any time. 

Queue the entrance of the FIA who decided it would be a good idea to let the 5 lapped cars in between the two drivers to unlap themselves and the other 3 who were behind Max to remain behind - a clear violation of the very rules they claim they follow strictly during a race. What baffles me personally is that there is a race that is going on for other drivers as well! It is not only Lewis and Max on track. Other drivers are fighting for points that matter for their respective teams and their own personal pride and by letting 5 drivers go ahead and 3 to stay behind, there is a clear violation of the ability to allow all drivers to race equally. 

Looking at this decision from a purely unbiased point of view, it just is not logical how the FIA decided to let some cars go through and others to not, thus showing that they blatantly did not follow their own rules which effectively handed Verstappen the championship on a platter. As the leaders of an elite sport which prides itself on following the rules when racing, it is a shambolic showing which resulted in the incorrect driver to win the championship. 

The globe watched a race today that was dominated by Lewis Hamilton who time and time again extended his gap to Max Verstappen on not one, not two but three separate occasions when the Dutchman had come close to overtaking him. His superior racecraft today is why he deserved to be champion of the world for an 8th time - a feat that he was robbed of. This does not take away from the fact that Max drove brilliantly this season, showing why he is one of the best drivers on the grid. But to interfere with the race in the manner that the FIA did and to alter the result of the race like they did. It's unacceptable. 

Had Max won it fair and square on track, I would have no issue at all. However the way in which the events of tonight unfolded leave me speechless as Lewis Hamilton undisputedly deserved his 8th World Title.