Abu Dhabi VC Preview: the Grand Final is here! Who will do better to fight for everything and win the championship?

The twenty-second and final race of the 2021 season – the decisive battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is sure to be a very exciting affair, and not just in terms of the championship fight! What will all be decided in the last 55 laps of the year?

Will Verstappen or Hamilton win the title? That’s the question we still haven’t found the answer to. But that is a matter that will be settled after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

But for now, both drivers have 369.5 points. Last year, Max Verstappen won here, with Valtteri Bottas second and Hamilton third. Except for 2020, nobody has won here for six years except Mercedes.

Hamilton dominated the Abu Dhabi race in 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2014, Bottas took victory in 2017 and Nico Rosberg took the top spot in 2015. But the fact remains that Mercedes has dominated Formula 1 incredibly in these years.

Make no mistake, they have plenty of experience fighting for the title at Red Bull as well. After all, Sebastian Vettel, who raced for Red Bull from 2009 to 2014, won the world championship four times in a row in this car!

It should also be remembered that while Mercedes drivers have fought for the title at most amongst themselves (2014, 2016), Red Bull faced stiff competition in 2010. Before the last race of the season, four drivers had a chance to win – Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber (both Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Hamilton (McLaren).

Even in 2012, when Vettel celebrated his third championship title in a row, he was battling with a driver from a different stable, namely the Spaniard Alonso again.

It also suggests to us that the last race of this season is sure to be very exciting and, as is usual in Formula 1, it is impossible to predict what all might happen. The current situation offers us simple math.

Whoever scores the most points in this race will become world champion. And if it should happen that neither driver finishes the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the championship will be decided by the greater number of wins. In that case, the championship would go to Verstappen.

But it’s not just the world championship that’s up for grabs. It will also be very interesting to watch the Ferrari and McLaren drivers. Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz are separated by only 8 and a half points!

The Alpine drivers are in a team battle – Fernando Alonso is in tenth place in the overall standings with 77 points ahead of the last round of the season. Just behind him is Esteban Ocon in 11th position, five points behind.

As far as the duels in the Constructors’ Cup are concerned – something very unpredictable would have to happen for Mercedes not to defend the constructors’ championship with its current 28-point lead.

A very similar situation also occurred in the battle for third place between Ferrari and McLaren. The Italian stable boasts a lead of as much as 38.5 points, and the battle for fifth place between Alpino and Alpha Tauri also looks like a done deal.

The grand finale is here, with the last 55 laps of the 2021 season to go. The race starts at 14:00 on Sunday, 12 December.

F1, Red Bull Racing