In this new edition of GPFans Week-End we have summarized the most important news items from last week in one article. Within a few minutes you will be up to date with everything that is going on in the world of the royal class.
The crazy Formula 1 season of 2021 is over again. Max Verstappen secured his first world title at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, while Mercedes secured its eighth consecutive constructors’ championship. There has been plenty to discuss in the past few days.
After the race, Mercedes decided to protest twice, in the hope that Lewis Hamilton would still be crowned world champion in this way. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner thought it was a ‘desperate move’. While the team is currently considering going to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal, Toto Wolff has already contacted Max Verstappen to congratulate him on his ‘deserved’ world title. You can see this and more in the video below. Scroll through for the written version.
Max Verstappen crowns himself the very first Dutch world champion in Formula 1
It seemed in Abu Dhabi that Lewis Hamilton would win his record-breaking eighth world title. Hamilton had a fantastic start and was able to take over the lead in the race from Verstappen. However, his luck turned in the closing stages of the race. A crash by Nicholas Latifi meant that a few laps before the end of the race a Safety Car had to enter the track. Verstappen ducked in for a used set of the red band, while Mercedes and Hamilton decided to stay out and keep their track position.
Initially, the FIA announced that the lapped drivers had to stay put, which was bad news for Verstappen, who was surrounded by stragglers. Not long afterwards, race management decided to let the drivers between Hamilton and Verstappen through, after which the title battle could be determined during a one-lap sprint race. Verstappen could easily pass Hamilton on his newer, softer tire, after which he could call himself the world champion.
“I kept fighting the whole race and I got a chance on the last lap,” he said emotionally afterwards. “I still have cramps, really crazy. I don’t know what to say. This year was fantastic. I want Checo [Perez] thanks, he drove like crazy today. I love my team and hope we can do this for another 15 years. I want to stay with them for the rest of my life.”
Horner responds to ‘desperate’ protest Mercedes: “We never wanted to end up with the stewards”
The Mercedes team felt hugely disadvantaged by the decisions of the race management and filed several protests after the Grand Prix. One protest was aimed at Verstappen, who is said to have overtaken Lewis Hamilton during the Safety Car period. The other was more FIA-focused and concerned the impact of the Safety Car on the final standings of the race. The constructors’ champion called for the penultimate lap to be used as the race result.
Delegates from Red Bull and Mercedes had to report to the stewards, while people waited in suspense. However, both protests were unceremoniously tossed in the trash. The race management was of the opinion that Verstappen had done nothing wrong, because he was just behind Hamilton towards the end of the Safety Car. The request to consider the last round as not run was also not honored. This is because the FIA felt that with such a decision they would shorten the race, which should never be the intention.
“It felt a little desperate, of course,” Horner is quoted as saying by Motorsport. “But we didn’t want it to end for the stewards.” Despite everything, the Red Bull CEO does have respect for the competitors. “They’ve been great competitors this year and Lewis has been a phenomenal driver. There have been some moments, it’s been tense, it’s been tough. But we’re just really happy with the result and we’re very proud of Max tonight. He’s been phenomenal all year.”
According to Horner, there is no doubt that race director Michael Masi made the right decision by restarting the race after the Safety Car. “We never wanted to end up with the stewards,” he said. “Obviously there was a lot of discussion before the race, but it turned out that it was very different after the race. But we don’t race with lawyers and stuff. It’s a shame it ended up there, but the stewards made the right decision. We discussed that we wanted them to race. You know, Niki Lauda was the guy who fought hard for that. We’ve also always talked about not finishing races under the Safety Car. The race director has absolutely the right thing to do today in difficult conditions decision. And you know, strategically we did well,” said Horner.
However, the danger has not yet passed for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Mercedes has sent an ‘intention to appeal’ to the FIA and is now considering possible next steps with the International Court of Appeal of the FIA.
Verstappen received a striking message from Toto Wolff: ‘Say I deserved the victory’
After the race, Verstappen was congratulated by Lewis Hamilton and his father. However, the Mercedes team was silent, except for the protests. Nevertheless, Verstappen has had contact with the Mercedes team. Team boss Toto Wolff has contacted the brand new world champion. Toto texted me congratulating me on the season and saying I deserved to win,” Verstappen told Sky Sports. “That was nice of him, of course, emotions were running high on both sides that last lap. at both teams. The Dutchman has to do with Hamilton. “Of course it helps that he also has seven titles, I think that gave him a little comfort. I think if it had been the other way around, it would have been more painful for me, because I didn’t have one yet!”
Hamilton himself can in any case count on a lot of praise. “Lewis has generally been a great sportsman. He came up to me and congratulated me,” Verstappen continues. “It must have been very tough in that last lap. It also shows the respect we had for each other, in general,” he emphasizes. “Of course we also had some hard times during the season, but in the end we were respectful with what we did and pushed each other to the limit throughout the season. It was really fun to race against him.”
Van Amersfoort Racing storms through: racing stable active in Formula 2 from 2022
From 2022, not one, but two Dutch Formula 2 teams will appear on the grid. Van Amersfoort Racing will replace the departing HWA Racelab. In October, the team already announced that they were going to enter Formula 3, but that is now being taken even further. The brand new Formula 2 team will be led by the highly experienced Peter van Erp, who has earned his stripes in motorsport as, for example, the team principal of the Formula 4 team of Van Amersfoort Racing.
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