F1 2021 FINAL

The F1 2021 season became the most interesting F1 season in history. As Lewis Hamilton tries to break the historic record for most world championship titles, the sudden resurgence of Max Verstappen hinders Hamilton's ambition. The two rivals ended up clashing at each other with controversial results and in the end, they're now tied at the driver leaderboards with 369.5 points each. With Abu Dhabi as the final stop, Hamilton and Verstappen are settling the scores once and for all for the ultimate winner-take-all match.

Rivalry aside, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marks the end of Honda's involvement in Formula 1 as well as Kimi Raikkonen's career.

Hours before the final race of the season started, the Haas F1 team announced that Nikita Mazepin won't participate because of his positive COVID result. It's a sudden development as the world brace itself for the epic finale where history is in the balance at the hands of two world title rivals.

The final 58 laps that rocked the motoring world began with Lewis Hamilton charging through the lead until Verstappen charging through, turning this race into all-out mayhem.

In Lap 14, Verstappen became the first to pit in and returned to the race in fifth place. A lap later, Hamilton pits and dropped to second place with Sergio Perez in the lead.

Lap 20 saw Hamilton and Perez clawing at each other for the lead until he got him a lap later. With Verstappen on the podium, the two Red Bull drivers are going all out against Hamilton. Verstappen returns to second place to continue chasing down Hamilton while Perez enters the pits.

Lap 26 saw Kimi Raikkonen's front wing get damaged and he's racing through the pits to get it fixed.  When he arrived at the pits, his final day as an F1 driver ended in heartbreak. Mechanical failures signaled the bitter end of Raikkonen's career. Not the farewell drive he hoped for. Following Raikkonen's final heartbreak, the two Williams drivers got pitted with Latifi returned to the track in 17th place and George Russell throwing in the towel.

With Lap 31 saw Valtteri Bottas enter the pits, the two Red Bull drivers are back on the podium to continue the hunt against Hamilton.

In Lap 35, Antonio Giovinazzi suffered mechanical failures, triggering a virtual safety car, and Govinazzi's final day as an Alfa driver is officially done.

As the race resumed on Lap 38, with Verstappen got a new set of tires and Hamilton remaining in the lead, the action continues.

With five laps left of the season, Nicolas Latifi crashed. As the safety car returns, the last showdown has begun and Verstappen has the last laugh as he overtook Hamilton by surprise!

Screengrab from Formula 1

At long last, Max Verstappen got what he deserved. His first Formula 1 World Championship title! He defeated Lewis Hamilton as well as Carlos Sainz to win the final race of the season!

Although Verstappen's maiden world champion title means heartbreak for Lewis Hamilton, that final heartbreak didn't stop Mercedes from clinching another constructors' championship title.

Congratulations to Max Verstappen for his maiden world champion title!

And that is the end of the F1 2021 season! See you next season!