A petition to change the results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and therefore the 2021 Drivers’ Championship, has officially surpassed 100,000 signatures, with Lewis Hamilton fans continuing to do all they can to get the Mercedes driver an unprecedented eighth world title.
For those that have only watched Formula 1 since 2022, the 2021 season finale will forever go down as one of the most controversial races in the history of the sport, with it having been labelled as “manipulated” by Hamilton.
Hamilton and Max Verstappen entered the final level on points, meaning whoever finished ahead of the other would claim the title.
Hamilton led the vast majority of the race and was cruising to the race win and the title, whilst Verstappen was comfortably behind in second.
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However, a late crash for Nicholas Latifi changed everything, as former race director Michael Masi decided to break the sport’s rules, something which gave Verstappen a huge advantage.
When the Safety Car for Latifi’s crash was reaching its close, Masi initially decided that no cars would be allowed to un-lap themselves, before changing his mind and decided that only those between the championship rivals could do so.
This was the first rule broken, with it typically being a case of either every driver being able to un-lap themselves, or nobody.
This allowed Verstappen to be directly behind Hamilton on the final lap, which should’ve been carried out behind the Safety Car.
When lapped drivers overtake the Safety Car, it’s supposed to complete one more lap before allowing the race to resume.
This additional lap would’ve been the final lap of the season, with Masi instead deciding to immediately withdraw the Safety Car, meaning the final lap was served under green flag conditions.
Verstappen went on to overtake Hamilton on the final lap to claim the win and the title, which many have labelled as being tarnished forever.
Masi later left the FIA, with the governing body having determined that the Australian made a ‘human error’ during the race.
Understandably, the race result left Hamilton fans furious, with a petition having been started by Patel Gordon-Bennet on Change.org
The petition has since surpassed 100,000 signatures.
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The petition states: “I believe that justice was not served on Sunday December 12, 2021 when the FIA stewards denied Lewis Hamilton of his win of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“With less than 1 lap remaining, some lapped cars were allowed to pass the safety car, which does not comply with the rules of the F1 sport. This gave rival opponent Max Verstappen the opportunity to overtake Lewis Hamilton and win the Grand Prix.
“If you are an advocate of justice, honesty and fairness, please sign this petition. Leaving this decision as it stands will send a very wrong message to youngsters and future racers.”