The final lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix remains one of the most hotly contested moments in the sport’s history, as fans continue to debate whether an unjust decision “robbed” Lewis Hamilton of the Drivers’ Championship.
With a late safety car following Nicholas Latifi’s crash on lap 50 of the race, Lewis Hamilton looked set to secure a record-breaking eighth world championship.
However, then-race director Michael Masi went against normal safety car procedures to allow for a last lap shootout between Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
With the pair of different tyre compounds, Hamilton on old hards and Verstappen on fresh softs, the Dutchman took the lead with only a handful of corners remaining.
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Despite Hamilton’s best efforts and pleas over the team radio about the “manipulated” result, Verstappen remained in front, claiming his first world title.
A petition launched over what fans believe is an “unjust” result has seen over 77,000 Formula 1 fans side with Hamilton, calling on the FIA to “overturn the decision of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.”
“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,” Patel Gordon-Bennett, who started the petition, said.
“With less than one 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,” Gordon-Bennett continued
Former Formula 1 team manager Peter Windsor recently sited the ending of the Australian Grand Prix as evidence that Hamilton’s eighth world title was stolen.
After a chaotic end to the Australian Grand Prix, drivers were led to the finish line by the safety car, which Windsor claims is what “we should have got in Abu Dhabi in 2021.”
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“I didn’t see any Australian fans – and they’re pretty vociferous at the best of times – complaining or booing saying, ‘no, we want this race to finish as a proper one-lap race, this is terrible,” Windsor said.
“They were all cheering and clapping – exactly as I said they would have in Abu Dhabi ’21 if they’d finished it behind the Safety Car, as they should have done, and Lewis had been cruising round to win his eighth World title.
“That, to me, was absolute proof – again – of what went wrong in Abu Dhabi and I still feel very hot under the collar about that as well,” he added.