Majority of fans don’t believe Verstappen deserved 2021 championship

The majority of participants in our poll believe that Max Verstappen didn’t deserve to beat Sir Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 F1 crown.

Max Verstappen after winning in Abu Dhabi.v1

A poll by Formula1News.co.uk asking readers if they believe Max Verstappen deserved to win the 2021 Drivers’ Championship was fairly evenly split, but the majority of participants voted “no.”

Specifically, 56.1 percent of participants think the Dutchman didn’t deserve to beat Sir Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 F1 crown.

3,361 votes were cast in the Twitter poll, and dozens of voters shared their thoughts after voting.

One social media user said he believes that both Verstappen and Hamilton to deserved to win the championship up until the final round, but the manner in which the battle was decided in Abu Dhabi renders the Dutchman an undeserving champion.

“Up until the last race both deserved the championship. There were highs and lows on both sides. It looked pretty even despite the Verstappen fans and Hamilton haters saying otherwise. The championship was to be decided on the last race and what happened was a fix so no he didn’t.”

READ: Ex-F1 driver denies Masi tried to sabotage Hamilton but criticises ‘rushed’ decision

Another user affirmed that Verstappen deserved to win, as did Hamilton, but the ending of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix wasn’t handled “correctly.”

A third Formula 1 spectator opined that Mercedes ultimately cost the Briton his record-breaking eighth championship by not calling him into the pits once the Safety Car was deployed following Nicholas Latifi’s late crash.

“Max deserves it. Red Bull chose to gamble with tyre changes, Mercedes chose not to. Lewis’s team were to blame for his loss. It’s a sport – you win some you lose some – deal with it & just come back determined to win next time.”

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However, as another commenter pointed out, Mercedes were in a lose-lose situation, as they risked losing track position had they pitted Hamilton:

“It’s not a fair comparison, and you probably know that. There was no gambling with tyre changes available to Mercedes.

“In every situation described by the rules they made the right decision, and in many of those situations, changing tyres would make them lose.”

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP podium.v1

Another spectator said that while Verstappen “fought hard all year,” he ultimately was “gifted” the race win and with it the championship as a result of race director Michael Masi choosing to “change the rules concerning Safety Car procedures.”

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