Two years on and Formula 1 has still not been able to move on from one of the darkest days in the sport’s history.

It was the night of December 12th, 2021 when two titans, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen went toe to toe in a fight for the ultimate glory in Abu Dhabi.

Lewis wanted his 8th championship while Max was looking for his first.

The anticipation was nothing like F1 had ever seen before as the two contenders entered the season finale equal on points.

Max Verstappen was crowned the world champion that night. However, it was the manner in which he won that race that tainted the sport forever. And the former Ferrari boss blames FIA for what happened.

The race weekend kicked off with Verstappen securing pole position, only to lose the lead to Hamilton at the start of the race. Despite Verstappen’s attempts to regain momentum, the Mercedes man maintained his position at the front. However, in the final few laps of the race, Nicholas Latifi crashed before the penultimate corner and triggered a Safety Car. Verstappen capitalized on the opportunity to switch to fresher tires, positioning himself for a final push in the closing stages.

However, in a controversial turn of events, Michael Masi, the race director bent the rules laid down by the FIA at his own discretion and allowed five of the seven lapped cars to unlap themselves, placing Verstappen directly behind Hamilton for the restart and even pulled in the safety car a lap early to forcefully get a single lap of racing in the end. On his fresh rubber, Verstappen seized the opportunity to overtake Hamilton and secured the championship in dramatic fashion.

Peter Windsor blames the FIA for robbing Lewis Hamilton of his 8th title
Michael Masi was removed as the race director at the start of the 2022 season, after which the FIA released a report that explored the events of the infamous race. In the report, it was confirmed that “human error“ played a role in the controversial conclusion to the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. Despite acknowledging the errors made by the former race director, the FIA asserted that the race results and championship standings would remain unchanged and valid.

In a recent appearance on the Cameron F1 podcast, Peter Windsor criticized the FIA for not letting Formula 1 manage the sport itself, which was ultimately the cause of the Abu Dhabi controversy. “Formula 1 is out there on its own really with Liberty [Media] owning it but FIA regulating it,” said Windsor. “And we’ve seen more, worrying really, are the number of good people that have recently left the FIA. Let’s go back to Abu Dhabi 21. I mean that wasn’t a Liberty thing that was an FIA thing and we’ve never really had any real signing off on that race. We’ve had Michael Massie effectively being fired and that was it you know. That’s totally inappropriate and.“

Despite his concerns, the FIA has put measures in place to avoid situations like Abu Dhabi 21 happening again. Team bosses have since been prohibited from communicating with the race director, establishing a Virtual Race Control Room. Amendments to sporting regulations now ensure that all cars must be permitted to unlap themselves before calling in the Safety Car a lap later.

It was probably one of the hardest things Lewis Hamilton ever had to face in his life, having worked so hard to win his 8th championship.

Hamilton admits the events of 2021 prompted retirement thoughts

Mercedes has struggled to keep up with the pace set by Red Bull Racing in the last 2 years with the new regulations, and Hamilton is currently enduring his longest victory drought in F1, having not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. At the end of last season, the 7-time champion openly admitted to moments of self-doubt amid the difficulties, as he revisited the events of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP.

He revealed that he had considered retirement during that difficult period, but also emphasized the importance of making decisions with a clear mind. “Emotions were high, it was a really, really difficult period of time, so I had to just wait until things calmed down, and that I was clear in my thought and I was able to then make the right decisions,” Hamilton told Motorsport.

Do you think Lewis Hamilton can win his 8th championship with Ferrari before hanging up his helmet?