F1 | Abu Dhabi GP | Hamilton declared 'Yeah, this is getting manipulated man’ as the flag fell
Today's Big Read: Recalling how the gripping final laps of Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix played out on some unforgettable team radio
During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim shared the gold medal during the men’s high jump final. The two competitors had gone toe to toe and both completed a jump of 2.37 meters. As opposed to entering a ‘jump off’ the two competitors agreed to share the Gold which sent Barshim into ecstasy. In the world of Formula One, just like in Highlander – there can be only one. Max Verstappen took the title, following his controversial victory in Abu Dhabi. Today, read how the most dramatic race of the year played out over team radio. An unforgettable Grand Prix which saw Hamilton announce the outcome was ‘being manipulated’ whilst his race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington could only say he was ‘absolutely speechless’ as the chequered flag fell.
On the 1,297th lap of the 2021 F1 season, the level of drama, controversy and spectacle reached new heights. The laps prior to this featured a back and forth between Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer Bono on the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, team radio. The conversation showed that there was as much uncertainty in Hamilton’s cockpit of his W12 as there was to all those looking on.
Max Verstappen had been 27.6 seconds behind race leader Lewis Hamilton and in traffic in the closing stages of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In such a position, Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1 that:
"The pace of the Mercedes is just too strong today. Max is driving his heart out, out there but we're going to need a miracle in these last 10 laps to turn it around. He'll give it everything but the clock's ticking. He's got four cars to go through. He needs some luck from the racing gods on these last 10 laps. We're going to give it everything as we have done all year. He'll drive his heart out the last ten laps. You can guarantee that."
Whether Racing Gods or not, when there were just five full laps remaining, Nicholas Latifi spun in the dirty air behind Mick Schumacher. The Canadian racer’s FW43B was now stranded on the racing line on the exit of Turn 14. After double yellows, a Safety Car immediately followed – and the drama played out on Hamilton’s team radio:
Bono: Staying out, staying out, safety car, safety car, keep the delta positive.
Hamilton: **** Bono man.
Over the years, there have been numerous occasions when cars have pitted under safety cars as a way to chase down the race leader on a fresh set of rubber. Being the race leader is never easy and Lewis Hamilton did not have a large enough gap between Max Verstappen to be able to make a pit stop and return on track in P1.
Hamilton: **** I can’t box?
Bono: Negative.
Red Bull Racing did have enough of a gap to P3, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, and so the Dutchman unsurprisingly headed into the pits for set of soft tyres. During which, race commentator Martin Brundle said ‘They had nothing to lose there’. However, when back on track Verstappen now found five lapped cars between himself and race-leader Hamilton. With this, Bono continued to be in conversation to the team’s talismanic driver and as Hamilton was declaring “That’s unbelievable man” the reigning Champion would shorty ask later what the situation is.
Bono: So, the situation is Verstappen has pitted, he had free pitstop. We would have lost track position to him. 4 laps remaining when you cross the line. So, this field has to bunch and then have to send lapped cars through. So, it may not restart.
Hamilton: **** is he [Verstappen] right behind me?
Bono: He will be once they sorted out all of the order. This is gonna take a while to sort out.
Hamilton: With new tyres?
Bono: Copy Lewis, we would have lost track position if we had pitted.
At this stage, with a safety car on track, the process usually would be that the lapped cars come through so that the actual race positions are back behind one another ready for a restart when the track goes green.
Meanwhile, knowing the arsenal Verstappen now had at his disposal, Lewis Hamilton was desperately trying to maintain the heat in his 40-lap old hard tyres and the pace of the safety car was doing him no favours.
Hamilton: The safety car’s going, it’s not going full gas down the straight.
An ever-calm Bono did his utmost to reinforce the faith of his driver and replied “Copy Lewis, understood”. At this time, the viewing public and all those looking on were uncertain whether lapped cars would or would not be permitted to unlap themselves and effectively be moved out of the way. An ever-present Hamilton was fully aware of this as the conversation continued.
With three laps remaining, Sergio Perez pitted to retire his car, having already more than played his part in his teammate’s attempt to clinch a maiden F1 Drivers’ title. As this happened, the ticker at the top of the tv broadcast from Race Control added another twist. ‘Lapped Cars will not be allowed to overtake’ was the announcement and this meant the 5 obstacles between Verstappen and Hamilton would remain.
Over on Red Bull Racing’s team radio, this news was shared with Max Verstappen by his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and the Dutchman replied ‘Yeah of course, typical decision…I’m not surprised.’ As he seemed to come to terms with the realisation that a first F1 Drivers’ title was out of his grasp. However, in an all too familiar scene for the 2021 F1 season, we now had the broadcast of a (previously behind closed doors) conversation between the FIA Race Director and an F1 team. On this occasion, it was Red Bull Racing’s team boss Christian Horner pleading for the lapped cars to be removed.
Horner: Why, why, why aren’t we getting these lapped cars out the way?
Masi: Because Christian, just give me a second, ok my main big one is to get this incident clear.
Horner: You only need one racing lap.
Now, with two laps of a gripping race remaining and Lewis Hamilton losing grip of his tyre, Race Control’s ticker made an appearance once more but not in the way expected. It was announced that ‘Lapped cars 4 [Norris] – 14 – 31 – 15 – 5 to overtake safety car.’ Not only this, but ‘Safety car in this lap’ meant there was still one full lap of racing to take place in an unforgettable season.
Not to be outdone by his opposite number, what unsurprisingly followed was yet another conversation between the FIA and an F1 team - this time it was Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff.
With the all too glaring obvious fact that Lewis Hamilton was now a sitting duck to Max Verstappen on a track which would not see DRS deployed for the final lap, Wolff was clear in his feelings to Michael Masi.
Wolff: Michael, Michael this isn’t right.
Whether right or wrong it was going to happen and the expected outcome soon followed.
On quicker soft tyres, with the only man preventing an F1 Drivers’ title from him sat a few metres ahead, Verstappen bravely dove down the inside of Hamilton into Turn 5 to take the lead. Turn 5 and Turn 6 had previously been a chicane but the track was reconfigured for 2021 and now a sweeping left-hand corner led itself to a pair of back straights – what was that about racing gods?
Following this and with better traction onto the pair of back straights, Verstappen was in a position and a car which would provide him a greater chance of defending. As would be expected from the most successful Formula One driver of all time, Hamilton attempted to enter Verstappen’s slipstream as they approached Turn 6. With an acceptable weave so as to prevent this, Verstappen was having none of it and the Dutchman successfully held Hamilton off at Turn 6. Now, with his driver trailing, Toto Wolff was back on the radio in a transmission which continued to be shared with the public.
Wolff: No, no Michael that was so not right.
Meanwhile, on track, the breathtaking moves continued down the back straight approaching Turn 9. Hamilton pulled to the right side of Verstappen and was now side by side with the man preventing him from a record breaking eighth F1 Drivers’ Championship. So close were the pair that they almost touched. Unlike in Monza, Silverstone and Saudi Arabia – to name but a few – there was no contact and Verstappen swept round the corner remaining in P1. That was the closest Lewis Hamilton got as Max Verstappen in his RB16B powered by Honda (in its final season of F1) charged off down the track to victory.
A stunned Lewis Hamilton declared on his team radio ‘Yeah, this is getting manipulated man’. Then, as Max Verstappen crossed the line and took the chequered flag, next came screams of delight from the Dutchman to his race engineer who was in equal voice as each other declared ‘Oh my God!’.
As much as the screams had been deafening over Red Bull’s transmission, so to was the silence being broadcast from Mercedes.
Bono could only tell his driver ‘Oh, I’m just speechless Lewis, absolutely speechless.’ Whereas Lewis Hamilton was literally speechless as silence came from the seven-time F1 Drivers’ Champion. Then it was back to business with Bono reminding Hamilton ‘Strat mode 1 Lewis and you’re supposed to be going to the grid Lewis’.
Lewis Hamilton’s battle weary W12 didn’t make it to the grid, instead it entered pitlane before parking up and allowing Hamilton some moments of contemplation. Also, in the Mercedes ranks, having seen his driver cross the line second and take the crown from Hamilton’s grasp, Toto Wolff was back on the radio to the FIA.
Wolff: You need to reinstate the lap before, that’s not right.
Masi: Toto, it’s called a motor race, OK?
Wolff: Sorry?
Masi: We went car racing.
At the time of writing, there is still much unknown about whether Mercedes will go through with their appeal of the race decision having seen their initial request for review to stewards dismissed. However, what is not unknown is the magnanimous way Sir Lewis Hamilton took this defeat.
Ahead of the post-race interview, Lewis Hamilton had taken some time with his father Anthony who embraced his son knowing he had been on the precipice of history. Then the seven-time F1 Drivers’ Champion spoke to 2009 F1 Drivers’ Champion Jenson Button to pay tribute to his team and the new Champion.
“Firstly, a big congratulations to Max and to his team. We did an amazing job this year, my team, everyone back at the factory, all the men and women we have and here who have worked so hard over this whole year, it’s been the most difficult of seasons and I am so proud and so grateful to be a part of the journey with them. We gave it everything this last part of the season. We gave it everything and we never gave up and that’s the most important thing.”
During this, we had the spectacular sight of Lewis Hamilton’s father, Anthony Hamilton, being one of the first people to congratulate Max Verstappen and give the father of the new F1 Drivers’ Champion a congratulatory hug.
The 2021 Formula One season has been an unforgettable one but also unforgettable is the kind of Champion Lewis Hamilton has been and will always be.
In the age of click bait and unsavoury media, much may be made of one single comment from Lewis Hamilton, over team radio in the heat of battle, that the race was manipulated but Lewis is a racer and an honourable one at that. His conduct, praise given to Max Verstappen and the way he was so gracious in defeat is truly admirable.
Max Verstappen, is now the 34th F1 Drivers’ Champion and the first ever Dutch F1 Drivers' World Champion and will now drive car number 1 but he has huge shoes to fill of the man who drives car number 44. This is not the Olympics and there can be no sharing of the title with the exceptional Max Verstappen. Be under no illusion though – Sir Lewis Hamilton is also fully deserving of it.
