00:00We've been waiting for this all season long. The finale, the title decider, under the lights here in Abu Dhabi.
00:07It's lights out, away we go and Hamilton gets a decent start and he's already ahead of Max Verstappen.
00:12There's a bit of jockeying going on between Sonoda and Ricciardo. Hamilton leads into the first corner.
00:17Norris goes wide, Sergio Perez slips through into third place. There comes Carlos Sainz.
00:22But it's Hamilton out in front, the medium tyres working well for him as his teammate Valtteri Bottas challenges the Ferrari.
00:28Into the hairpin we go now. Hamilton leads Bottas, leads Perez, then leads Norris, then the two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc.
00:35It is a dream start for Lewis Hamilton.
00:38Yes, the only good news there for Red Bull is at least Perez is up there.
00:42But for the second consecutive weekend, the Red Bull did not get off the line very well.
00:47This three of Brest going into the turn nine hairpin. Oh, and there, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton almost coming together.
00:54Hamilton has to go off the track. The Dutch fans roaring in the background. In the background, Lewis Hamilton in the lead, but will he have to give out the place?
01:02Yes, of course he will. But the problem he's got is, is Perez is right on Verstappen's tail.
01:07Yes, he gave that back.
01:09No investigation necessary. Say the stewards.
01:14The door's open, he's gone through it. He's kept completely within the white lines. And a car that was side by side with him is heading off down the road.
01:22I'll stand by that, but that's not what the stewards think.
01:25Max Verstappen about to make what should be his one and only pit stop of this race.
01:31So Sergio Perez will stay out and will go on to take the lead of this race. Neat stop by the Mercedes crew.
01:39He will be looking to hold up Lewis. I think we are supposed to do that.
01:43Lewis will be nervous at the back of the Red Bull and Perez will have a lunge up the inside.
01:48Inevitably, Lewis cuts back underneath him and that's exactly what we expected to happen.
01:55He will now drive past him, give him a cheery little wave. And that was about all Perez could do, or was it?
02:02Perez with DRS is coming back into turn nine.
02:05Can Perez make it into turn nine? He saved up a bit of energy from that battery store and with a bit of DRS possibly as well has blasted past Lewis Hamilton.
02:15So he is going to hold him up just that little extra bit. This is a very, very good tussle here. Perez as absolutely on the limit and as fair as he could be.
02:24Back him up, back him up.
02:27As they make their way around the final two turns, Hamilton's going to try and get Perez into turn one and have to go the long way around the outside to do it.
02:34Can't do it and can't quite do it. Perez playing the ultimate team game here for Max Verstappen.
02:39And this is really frustrating Lewis Hamilton. It's going to be hurting his tyres a little bit as well.
02:44Perez and Hamilton in the 134s and the 133s. The gap now coming down between Verstappen and Hamilton.
02:55You can see him right in the background. Hamilton needs to get past Perez here. He does get past Perez. He moves towards the inside.
03:02He's going to force Perez the long way around if Perez is going to try and retake that lead of the race.
03:08But on lap 21, Hamilton does get past Perez. But Perez has played the ultimate team game and he's really brought his teammate back into play.
03:17And he can give his teammate a bit of DRS for good measure. So great team play. That's the team play we talked about earlier on.
03:23Now he gets clean out of the way.
03:25Oh, Checker is a legend.
03:27Absolute animal.
03:29Oh no! Nicholas Latifi has crashed and I think that is at Turn 14. That will be a safety car and coming into the pits.
03:40Max Verstappen.
03:41Hamilton stays out. Verstappen coming into the pits and I would imagine there's a set of soft tyres waiting for him to go onto that Red Bull car. Yes, it is.
03:51Will they, will we get any more racing laps or not? What jeopardy at the end of this Grand Prix, the end of this World Championship. Will there be any more racing laps?
04:03If there are, then Verstappen has got the tyres to really do something with them.
04:10And lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake.
04:14It's not mandatory in the regulations, which leaves Verstappen with a lot of work to do then.
04:21Lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake.
04:23Yeah, of course. Typical decision.
04:26It's classic.
04:27Oh, that's the price.
04:29Why aren't we getting these lap cars out of the way?
04:33Just give me, because Christian, just give me a second. Okay, my big one is to get this incident clear.
04:41Is the safety car coming in this lap? We think it should do, could do.
04:45Lapped cars to overtake the safety car. So Norris and Alonso and Ocon and Leclerc and Vettel to overtake it.
04:53And it's ending. And it's ending. Wow.
04:56So there's confusion, but the safety car is coming in at the end of this lap.
05:01So those back markers allowed to overtake the safety car.
05:06Michael, this isn't right.
05:08It has left Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen side by side.
05:13Hamilton will be ahead. Verstappen is absolutely desperate to get on with this on that soft compound tyre.
05:19We're going to have one lap of racing to decide the championship in 2021.
05:25Hamilton has the advantage. Verstappen has the faster, fresher tyres.
05:31And we have got 3.2 miles of racing action all the way to the checkered flag as the crowd roar the drivers on to the final lap of this race.
05:42And Verstappen sets after Hamilton. Is it going to be a first world championship for Verstappen?
05:48Is it going to be an eighth world championship for Lewis Hamilton?
05:51Where can Verstappen try and get past Hamilton? First overtaking zone is normally down into turn five.
05:57Is Verstappen far enough back? He's going to make the lunge down the inside.
06:01Hamilton sees it coming. It's a late lunge by Verstappen, who takes the lead of the race.
06:06Verstappen now snatches the championship trophy from Lewis Hamilton, who's trying to fight back.
06:12No DRS for two laps, so Lewis Hamilton will not get the rear wing open.
06:17Now he's going to go down the outside. Verstappen keeps it tight and knee, but he hasn't.
06:22He's gone a little bit wide.
06:24This race that started with controversy has ended with controversy.
06:28No, no, Mike. That was so not right.
06:31Here comes Lewis Hamilton though, down the back straight. He's got a slipstream.
06:35He almost touches Verstappen. They almost make contact into turn nine.
06:39And Verstappen stays ahead of Lewis Hamilton, of all the drama, of all the controversy, of all the magic moments in Formula One in 2021.
06:48It comes down to this. And at this moment, it looks like it's going to go the way of Max Verstappen.
06:55Mercedes not happy. Red Bull will be delighted.
06:59They have shared a brilliant championship battle, but the championship can only be one by one.
07:05And it's going Dutch in 2021.
07:08Max Verstappen, for the first time ever, is champion of the world.
07:14Lewis Hamilton finishes in second place after leading for so, so long.
07:20Oh, my Lord, Max! Oh, my Lord!
07:23Yes! Yes! Oh, my God!
07:25Yes! Yes!
07:26Oh, my God!
07:27Yes!
07:28Yes!
07:29Yes!
07:30Yes!
07:31Yes!
07:32Yes!
07:33Yes!
07:34The bubbles and the sparkly stuff to celebrate as a Formula One World Championship for the first time.
07:39The chapter has ended.
07:41I hope you stayed right until the end.
07:43And if it was worthwhile, well, don't forget the sequels coming our way in 2022 in 98 days' time.
07:50Just enough time for Verstappen and Red Bull to celebrate a championship under the lights in Abu Dhabi.
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