Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Preview: How Did We Get Here?
Photo from The Independent
Alright, so this isn’t actually much of “preview” per say.
It is, however, a simple realization of how we got to this point.
This weekend is the final race of the Formula 1 season, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton tied on points going into the final race.
Max Verstappen owns the tiebreaker with more wins, and that’s due to Red Bull having the better car over the course of the whole season, even though it looks like Mercedes has the advantage right now.
So how are they tied?
People will go over the course of the entire season. This race where this happened or this race where another thing happened, but realistically there is only one reason these two are tied going into the final race.
Experience.
Let’s go back to Brazil real fast and talk about angles.
Angles in Formula 1 are important when it comes to on track incidents.
In Brazil, Max and Lewis battled neck and neck going into a corner, with Verstappen behind Lewis but on the inside.
Max, because he has in the inside line, knows that he can run a little wide here and make Lewis uncomfortable.
The worst that happens is they have a crash, Max gets a penalty which won’t matter because he’s so far ahead of everyone else, and he gets a 18-26 point advantage in the championship over Lewis.
Lewis knows this too, which is why he backs out completely and avoids contact all together.
He’s living to fight another lap.
The result? Lewis eventually makes the pass cleanly, and goes on to win the race.
Two races later at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the same thing happened two more times.
(It’s difficult to find video of it because everyone about that race is simply talking about their contact).
Twice going into turn one, Max knew Lewis had much more to lose than he did and was perfectly fine making contact, even if it caused an accident.
Both times, Lewis backed out and avoided it entirely.
The result? Lewis eventually makes the pass cleanly, and goes on to win the race.
(And don’t listen to anyone who says he only passed him because Max got a penalty and didn’t see a point. Max’s tires were completely dead. At the end of the race, he was significantly slower than Ocon and Bottas. Lewis would have passed him without any other incidents).
Now, let’s go back to Silverstone.
It’s midway through the season, Verstappen has the championship lead, and this time Lewis is on the inside on the very first lap.
Lewis goes into the corner knowing damn well that he’s not going to make the corner.
He’s leaving it up to Max. It’s entirely Max’s choice.
Max can take the corner normally, knowing he’s going to get the worst of it and crash while Lewis gets a penalty that doesn’t really hurt him in the end, or he can back out and live for another lap to try and overtake Lewis later in the race.
The result? This happened.
Max ends up out of the race, losing at least a 2nd place finish and even maybe a win.
Lewis went on to win the race, even though he got a penalty.
That’s 18-26 points that he lost for refusing to back out of the corner and living to fight another lap, and it has led to a tied championship.
Without that crash, Max has an 18-26 point lead going into the final race, and has all but won the Driver’s Championship unless he has a mechanical failure on Sunday.
Everything I just typed might sound like it’s anti-Max or pro-Lewis.
It’s not. I like both drivers a ton and do not care at all who wins the championship. I’m loving this battle.
And do you know how you know it’s not anti-Max or pro-Lewis? Because Lewis was the exact same way when he was younger.
In 2007, he had the championship locked up until he made foolish mistakes that threw it away and gave it to Kimi.
In 2008, he did the same thing and almost threw it away before making a pass at the final corner to win the championship.
There are lot of new Formula 1 fans, so if you don’t know I’ll give you the history.
Just like Max, Lewis was considered a generational talent in Formula 1, and he hadn’t lived up to those expectations until 2014 when he was finally back in a championship level car, and has since won 6 of the last 7 Formula 1 World Championships.
Did he suddenly choose to become a better driver? Or did he have more experience and more of a realization that it’s better to live to fight another lap.
Christian Horner said in an interview that Max Verstappen is a better driver than Lewis Hamilton, and he might just be.
But Verstappen should have had this title locked up by now. The only reason he doesn’t is an experience gap to his title contender.
And he should know this.
He had advice on situations like these from none other than Lewis himself…
