Accepting Defeat To Verstappen With Grace, Hamilton: Congratulations To Max And His Team

Lewis Hamilton then Max Verstappen (Instagram @F1)

JAKARTA - Lewis Hamilton accepted defeat gracefully after rival Max Verstappen dashed the Brit's hopes of winning an eighth world title on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton, who started P2 alongside polesitter Verstappen, was in control of the race for 58 laps after taking the lead at corner one of the opening lap and escaping a penalty for taking the runoff area while defending his position against the Red Bull rivals.

However, the safety car in the last five laps, which gave Verstappen the opportunity to change to new tires, changed the scenario for the Mercedes driver.

A monumental effort by a history-making driverThank you, Lewis, for helping to make this season extra special#AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/VYyP4CtInd

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 12, 2021

Verstappen benefited from a safety car period to restore his distance from Hamilton and on the final lap after the race resumed, the Dutchman easily overtook the seven-times world champion from England to secure his first F1 title.

"First, congratulations to Max and his team," Hamilton said with teary eyes after the race.

"I think we did a great job this year. My team, everyone at the factory... have worked really hard this whole year. It's been the toughest season.

"I'm so proud of them, proud to be a part of this journey with them," Hamilton said.

When Red Bull and Verstappen celebrated, Mercedes raised two protests regarding the safety car procedures.

The first is related to Verstappen's maneuver which brought his car parallel to Hamilton's car at the end of the safety car period.

Then related to the race control decision which initially stated that the overlapping cars, which were between Hamilton's and Verstappen's cars, were not allowed to escape from the safety car.

Then they decided to allow the cars to disengage from the safety car, placing Verstappen right behind Hamilton, before the Red Bull driver stole his chance to claim the title on soft tires that had just overtook Hamilton on the final lap.

"We gave everything, the last part of the season we really gave everything and we didn't give up," Hamilton said. "That's the most important thing."