Six unforgettable Abu Dhabi Grand Prix including Max Verstappen’s controversial 2021 title win over Lewis Hamilton

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The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been a showpiece race in the Formula 1 calendar since its debut in 2009, so F1 Oversteer looks at six of its most unforgettable runnings yet.

History even awaited Formula 1 from the series’ debut visit to the Yas Marina Circuit in 2009 as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix became its first day-into-night race. It is also one feat the race continues to hold exclusively, despite the increasing number of night events on the calendar.

F1 has also staged its season-finale at Yas Marina yearly except in 2011, 2012 and 2013 since the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP. So, the round has also seen titles decided with Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crowned in the capital of the United Arab Emirates yet.

Some of the Formula 1 titles crowned at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have been controversial affairs, as well. And while the Yas Marina Circuit has often been likened to a car park due to its layout over the years, it has also yielded several tense on-track battles and scary crashes.

So, with that in mind, F1 Oversteer dives into five of the most unforgettable runnings of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to date from title deciders to iconic moments etched into F1 history…

Sebastian Vettel won F1’s first day-into-night race for Red Bull at the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP

The Yas Marina Circuit cost £800m to build but few expected it would be ready for the debut Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2009 when work began in 2007. Yet F1 would travel to the high-grip track for its season-finale after Jenson Button had just sealed the 2009 drivers’ title in Brazil.

Brawn GP had even wrapped up the 2009 constructors’ title in Brazil in the team’s only term on the grid. But Hamilton set off fireworks early on at the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP by scoring pole position with McLaren by 0.667 seconds over Red Bull rival Vettel with his 1:40.948 lap.

Vettel stuck with Hamilton through the early stages and ultimately jumped the Briton during the first pit stop phase. A brake problem would also force Hamilton to retire on Lap 20 of 55, shuffling the other Red Bull of Mark Webber into P2 and leaving Vettel clear to win the race.

While Vettel had the Abu Dhabi GP in the bag once Hamilton retired, Webber did not enjoy such an easy time. A late-race surge from Button, who had suffered from understeer during the race, suddenly put the Australian under pressure once on the softer Bridgestone rubber.

A change in tyre compounds transformed Button’s Brawn just as Webber started to struggle with his tyres. But when the Briton got alongside the Australian into Turn 8 after the 1.2 km straight, Webber had the inside and it would gift Red Bull a one-two finish by 0.610 seconds.

Sebastian Vettel won his first F1 title at the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP as Fernando Alonso rued traffic

F1 returned to Yas Marina for the season-finale again in 2010 and it even relished a four-way fight for the title, with Fernando Alonso (246 points), leading Webber (238), Vettel (231) and Hamilton (222). The 2010 term was also the first with the 25 points for a win scoring system.

But the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP got off to a startling start when Vitantonio Liuzzi drove his Force India onto the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher. The Italian had nowhere to go as he came through the Turn 5-6 chicane and found the German had spun, facing the traffic on the exit.

Liuzzi luckily only narrowly escaped driving into Schumacher’s head with a frightening crash, and both walked away unhurt. Nico Rosberg, Vitaly Petrov, Jaime Alguersuari, Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi and Christian Klien also exploited the safety car period for a cheaper pit stop.

No other drivers peeled into the pit lane until Lap 11 of 55 when Webber darted in for fresh tyres after struggling on the options and brushing the barrier. But stopping just six laps after the race resumed saw him re-join the circuit in P16 behind Rosberg, Petrov and Alguersuari.

Yet in the fear of Webber gaining ground amid the title fight, Ferrari responded to Red Bull’s strategy by pitting Felipe Massa on L14 and Alonso on L15. Yet while Alonso emerged ahead of his Red Bull rival, the Spaniard was down in P13 whilst Vettel and Hamilton lapped faster.

Petrov also quickly became a roadblock for Alonso and Webber, with the Ferrari pilot even having to abort an attempted overtake into T11 or risk running into the Renault racer. Vettel and Hamilton utilised their rivals’ woes to pit and return to the track in second place and P5.

Yet Hamilton met a similar fate to Alonso and Webber as he struggled to find a way ahead of the other Renault driver, Robert Kubica. It meant Vettel comfortably led the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP when Button pitted on L39. Even Kubica emerged ahead of Alonso after stopping on L46.

Hamilton was blisteringly quick once in clear air but could not get close to Vettel, who would win the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP by 10.162s. The Renault pair ruining Alonso and Webber’s races even meant Vettel won his first of four successive F1 drivers’ titles at the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP.

Vettel even recorded his and Red Bull’s first drivers’ championship with 256 points to Alonso (252), Webber (242) and Hamilton (240) despite never leading the standings before the Abu Dhabi GP. It also made Vettel F1’s youngest drivers’ champion at 23 years and 133 days old.

Kimi Raikkonen birthed ‘Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing’ in the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was round 18 of the 20 that season, and would also see Kimi Raikkonen win for Lotus. Yet the Finn’s victory with the Enstone squad – which was renamed from Renault between 2012 and 2015 – would not become the facet remembered the most.

Instead, it was Raikkonen’s iconic line over Lotus’ team radio that wrote itself into F1 history at the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP – even if it is often misquoted. Lotus engineer Simon Rennie tried to say his gap to Alonso, to which Raikkonen said: “Just leave me alone, I know what to do!”

It was not even Raikkonen’s only iconic radio line in the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Rennie also tried to make sure his tyres were up to temperature behind the safety car, so Raikkonen said: “Yes, yes, yes, I’m doing all the time! You don’t have to remind [me] every 10 seconds.”

The race itself started with Raikkonen launching from fourth on the grid into second place as Hamilton charged clear from pole position. But Hamilton’s controlled lead was then removed by his future teammate at Mercedes as Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan crashed on Lap 9.

Rosberg launched into the T15 barriers after going airborne upon hitting into the rear end of Karthikeyan’s HRT. The German did not have time to take avoiding action as the Indian lifted off into the right-hander. Hamilton’s day was also over on Lap 20 with a fuel pressure failure.

Hamilton’s retirement left Raikkonen in the lead and comfortably ahead of the chasing pack of Alonso, Button, Vettel and Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean. But the Frenchman put the Finn’s hopes on ice when Grosjean crashed on L38 to require the safety car with 17 laps left.

Grosjean tried to take advantage of Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez tangling leaving the T11-12-13 chicane. But as he took the inside for T14, Perez rejoined the track and turned in for the corner as if Grosjean was not there – spinning the Mexican, and Webber was a casualty.

Despite the safety car removing Raikkonen’s lead, and bringing about his second iconic radio message of the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP, the Finn held off a late charge by Alonso to win by 0.852 seconds. Vettel also completed a superb recovery drive to finish in third from a pit lane start.

Nico Rosberg finally beat Lewis Hamilton to the F1 title at the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP… then immediately retired

Formula 1 introducing V6 turbo-hybrid power units in the 2014 season saw Mercedes rocket to the front of the grid and dominate the pinnacle of motorsport, winning every drivers’ title from 2014 to 2020 and constructors’ championship from 2014 to 2021 often with vast leads.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix staged title deciders between Mercedes teammates Hamilton and Rosberg in 2014 and 2016, as well. But the 2014 encounter was a drab fight as an ERS failure meant pole-sitter Rosberg could not battle race-winner Hamilton and he came home in P14.

Double points were even available for the first and only time in F1’s history at the 2014 Abu Dhabi GP. If that was the case in 2016, then Hamilton would have stood a greater chance of retaining his 2014 and 2015 titles as the Briton headed to Yas Marina 12 points off Rosberg.

Hamilton was the faster Mercedes driver at the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP and sealed pole position by 0.303s over his teammate. But winning the race would not be enough. So, with Rosberg in a comfortable P2, Hamilton asked Mercedes about the speed of their rivals on Lap 41 of 55.

Knowing he needed Rosberg to finish no higher than P4 even if Hamilton won the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP, the Briton backed off to back the German into the pack. Mercedes were not best pleased, though, with executive director Paddy Lowe urging Hamilton to increase his speed.

Yet despite persisting with the plan, Hamilton’s reduced pace did not pay off as Vettel could not try a move on his compatriot for P2 until the penultimate lap. Rosberg also resisted the Ferrari driver’s interest in a move around the outside into T11 and held on to second place.

A P2 finish at Yas Marina crowned Rosberg as the 2016 drivers’ champion with 385 points to Hamilton with 380. The Briton retiring from the Malaysian Grand Prix when his engine had a big-end bearing failure likely cost Hamilton, having won 10 of the 21 races to Rosberg’s nine.

Taking the 2016 drivers’ title was also enough for Rosberg to decide to retire from Formula 1 five days on from his crowning moment at the Abu Dhabi GP. At 31 years old, Rosberg left on top of the world after having to give it his all to finally beat Hamilton after two near misses.

Max Verstappen controversially won his first F1 title at Lewis Hamilton’s expense at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP

Mercedes hiring Valtteri Bottas to replace Rosberg left Hamilton free to win the drivers’ title again in 2017 plus 2018, 2019 and 2020. The Briton would have also won a record-breaking eighth title in 2021 if FIA race director Michael Masi did not manipulate the Abu Dhabi GP.

Hamilton and Verstappen arrived at Yas Marina equal on 369.5 points, but with the Red Bull racer ahead on countback with nine Grand Prix wins to eight. Qualifying also went in favour of the Dutchman, who took pole position ahead of the Briton by a margin of 0.371 seconds.

Yet pole and soft compound Pirelli tyres proved worthless for Verstappen, as Hamilton with mediums shot off the grid and into the lead of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. But Verstappen put his superior rubber and a slipstream down the 1.2 km straight to make a move into Turn 6.

Yas Marina reconfigured its track before the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP with the Turn 5-6 and T11-12-13 chicanes removed for two hairpins. Verstappen relished the faster run out of T5 and he shot down Hamilton’s inside at the very last chance into Turn 6, likely surprising his rival.

Hamilton took avoiding action by cutting the chicane, thus retaining the lead, as Verstappen just kept his car on the circuit. The stewards would not intervene as the Mercedes pilot was forced off by Verstappen’s late dive, and the Red Bull driver could not match his rival’s pace.

So, Red Bull used team orders and made Perez try to block Hamilton after his pit stop on Lap 15 of 58. The Mexican drove like his career relied on it and kept biting back with DRS, before parking his car on the apex to help Verstappen try to overcome his nearly nine-second gap.

Verstappen got to within 1.241 seconds of his rival by the time that Hamilton, who branded Perez’s driving as ‘dangerous’, regained the lead of the Abu Dhabi GP on L21. Yet Perez’s bid to help his teammate proved worthless as Hamilton scuppered clear once in the lead again.

But after opening a lead of 12.102 seconds to Verstappen, it all went away again as Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams at Turn 14 and obliged a safety car intervention to clear the track on L53. Red Bull seized on it to pit Verstappen for a set of soft tyres without losing a place.

Mercedes could not pit Hamilton from the lead of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP as he had already passed the pit lane and would have lost P1 to Verstappen with five laps left. The race should not have restarted, either, with the time it took the marshals to clear the track of Latifi’s car.

Race control even ruled on L56 that lapped cars would not be allowed to overtake, of which five sat between Hamilton and Verstappen. The Dutchman bemoaned the ‘typical’ nature of the decision and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also quickly complained to Masi.

“Why aren’t we getting these lapped cars out of the way?” Horner asked Masi, to which the FIA race director replied: “Because Christian, just give me a second. My main big [issue] is to get this incident clear.” Shortly after, the five lapped cars were allowed to get past Hamilton.

Lando Norris, Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Vettel were not the only lapped F1 drivers in the field. But Masi only told those five directly between Verstappen and Hamilton to advance. The safety car was even called in immediately as they started to clear the order.

By rule, the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP should not have resumed as the safety car should not have been called in until a full lap after any lapped cars cleared the leader. But Masi manipulated the wording of the regulations to ensure the 2021 season finale finished under a racing lap.

As F1’s rulebook stated ‘any’ lapped cars rather than ‘all’, Masi chose to only let the five sat between Hamilton and Verstappen progress. He enraged Mercedes, whose team principal Toto Wolff told Masi: “Mikey, this isn’t right!” Masi replied: “Toto, it’s called a motor race.”

Verstappen relished the chance and started hounding Hamilton before the restart by edging beside the Mercedes driver. His soft tyres compared to the Briton’s well-worn hards ensured the Dutchman also had the grip to try a dive into the new T5 hairpin and run Hamilton wide.

Like on the first lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, Hamilton had to open his steering to avoid a collision with Verstappen. But in doing so, his chance at an eighth drivers’ title was gone as the Red Bull racer kept the inside line at T6 and T9 to win the race and seal his first F1 title.

Lando Norris secured McLaren’s first constructors’ title in 26 years

Although Red Bull racer Verstappen managed to secure his fourth consecutive drivers’ championship at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, clinching the title from Norris, the Briton ensured McLaren won the constructors’ title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The race around the Yas Marina Circuit saw a constructors’ battle between McLaren and Ferrari, after Red Bull’s Perez had struggled towards the end of the season and cost the Milton Keynes natives their defence of the title.

Norris took pole position for the race ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull rival Verstappen, but the second and third place drivers collided at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

The collision saw Piastri plummet to the back of the grid, leaving Norris to push up front to take the title from Ferrari.

The Briton was closely chased by Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Leclerc, who had started from P19, in the closing stages, but he was ultimately able to stay ahead.

Norris crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of Sainz for his fourth Formula 1 Grand Prix victory and, in doing so, won McLaren their first constructors’ title since 1998.

McLaren would also return to Abu Dhabi in 2025, having already retained the constructors’ title, and celebrate once more as Norris won his maiden drivers’ title.

Norris withstood Verstappen’s late-season revival to end the Dutchman’s dominance by a mere two points for the 2025 F1 drivers’ title.