F1 pundit calls Lewis Hamilton's championship heartbreak his FAVOURITE MOMENT

Abu Dhabi, Hamilton, Verstappen — Photo: © LAT Images

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F1 pundit names his FAVOURITE MOMENT in the sport

The controversial world championship decider is memorable for many reasons

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 12 September 2023 08:57

Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft has listed the last lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021 as his favourite moment as a commentator.

The broadcaster has been commentating on Formula 1 for Sky Sports since 2012, and has seen so much drama and so many brilliant world championship battles, but 2021 was surely the best.

An up-and-down season in which seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and the young, supremely talented Max Verstappen traded race win after race win resulted in them going into the final race of the season level on points, both needing simply to finish ahead of the other.

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In the end, the race was decided on the very last lap of the season, with Verstappen overtaking Hamilton and claiming his first world championship title, cruelly snatching away what would have been a record eighth title for Hamilton.

Now, speaking to The Fast and The Curious podcast, Croft has described it as his all-time favourite moment as a commentator.

“See, this is where I get in trouble with anybody that supports Lewis Hamilton," he said.

"As a commentator, for the championship to be decided at the last race it’s like ‘this is gonna be cool, I’m gonna love this', for the championship to be decided on the last lap of the last race is like something we dream about occasionally and then wake up and think ‘nah that’s not gonna happen, it happened in 2008 in Brazil but it’s not gonna happen again is it?', and it did!

“That moment, as a commentator when you are trying for one lap to sum up as much as you possibly can so that everyone watching understands what that moment is about, and get the action described as well, and allow Martin Brundle to chip in with his expert opinion and to prepare yourself for the moment where he crosses the line, that’s a challenge that you want as a broadcaster, and if you can deliver something that’s half decent then you know that’s been a decent night," he continued. "People come up to me and say we loved that line when he crossed it, we loved that last lap and that’s my standout moment of many.”

Why was Abu Dhabi 2021 so controversial?

Lewis Hamilton is consoled by his father after the result of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Unfortunately, the title decider was not without controversy, and the fairness of the way Verstappen won has been constantly discussed since the event almost two years ago.

Hamilton had been leading the race relatively comfortably when Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed into the barrier, bringing out the safety car.

This bunched up the field, and allowed Verstappen to pit for brand new soft tyres, whilst Hamilton remained on old hard tyres.

Former race director Michael Masi originally announced that the lapped cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen wouldn't be allowed to overtake the safety car, meaning going down to the last lap, Verstappen would have a lot to do if he was going to get right up to the back of Hamilton's car.

Then, in a highly controversial moment, Masi changed his mind and allowed the cars through at the same time as pulling the safety car in, leaving Verstappen directly behind Hamilton's car on much fresher tyres.

Verstappen overtook Hamilton going into the hairpin before racing off down the road, much to the delight of his Red Bull team, but Mercedes and Toto Wolff were left raging, and Hamilton heartbroken.

In an investigation a few months later into how the race unfolded, Masi was sacked from his position as race director but the result stood. Verstappen has since gone on to claim another world championship in 2022, and looks to be cruising to a third consecutive title this season.