Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Abu Dhabi 2021 controversy revisited as Honda chief reveals favourite moment

Abu Dhabi 2021

Abu Dhabi 2021 controversy revisited as Honda chief reveals favourite F1 moment

A dark day in the sport's history

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson F1 Editor

Motorsport journalist covering F1 since 2024

Tuesday 18 August 2026 10:57

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Chief Honda engineer Shintaro Orihara has revealed his favourite moment for the manufacturer in the sport, and it likely won't go down well with Lewis Hamilton fans.

Reflecting on Honda's time in F1 so far, Orihara selected the highly controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021 as his favourite memory, specifically the last lap.

“The best moment is 2021,” Orihara said in a Honda Racing F1 video. “Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, final lap.

“We won the championship, finally, after five or six years of hard moments.

“So that was the best moment for me.”

Article continues under video

Looking back at Abu Dhabi 2021 controversy

In any normal race, those would be very valid reasons for this to be a favourite moment, with Max Verstappen lifting his maiden F1 world championship with a Honda power unit in his RB16B - Honda's first since 1991.

However, for many, it is still a day that does not sit right given how the final laps of the race and championship that year played out.

On lap 53 of 58, Hamilton had been cruising to an eighth world championship when Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed his car badly at turn 14, bringing out the safety car.

Given they were in second, Verstappen and Red Bull essentially had a free hit of coming into the pits for fresh tyres, losing no track position while doing so and coming out behind Hamilton on the fresh rubber. Hamilton, meanwhile, stayed out front without coming into the pits. It was the only realistic decision that he and Mercedes could have taken, given that if he had pitted, he would have given up the lead (and potentially the championship) to Verstappen, with no guarantee that the race would get back underway.

Then came the egregious moment. Race director Michael Masi made the highly contentious decision to allow only the lapped cars between Verstappen and Hamilton to unlap themselves, immediately restarting the race with one lap remaining after they had done so.

Michael Masi left his FIA role in 2022 / Credit: Imago

With Verstappen on fresh softs and Hamilton on old hards, the Dutchman was able to take advantage of his fresh rubber, performing a divebomb into turn five, claiming the lead, and going on to win the race. Verstappen was crowned world champion by 8 points.

The circumstances surrounding the safety car restart sparked huge debate and somewhat overshadowed what had been an incredible battle between the two drivers that year.

Race director Masi would go on to leave his role in the FIA ahead of the 2022 season, with Verstappen eventually adding three more world championships to his tally (2022, 2023, 2024).

Hamilton, on the other hand, is still chasing that elusive eighth world title at Ferrari.

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F1 Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Abu Dhabi Grand Prix