MARTIN SAMUEL: There's never been a title climax quite like this
MARTIN SAMUEL: There has never been a championship climax quite like this – a storm is brewing ahead of the F1 finale between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen amid fears a deliberate crash could end it all
- Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are level on points heading into F1 finale
- There was calm between the rivals in the pre-race press conference at Abu Dhabi
- But between them the frost was more cooling than the local air conditioning
- Across all sports this could be one of the most dramatic title conclusions ever
On the decks of the super yachts moored at Yas Marina, the crews are cranking up the sound systems in readiness for a party.
A steady procession of jets fly low overhead, landing at the airport with their glamorous, human cargos. Stormzy and Foo Fighters are sound-checking their post-race gigs. The bars, the hotels, are doing an expensively roaring trade.
Yet, juxtaposed with the usual madness, detached from the hedonism, those immersed in Formula One are thinking what should be the unthinkable. Suppose, they wonder, he tries to end him? Suppose Max Verstappen decides the quickest way to his first world title is the quickest manoeuvre that takes Lewis Hamilton off the track.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen barely acknowledged each other in the pre-race press conference ahead of the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Hamilton’s win over his rival in Saudi Arabia means the drivers are level on points heading into the final race of a captivating world championship
It is startling the degree of presumption that exists out here regarding this eventuality. It is entertained so often, it does not even feel like extremity.
The idea that one driver would deliberately crash into another with sufficient force to end his race should sound irrational, far-fetched, beyond the pale. Motor racing is safer than it was yet every race remains to some small extent a dance with death.
Still, in Abu Dhabi this week a crash — which would put both drivers out of the points, meaning Verstappen would take the title on races won this season — is discussed as just another tactic Red Bull could deploy, a strategic opportunity to be utilised.
‘Max can’t just smash Lewis off the track,’ said race director Michael Masi, but, actually, he could. It’s happened before. Ayrton Senna did it, Michael Schumacher did it — and these men are idolised by modern drivers. There is no question of a tainted legacy.
When it is noted that Hamilton is trying to overtake Schumacher as the most successful Grand Prix driver of all time, no one adds asterisks for the times the German was less than fair. Senna is a hero to this generation of racers, not least Hamilton. His engineered, title-clinching collision with Alain Prost in 1990 is now held up as evidence of his mighty will to win, not his errant lunacy.
McLaren’s Ayrton Senna infamously crashed into fierce rival Alain Prost of Ferrari at the first corner of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka to win the 1990 F1 title
Michael Schumacher tried a similar tactic (above) in 1997 on Jacques Villenueve but failed in his attempt, handing the Canadian his only world championship at the 1997 European GP
‘Will Max try to end it? I think so, yes,’ mused one FIA official. ‘Look, he tried to end it in Saudi last week, didn’t he? Why wouldn’t he try to end it properly here?’
Ah, the infamous brake test. Ordered by the stewards to let Hamilton pass over an infringement, Verstappen maintained his line down the heart of the track and then, with his rival rapidly coming up behind him, hit the brakes: hard. The pair touched but Hamilton’s reactions were good. His anger, however, could not be restrained. Verstappen was, he said, ‘f***ing crazy’.
By Thursday, there was calm. Necessary calm. Not so much calm that Hamilton hadn’t selected an outfit with the words, ‘F*** off’ emblazoned on the back — he claims he did not know until he had put the jumper on, although that doesn’t explain why he didn’t then take it off.
Yet enough calm that the pair could tolerate being in a room together even though both stared ahead, and the obvious frost was more cooling than the local air conditioning.
Hamilton and Verstappen sat side by socially-distanced side to fulfil their media duties. Verstappen very much still the slightly petulant, gawky kid, still whingeing that his life, and the stewards who rule it, were so unfair. Hamilton, meanwhile, was working hard on projecting the aura of elder statesman which, of course, he is. Back ramrod-straight, hands clasped in his lap, perfectly still and measured.
Hamilton had to take evasive action after Verstappen heavily braked in front of him in Jeddah
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He was asked in many different ways whether he feared a nefarious move from Verstappen and delivered the same line each time.
It wasn’t in his control, and therefore not worth wasting energy on. He was even asked about ‘crazy’. A figure of speech or a genuine cause for concern?
Was he worried he was up against a madman who would genuinely stop at nothing to claim the prize? Hamilton did his best to suggest he might have temporarily taken leave of his senses by just making such a lurid accusation. Crazy? What him? That nutcase on my left? Dear old Mad Max? The nutter from the Netherlands? Who would even suggest such a thing?
‘Oh, honestly, when we’re in a race we’ll say all sorts,’ he said. ‘We’re in the heat of the moment, our adrenalin is firing, our emotions are on edge.
‘I’d say crazy’s a figure of speech. If you look at all racing drivers we’re all a little bit crazy to do what we do and take the risks we take.’ And that’s a fair point. Remove the madness from motor racing and it’s motoring.
The pair have already collided at the British Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix (above)
Hamilton always speaks of driving ‘on the ragged edge’ and that’s a style as much as a line. Verstappen is popular not simply because he’s new but also because he drives with courage and boldness that is a throwback to the days of Senna.
In between some stunning moves — Fernando Alonso said he was the driver of the year, regardless of who takes the title — he risks, he invites drama. How much risk, how much drama, we will find out on Sunday.
For there has never been a championship climax quite like this. Schumacher and Damon Hill were separated by a point in 1994, Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve the same in 1997; yet Hamilton and Verstappen are level down to a decimal place.
It is a rare finale in any sporting campaign that lasts a season. Yes, cup finals are winner-takes-all affairs, so are foot races, horse races and title fights.
Yet, in 122 seasons of English football, only two top-flight titles have been decided by a head-to-head showdown on the last day of the season — and, in one of those, 1951-52, Arsenal needed to win 7-0 away at Manchester United to lift the trophy. United won 6-1.
Schumacher and Damon Hill were separated by just a point heading into their 1994 finale, with their championship battle also ending in a controversial clash in the German’s favour
It leaves 1988-89 as the greatest title conclusion. Arsenal needed to win at Anfield by a minimum score of 2-0 — they could win 1-0 and the prize would still go to Liverpool — and did that with a goal in the 89th minute.
We hear about the treble, and the Invincibles and Manchester City’s ‘Aguerooo’ moment but there has genuinely never been anything like that.
Yet missing was the very real danger that will unfold here. The incendiary nature of a rivalry that takes place at 200mph.
‘I’ll murder you,’ jockey Robbie Dunne told Bryony Frost, a horse-racing term for cutting across another rider. ‘You murdered me, I’ll murder you.’ It was most certainly a figure of speech but sounded nasty.
And so is what is being said away from the microphones here. There may have been calm in Abu Dhabi on Thursday but everyone fears a storm is brewing.
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