It is Sunday, 12th of December 2021, and every F1 fan is glued in front of the TV and waiting for the season finale to start. Two drivers, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, are completely tied on points and everything is pointing to a thrilling battle for the world champion title at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The race is about to start and the atmosphere can’t be better, everyone is so tempted to find out, who will win the championship. The first world champion title contender, Max Verstappen from Red Bull, is starting on pole, after an amazing lap in quali the day before. The second hungry contender, Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, starts right behind him, and an exciting battle into the first turn is more than expected.

“It’s lights out and away we go!”

Both cars storm into the first turn but it is Hamilton, who steals the lead from Verstappen, after leaving the track and overtaking the Dutchman into Turn 1. Verstappen immediately reports about the maneuver to his engineer but the steward’s decision is clear: “Hamilton doesn’t need to give the position back to Verstappen.”

We are less than halfway through the race without any other at-TV-screaming moment as Hamilton has been leading the race pretty comfortably. However, after both he and Verstappen pit for fresh tires, he faces his first challenge: Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

Verstappen's teammate, still on old tires as he hasn't pitted yet, holds the lead by staying out. Despite his worn tires, the Mexican driver delivers an impressive defensive performance, holding Hamilton off for nearly two laps and allowing Verstappen to close the gap on just a bit over 1 second. For that he earns: “Checo is a legend,” from the Dutchman himself.

On lap 37 of the race, Antonio Giovinazzi's Alfa Romeo career ends abruptly as a mechanical issue forces him to retire. He pulls off to the side of the track, but race director Michael Masi deems it unsafe for the marshals to remove the car with others still at full speed. As a result, a virtual safety car is deployed, reducing the speed of all cars by 40%.

During this period, Verstappen takes advantage by pitting for fresh tires, while Hamilton stays out. With the cars moving at a reduced pace, Verstappen loses only about 14 seconds to Hamilton, compared to the usual 25 seconds during a standard pit stop.

Now back on track, Verstappen faces the difficult task of needing to close the gap by around 0.8 seconds per lap to have a chance at winning the race.

With just five laps to go, Hamilton appears to be on his way to a comfortable victory, holding a 12-second lead.

However, the key moment of this Grand Prix comes as Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashes into the wall after a battle with Mick Schumacher from Haas. This incident triggers a full safety car, prompting Verstappen to pit once more, this time opting for the fastest soft tires.

Hamilton, however, cannot pit without risking Verstappen overtaking him. Unsure whether the race will conclude under the safety car, Mercedes finds it too risky and instructs Hamilton to stay out on track.

While Verstappen is in the pits, several lapped cars close the gap to Hamilton, positioning themselves between him and Verstappen. According to safety car regulations, the race director decides whether these lapped cars can overtake the safety car to restore the correct race order.

Team principal of Mercedes Toto Wolff urges the race to finish under the safety car, while Christian Horner, Team Principal of Red Bull, pushes for the lapped cars to be moved aside, the only feasible way for Verstappen to have a shot at racing Hamilton for the title. Both bosses are basically screaming at the race director at this point.

And here comes the decision just before the last lap of the race. Race director Michael Masi announces that 5 lapped cars, which are in between Hamilton and Verstappen, will overtake the safety car, leaving Verstappen right behind Hamilton with a huge advantage of fresh tires. Masi earns for that the well-known radio message from Wolff: “No, Michael, this isn’t right!”

Hamilton attempts to defend but his chances to succeed are almost at zero and is overtaken midway through the final lap. The seven-time world champion makes one last effort to regain the lead, but Verstappen pulls ahead and crosses the finish line, securing the title and leaving everyone speechless.

Mercedes tried practically every form of protest against the race results but nothing was successful and the title to this day still belongs to Verstappen, no matter what anyone thinks was right that day. The one thing that has changed is that Michael Masi is no longer a race director, which still leaves questions around his decisions.