Both Williams Racing Drivers ended the 2021 Formula 1 season by leaving the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, With Nicholas Latifi‘s late crash plays a large role in the crucial overtaking maneuver of Max Verstappen to win the drivers’ championship.
Latifi had been involved in a nearly race-long fight Uralkali Haas F1 Team‘S Mick Schumacher when he retired at turn fourteen with six laps left and brought out the safety car.
The subsequent pit stop by Verstappen to match the soft Pirelli Tire sequence of the lapped cars between the Dutchman and the leader Lewis Hamilton then gave the Red Bull Racing driver the chance to do the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team Driver for the race win and the title.
Latifi was, of course, the unknowing pawn in the championship chess game, and he admitted after the race that he hoped to end the year by bringing the car home after battling for performance throughout the race Yas Marina Circuit.
“It was a tough race out there today and we were fighting for pace all the time,” said Latifi. “Towards the end of the Grand Prix I drove with Mick Schumacher and was forced a bit far but fairly in Turn Nine.
“My tires got dirty from driving away and then I made a small mistake and unfortunately fell. Of course I didn’t want to end our season like that, so it’s disappointing. “
“I’m proud of what we have achieved as a team” – George Russell
Teammate George Russell saw his Williams career retired on the twenty-sixth lap when a transmission problem prevented the Briton from finishing the Grand Prix.
Russell, who will move to the multiple masterful Mercedes team in 2022, had also struggled for speed and performance until his retirement, but was full of praise for the team that has been his home for the past three seasons.
2021 was Russell’s best season so far in Formula 1, with four points and several visits in Q2 and Q3. He finished the year in 15th place in the championship with sixteen points, while Williams finished eighth in the constructors’ championship.
“We had a transmission problem that ultimately ended our race and was possibly caused by something going into the airbox,” said Russell. “We have to check if that was the case but there is nothing we can do about it so it is unfortunate to end our season this way.
“But it is important that we sealed P8 in the constructors’ championship, that was much more than we had hoped for this year and it was our goal at the beginning of the weekend.
“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved as a team, and I’m grateful to everyone at Grove for their hard work.”
George Russell’s last race for Williams ended in retirement – Photo credit: Octane Photographic Ltd
