Petition to hand Lewis Hamilton 2021 F1 title reaches over 100,000 signatures

16 months on from the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, fans are still outraged with how the outcome of the title race between Verstappen and Hamilton was decided.

As a result, fans have started a petition on Change.org to overturn the Abu Dhabi result.

Hamilton was on course to win his eighth world title to move one clear of Michael Schumacher.

That was until Nicolas Latifi crashed in the closing laps, resulting in a Safety Car.

Verstappen decided to pit for fresh rubber, while Hamilton stayed out on his worn hard tyres.

It looked like the race would finish behind the Safety Car due to there being a number of lapped cars between the two title contenders.

However, Michael Masi - who was FIA race director at the time - decided to allow a number of cars to unlap themselves.

This gave Verstappen a free run at Hamilton when the race restarted on Lap 58 in Abu Dhabi.

The point of contention is that Masi should have allowed all of the cars to unlap themselves, not just the select few between Hamilton and Verstappen.

Plus, Masi was under pressure from Red Bull and others to get the race back underway given that a title finale finishing behind a Safety Car is somewhat dull.

Verstappen secured his maiden F1 title in controversial circumstances, while Hamilton was left heartbroken, proclaiming over team radio: “This race is being manipulated”.

Mercedes protested the result after the race, but the stewards stood by how it was handled.

Verstappen remained champion, although the drama didn’t stop there, with fans still in uproar with what happened on that day in December.

It’s fair to say nothing will happen as a result of this petition.