Max Verstappen has given some insight into being World Champion. Photo / Don Kennedy
It is may be a new year, but the desert dust is still to settle on the controversial and dramatic finish to the 2021 world championship.
Max Verstappen collected his world champion trophy over three weeks ago now, and insists winning the title won't change his life. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand, after appearing to graciously accept his last lap loss when race director Michael Masi had allowed some lapped cars to overtake the safety car, enabling Verstappen on fresher tyres to overtake and be proclaimed champion, has had an adverse reaction to what happened in Abu Dhabi.
Masi's decision, possibly in breach of the FIA rules, meant Hamilton was a sitting duck, as the tyres on his Mercedes were no match for those on the Red Bull of Verstappen, whose victory meant he claimed his first title and deprived Hamilton of a record eighth title.
The pros and cons of that decision have been debated by the media in the press and on TV ever since.
Verstappen has openly discussed what happened that day, while Hamilton, after collecting his knighthood from Prince Charles at Windsor Castle and attending the Mercedes factory celebration for a record eighth Constructors' title, and to farewell his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who will race for Aston Martin this year, has gone to ground.
He shut down his social media as he unfriended his followers on Instagram, which included his brother Nicholas and his dog Roscoe. That led to speculation Hamilton may now retire, but Nicholas says it just means Lewis is taking a break from social media. So far there has been no word from Roscoe, but this turn of events maybe adds new meaning to the saying, "I'll be doggone!"
There has been an outpouring of sympathy for Hamilton, surprisingly including his 2016 teammate Nico Rosberg, with whom he had an acrimonious partnership.
After beating Hamilton to the title that year, Rosberg promptly retired, and even though they are neighbours in Monaco, they are no longer on speaking terms.
"I felt pain, incredible pain. I don't have anything to do with Mercedes now, but of course it's my family from before, and an incredible pain," Rosberg stated on YouTube.
"They were 99 per cent sure they were going to win the world championship until there were three laps to go. After losing it, and losing it in a fight like that, where they couldn't do anything because the tyres had 50 laps on them … unbelievable pain.
"It's a shame it ended up like that with a bit of a strange decision by the FIA."
Stefan Johansson, who twice finished second for Ferrari in 1985 as a teammate to Michele Alboreto, and also with McLaren in 1997 as a teammate to Alain Prost, has been quite critical of Masi.
"As soon as they deployed the safety car with five laps to go they should have red flagged the race," Johannson believes.
"That's the only way to keep it level and keep the excitement to the end. You would have had everyone come into the pits while they clear the track, put new tyres on and go from there like they did at the Saudi Grand Prix when Red Bull rebuilt their car and put new tyres on.
"Making the decision he did and then changing his mind completely at the very last moment absolutely handed the race on a plate to Max and Red Bull after Lewis had done a flawless race."
The problem with Johannson's argument is that a red flag would have undone Red Bull's strategy of pitting Verstappen for fresh tyres while Hamilton stayed out. You can't please everyone and Mercedes has probably won more races based on a superior strategy than any other team.
Sir Jackie Stewart, a three-time world champion, has stated he doesn't think there was anything wrong with the way the championship was decided.
In terms of the decision made by Michael Masi, which in the biased view of Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, "robbed" Hamilton of an eighth title, Stewart disagrees. And he also says it didn't equate to a Hollywood production for the entertainment aspect, either.
"I think it was handled in the right way. It was done correctly, there was no film business in this," he told Motorsport.com.
"This was not Hollywood, this was pure and the public enjoy that authenticity. Never in the history of the sport has there been such a lock."
Asked if there should have been a red flag when Nicholas Latifi crashed with five laps to go, Stewart said: "No, because there was no need for a red flag."
He was also asked if he had ever seen a season like this one.
"No, absolutely never in my life," he replied.
"Never in the history of the sport has there been such a denouement as this year. This was extraordinarily special. It has been a great year anyway with two teams pushing each other to the limit.
"This year has been a great success and Max Verstappen has also performed exceptionally as an individual. Lewis Hamilton will be extremely disappointed, but he shouldn't be at all. He too has completed a great season."
Stewart echoed the thoughts of many F1 fans who have seen Hamilton win six of the last seven championships.
"The general public and also the racing community needed a change," he added.
"Mercedes-Benz have dominated the sport for so many years, so it was nice to see another team giving them a run for their money. Red Bull was the only team capable of doing so, although I was also delighted to see Ferrari back on the podium at the end of the season."
And he agreed with the old adage that the first title is the hardest to win.
"At least I feel that way, yes," he stated, having won his first title in 1969, the second in 1971 and then retiring after his third in 1973.
"Once you have won your first championship, you have actually done something you didn't think was possible."
Prost, a four-time world champion, shares Stewart's sentiments and has observed the way Verstappen has developed into the champion he now is.
"I remember when he started in F1, very often we would say; 'He has the speed, he has everything, but he maybe does a little too much and makes mistakes because of that'," Prost, nicknamed 'The Professor', said.
"It is normal when you're young. Now he's only getting better, and this year he hasn't made a lot of mistakes. Maybe the one in qualifying in Jeddah, but he was attacking so much, it can happen. He was ready to reach the top.
"With a world title in your pocket, you drive and think differently. As soon as you win one, the pressure is less. He will know even better when to attack and when to take less risks, and in the end he will be a better driver."
Prost was asked if he thought 2021 was the greatest season ever,
"I think if you have a general view, yes," he replied. "By that I mean the spectacle, the sport, the human aspect, the popularity of F1 and the fact that young people are starting to follow it. So yes, it is definitely the best season in history."
Verstappen has been holidaying in Miami, USA, with his girlfriend Kelly Piquet, whose father is Nelson Piquet, a three-time world champion. So Max won't be short on who to ask for advice if he needs it, given his father Jos also raced in F1 between 1994 and 2003.
But it seems Max is well aware of how he should handle being a world champion.
"I said already during the season that it doesn't matter for me if I'm first or second. It will not change my life, and it doesn't," the 24-year-old told the media.
"It has been my life goal to become a champion. Now that I've done that, of course, I'm incredibly happy. But I'm the same guy. I have the same friends. I spend the same amount of time with family, still live in the same place. Nothing is going to change. But in a way, in the back of my mind, it's even more relaxing knowing that I've achieved everything in Formula 1 now and everything that comes next is just a bonus."
With that mindset, it could be argued that a relaxed Verstappen could be very hard to beat in 2022. But when he lines up on the grid in the season opener in Bahrain in March, with number one on his car, he will have a target on his car, if not his back. The other 19 drivers on that grid will want to beat him.
Will his rivals include Hamilton? The answer is most likely yes, as Mercedes on Twitter has posted "adversity causes some to break, other to break records", signaling Lewis will eventually break his silence and begin preparing for 2022, which is he probably already doing. New FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem says he has sent Hamilton several messages.
"I don't think he's 100 per cent ready to respond right now. We don't blame him. I understand his position as a driver, obviously, he is at a different level."
Sulayem is following up on the FIA promise to review the rules while Verstappen will continue to reflect on life as an F1 champion, a title nobody can seemingly now take away from him, although a group of Hamilton fans have reportedly so far gathered over 55,000 signatures in a petition to the FIA to overturn the controversial result.
For Max, it is done and dusted, while Lewis still appears to be choking on the unsavoury taste of the Abu Dhabi desert dust.