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Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's epic 2021 battle in Abu Dhabi has been nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award under the Sports category. F1 last won the award in 2011 for Sebastian Vettel's maiden title win the previous year.
The 2021 championship finale in Abu Dhabi is a seemingly endless affair, having now been nominated for a BAFTA award under the sports category. Max Verstappen won his maiden world title on the final lap of the race after a botched safety car restart by former race director Michael Masi.
While the showdown in Abu Dhabi now has over 17 million views on YouTube, it is not guaranteed to win the award due to the stiff competition it faces. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and England's 2020 Euro semi-final against Denmark are also nominated in the same category. Last year, the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix was nominated for the award – the race which saw Roman Grosjean narrowly escape from the ball of fire.
Lewis Hamilton had a night to forget in Jeddah
Despite winning the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton had a disappointing outing in Jeddah this time around. After failing to get into Q2 for the first time since Brazil 2017, the Briton started in P15, trying to battle his way into the points.
The seven-time world champion did fare better in the race, scoring one point for his P10 finish.
Speaking to the media after the race, Hamilton, said:
“I’m so happy the weekend’s done. I’m also just so happy that everyone’s safe and just looking forward to getting out. I just want to go home.”
While the boy from Stevenage felt his Mercedes W13 was balanced in racing conditions, he claimed the car did not have much speed in it on this particular occasion. The Briton, however, managed to find some positives from the race which otherwise looked pretty bleak for the German team.
Speaking to the media afterward, Hamilton said:
“Balance wise [it was] was relatively good, just not that fast [but] the end result is not great. The race was going relatively well on the hard tire, I was keeping up with George [Russell] and putting in some decent pace at times.”
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen scored his first win of the season after missing out in Bahrain the previous weekend. The Dutchman won the race after an epic duel with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
With Mercedes in dire need of performance upgrades, Lewis Hamilton's chances of winning a record-breaking eighth title are slowly slipping away.
