Mercedes seal record eighth consecutive constructors title
Mercedes have won the Formula 1 constructors championship for the eighth year in a row, extending their record.
Ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes had held a 28 point lead over Red Bull, arriving at Yas Marina with 546.5 points to Red Bull’s 541.5.
Sergio Perez’s retirement in the latter stages of the race left Red Bull unable to beat Mercedes to the title.
Mercedes has won every constructors’ title since F1’s hybrid era was introduced in 2014.
Lewis Hamilton, who has been with Mercedes since the start of their winning streak, and Valtteri Bottas, who departs the team for Alfa Romeo at the end of this season, have now won five constructors’ titles between them, Hamilton also having won three prior in partnership with former driver Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton lost the drivers’ championship to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the race. However Mercedes have lodged two protests following the conclusion of the grand prix.
Although Mercedes will not bring home the World Championship this season after a controversial final lap, it was dubbed the 2021 Constructors’ Champions.
No other team has won as many consecutive team titles as Mercedes, who clinched its eighth straight on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton may have missed out on making history as one of the most successful drivers in Formula One this season, but his second place finish helped seal Mercedes’s title victory as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez retired early.
Since the V6 Turbo era began in 2014, the team has snagged every driver and team title—Hamilton with six and then-teammate Nico Rosberg taking the 2016 crown.
Most years it has been a runaway for Mercedes, but this is the first since 2008 that the constructors’ title has come down to the season finale.
Mercedes held a 28-point advantage heading into Sunday, needing to score at least 17 points between Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to take home the crown even if Red Bull duo Verstappen and Sergio Pérez went one-two for the fastest lap.
Hamilton and Bottas finished second and sixth, respectively, but this is the final time they will compete as teammates. Bottas will drive for Alfa Romeo in 2022, replacing Finnish driver Kimi Räikköne. This clears a path for an all-British driver lineup for Mercedes with George Russell taking Bottas’s spot.
But even as it goes home with the team title, Mercedes has lodged two protests over the restart that helped determine who won the World Championship and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
A late safety car came out for a Nicholas Latifi crash with just a few laps to go. Red Bull brought in Verstappen for fresh tires but Hamilton had to stay out or else he would have sacrificed the lead.
Five lapped cars sat between Hamilton and Verstappen as the racers drove around the track behind the safety car for the final laps. But in a surprising and controversial move, those five cars were allowed to overtake the safety car.
