RacingJames Vowles says Lewis Hamilton proved himself a true champion in how he took defeat at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and he adds that Max Verstappen and Red Bull earned that title fight on merit. The Williams team principal, who was Mercedes’ strategic lead that season, praised Hamilton’s leadership in the minutes after the flag, then stated Verstappen would still have been 2021 champion even without Abu Dhabi.
The finale put Hamilton and Verstappen level on points heading in. Hamilton led late until a Safety Car for Nicholas Latifi’s crash. As the finish drew near, race director Michael Masi allowed only the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap so the race could end under green. Verstappen, on newer tires after stopping, restarted right behind Hamilton and passed him on the final lap to win both the race and his first drivers’ title.
Vowles focused on what Hamilton did next. “This is the most important lesson: not the result, but how he handled it as a sportsman,” James Vowles, Williams team principal, said in an interview on Frankie Langan’s YouTube channel while reflecting on Hamilton’s reaction to Abu Dhabi 2021. He described how Hamilton set the tone for a wounded garage and staff who had just watched a title slip away.
“In fact, he ended up being one of the strongest leaders within the team that brought us all together at a time that was the hardest for all of us,” Vowles said in an episode of A Lesson With… with host Frankie Langan. He underlined the standard Hamilton set for those around him in the most pressured moment of the year. Vowles then summed it up simply: “That’s a true champion irrespective of what happens on track. That’s a true champion,” he said in the same conversation.
Vowles also gave Verstappen and Red Bull full credit for the level they reached in 2021. “We cannot neglect the fact that Red Bull and Max were right there fighting for a championship. And even if we removed Abu Dhabi, he would have won the championship in that circumstance,” James Vowles, Williams team principal, said in A Lesson With… with Frankie Langan. His point was not to relitigate the finish, but to frame the season as a year-long fight decided by two teams and two drivers operating at the limit.
The end of that race still sparks arguments. Vowles chose to focus on conduct and leadership, and on the reality that both sides had the pace and execution to go the distance. From his view inside Mercedes at the time, the loss hurt. The response from Hamilton, he says, pulled people together. And the champion on the other side, he says, did not need the last-lap drama to prove he had the points to be on top.