The day after | The best pictures of Verstappen's championship party
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- GPblog.com
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was an emotional rollercoaster for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Where they thought their chances had gone, in the final stages of the race the opportunity presented itself. The aftermath of the race was made more exciting by Mercedes' protests, but after several hours of tension, the championship party could finally go ahead.
Until a few laps before the finish, there seemed to be nothing that could stop Lewis Hamilton from winning his eighth world title, but then fate struck. Nicholas Latifi's crash unintentionally caused a safety car situation, which proved decisive for the final result.
Emotional evening for Red Bull and Verstappen
Red Bull chose its winning strategy at the time by bringing Verstappen in for softs, after which Michael Masi made the crucial decision to let the drivers race one more lap.
Mercedes were understandably less happy with this decision, and Toto Wolff decided not to leave it at that. When the stewards decided that Verstappen could keep his first-ever title, the big party went on in an emotional way. We've put together the best photos from the evening.