Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen defection made after Abu Dhabi 2021 finale

Emerson Fittipaldi Jr., the son of the iconic Formula 1 champion, has revealed that the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix made him a fan of Max Verstappen.

The teenage driver had previously been a Lewis Hamilton fan until that fateful day turned the tides.

How Max Verstappen earned a young driver’s vote of confidence

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a transformative moment for Formula 1.

Heading into the finale for the 2021 season, rivals Max Verstappen at Red Bull Racing and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes were tied with 369.5 points, and the driver to finish higher in the points standings that day would win the title.

It was set to be a major turning point for the history of Formula 1. Could Hamilton secure his eighth World Championship, eclipsing the record set by the legendary Michael Schumacher? Or would the wunderkind Verstappen make good on the promise of talent he’d shown throughout his career to secure his first title?

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On Lap 53 of 58, Hamilton was leading when Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed and brought out a safety car. Hamilton remained on track during the slowdown, while Verstappen dove into the pits for a tyre change.

Everyone expected the event to finish under yellow. Then, race director Michael Masi made a major call: He intended to abbreviate the usual safety car restart procedure to allow the field to complete one final lap of green-flag racing to decide the title.

After allowing the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to clear out of the way, the safety car dove into the pits, and the race went back green. At the end of the day, it was Verstappen who was triumphant, his fresher tyres allowing him to overtake Hamilton with ease.

The event brought out plenty of conflicting feelings from longtime F1 fans, particularly those with an emotional investment in the title contenders. But it also turned one Hamilton fan into a Verstappen fan: Emerson Fittipaldi Jr., son of the two-time World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

In a recent interview with the Brazilian edition of Motorsport.com, the younger Fittipaldi — who, at 18, is currently competing in Eurocup-3 with a scheduled move to Formula 2 for 2026 — admitted that the controversial Grand Prix convinced him to support Verstappen.

Fittipaldi Jr. admitted that he was a huge fan of Hamilton during the British driver’s streak of dominance at Mercedes, during which time the Brazilian driver would have been very young.

“I’ve liked Max from the start, but he was never in the run for the championship,” the younger Fittipaldi said.

“In 2021, when he had a very competitive car to win, it was cool to watch the fight between the two [Verstappen and Hamilton].

“And in Abu Dhabi, I was hoping Max would win. That was the moment my preference changed.”

It was a breath of fresh air for him — and for many other fans — after such a lengthy period of Mercedes dominance, though the debate still rages about who truly deserved the title that controversial day.

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