F1's most controversial championship decider revisited

It was set to be the thrilling end to one of the most fiercely contested sporting battles of all-time. 

It was also representative of the battle of the eras. It was the fight we never truly got to see in the past, whether it be Jim Clark vs Jackie Stewart, Gilles Villeneuve vs Alain Prost, or Ayrton Senna vs Michael Schumacher. 

Such was the hype around it, for the first time pay-TV UK broadcaster Sky Sports F1 agreed a deal with Channel 4 to show the race live on free-to-air television. 

For the first time since 1974, two drivers entered the final round of the Formula 1 season level on points as Max Verstappen's 369.5 played Lewis Hamilton's 369.5. 

The very fact that half points had been awarded for the first time since 2009 in the Belgian Grand Prix that never was sort of summed the season up. 

It was one of those years that come about once in a generation or two. 

And, for whatever you make how it ended, it ruined one of the truly great F1 seasons. 

This is the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, revisited. 

Up until about 54 seconds into the British Grand Prix, the title fight between Verstappen and Hamilton had been rather cordial. 

Hamilton had started the season strongly winning three of the first four races, and finishing second, fortunately, to Verstappen at Imola, but the momentum swung at Monaco - round five of 22.

Verstappen started a run of four wins from five only being denied a sweep in Azerbaijan when his Pirelli tyre exploded, putting him out and setting up the standing re-start with two laps to go where Hamilton ended up half-way across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan after misjudging his braking after accidentally flicking a switch on his steering wheel. It was a season of the finest margins. 

Heading to Silverstone, Verstappen's 182 points played Hamilton's 150 as he begged for an upgrade to reel in the RB16B which was threatening to run away with the championship. 

Come race day after lessons learnt in the first-ever sprint on Saturday, there would be no yielding from either quarter - as Verstappen found to his cost when he turned into Copse - and found Hamilton's front-left corner. 

He suffered a 54G impact and only recently revealed that he suffered from blurred vision for months afterward as things turned toxic. 

Red Bull boss Christian Horner claimed Hamilton should have been disqualified for such a move, arguing you do not put a wheel up the inside of Copse - despite the fact that he had egged Sebastian Vettel on doing the same to Fernando Alonso live on Sky in 2014.

The next major flashpoint would come at Monza when after slow stops for the pair of them, Verstappen parked his Red Bull on top of Hamilton's Mercedes in what could be deemed a professional foul. 

But we rumbled on with Verstappen claiming excellent wins in the United States and Mexico before Hamilton came back with a venegence, storming to wins in Brazil (after DRS-gate), Qatar and Saudi Arabia after yet another collision where Verstappen brake-tested him in a game of DRS chicken. 

Verstappen had probably gone too far in Saudi Arabia, so much so that the FIA race director Michael Masi made it clear before the weekend that if either driver took the other out to win the title, the FIA could even dock points such was the fear of a repeat. 

And as someone once said, it happened immediately. 

From pole, Verstappen made a poor start as Hamilton claimed the lead, with the former on softs and the latter mediums. At the end of the main straight, Verstappen lunged Hamilton, forcing the Mercedes to cut the run-off. 

Masi felt Hamilton had given back enough time gained not to warrant a ceding of the position as he then cleared off into the distance - although Sergio Perez's fine defensive display allowed the Dutchman to claw back precious race time. 

By Lap 52 of 58, Hamilton had about a 13-second lead and was closing in on that eighth title, but then Nicholas Latifi crashed - and he found himself snookered.

Verstappen could pit for fresher tyres for a potential restart if Hamilton stayed out, but if the Mercedes pitted, Verstappen would simply carry on and take the lead. If the race did not then restart, it would be game-over. 

Hamilton did not pit, with Verstappen then rejoining behind five lapped cars as the laps ticked down, with the message coming through that the quintet could not unlap themselves.

But Masi then changed his mind, encouraged to do so by the Red Bull pit-wall, as the cars were waved through and the restart coming at the end of Lap 57 - with one racing lap left.

Normally, established procedure would be to have lapped cars overtake and then restart the race at the end of the next lap - Lap 58, or the final lap, where, with no overtaking permitted, Hamilton would be champion. 

But the race went green for Lap 58 as Hamilton and Verstappen set off on the 3.281 miles that would launch investigations, sackings and overshadow what had up until that point, been the greatest championship battle of all-time...