Catherina Haast

Professor Richard

ENG 1111 First-Year Writing

10/10/2023

2021 Abu Dabhi GP Media Bias

Formula 1 is the highest class of international racing for single seater cars, many viewers

tune into F1 not just to watch these insanely fast cars but to also support their favorite teams and

drivers. Formula 1, like many sports, has a governing body called the FIA, it is their job to

enforce rules and procedures during the race as well as ensuring the safety of the drivers. Like

any other sports referee, the FIA often gets backlash from teams and fans for certain decisions

they make, especially when penalizing drivers for breaking rules.

The 2021 Formula 1 season is regarded as one of the craziest and most competitive F1

seasons to date. During the season we saw British driver and 7 time world champion, Lewis

Hamilton go head to head against the young Dutch driver Max Verstappen. Throughout the

season we saw Hamilton and Verstappen aggressively battle as their heated rivalry grew, and

during this time we also saw the FIA make many questionable and controversial decisions. This

all accumulated in the final race of the season at Abu Dhabi. Going into this race Hamilton and

Verstappen were equal in points for the championship so basically whoever won the race would

become Formula 1’s 2021 Driver’s World Champion.

As Hamilton and Verstappen lined up in the front 2 grid spots everyone knew this race

would not go down without a fight. As soon as the race started Hamilton and Verstappen were all

over each other fighting for first position before the end of the first lap. During the lap 1 fight,
Hamilton ran off track, cut a corner and began to create a gap between Verstappen and himself.

It was blatant to all watching that Hamilton gained a massive advantage and needed to be

penalized, but the FIA did nothing. By lap 53 of 58 Hamilton had built a 12 second gap to

Verstappen, it seemed Hamilton was set to win the race and subsequently the championship.

That was until Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi crashed his car into the barriers, forcing the FIA

to bring out a safety car with only 5 laps left in the race. Due to the size of the crash under

normal circumstances the race would have had to end under the safety car, but the FIA wanted a

more entertaining end to the season, so they decided to go against the normal procedures.

Because of this the results of the championship were left up to one final shoot out lap with

Hamilton and Verstappen once again racing head to head. Since Verstappen was able to pit for

fresh tires, he had a huge advantage going into the last lap, and ultimately overtook Hamilton for

the World Championship title.

Directly after the races closure the British, Hamilton fans were left enraged, while the

Dutch Verstappen fans began their celebrations. Lewis Hamilton’s team, Mercedes, lodged

multiple protests of the race results, but did not prevail and the season’s results remained the

same. Because of all the controversy surrounding this singular race and the passionate support of

fans for their country’s driver many are biased towards their view of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand

Prix. I have analyzed 3 articles about the closure of the 2021 F1 season from 3 different news

outlets each based in a different country. The first article is from the British news company Sky

Sports, the second is from the American news company NBC Sports, and the third is from the

Dutch news company NL Times.

The first piece of evidence we notice when looking for biases in these articles are the

headlines. The Sky Sports headline reads, “Abu Dhabi GP: Max Verstappen takes F1 title from

Lewis Hamilton on final lap after late controversy”. The first striking thing about this headline is
the fact that the author refers to Verstappen taking the title away from Hamilton as if the title was

already Hamilton’s to begin with. Although Hamilton seemed to be on track to win the title, it is

widely known that there are no certainties during the course of an F1 race and no title is decided

until the checkered flag has been waved. The NBC Sports headline is, “Verstappen wins Formula

1 title with dramatic, controversial last lap pass of Hamilton”. This headline is quite straight

forward and doesn’t use any abrasive language that may constitute a bias towards one driver or

the other. The NL Times headline reads, “Max Verstappen crowned first Dutch Formula 1 world

champion”. The NL Times chooses to completely ignore the HUGE last lap controversy of the

race and instead highlight the fact that Verstappen had won the title and was the first Dutch

driver to do so. If a reader were to have approached this article blind, they would have had no

doubt that Verstappen's win may have been caused by an unfair advantage.

Another large piece of evidence that hinted towards biases throughout the articles was

certain “missing information”. Sky Sports definitely provided the most in depth description of

the race, but when talking of the results of the championship they lacked some key context. In

the article, Sky Sports writes as though Verstappen got incredibly lucky in the final laps of the

race and lets the reader assume his luck was the whole reason he won the championship, which

isn’t the case. Verstappen was strong throughout the season and led the championship for most

of the season, even though the Mercedes car was clearly faster than his team, Red Bull’s. NBC

Sports leaves out the first lap controversy completely and instead focuses the article on the

controversial finish to the race. The NL Times utterly disregards any notion of controversy that

took place during the final race of the season that determined Verstappen’s title win. They also

left out Mercedes’ protests and pending appeals to the race and championship result and wrote as

though there is no threat of Verstappen’s title being stripped from him.

 Just as there was some “missing” information from the articles, there was also some

added information to each article. Since the Sky Sports article went more in depth about the race

itself, it had some information about how the other teams and drivers performed and placed in

the final race. The NBC Sports article went the most in depth of the aftermath reactions of the

drivers, their teams, and even the fathers of the drivers. Shockingly the article did an exceptional

job of going back and forth between the different perspectives of the 2 sides and was able to

portray both arguments in a considerably equal way. The article also gave a lot more info about

the season leading up to this race, which gave some much needed context to less knowledgeable

readers. The NL Times article had a paragraph of random statistics about Verstappen, including

him being the fourth youngest F1 world champion and the first non-British or German driver to

win the title since 2007. These statistics felt like filler for the article, and shined Verstappen in a

positive light as a triumphant winner pushing through with the odds stacked up against him.

One of the largest pieces of evidence towards biases, especially in the Sky Sports article,

was the order in which the article was written. The Sky Sports article starts by emphasizing the

controversial way that Verstappen won and how Mercedes was lodging multiple protests and

pending appeals. They only briefly mention the lap one controversy, but don’t go in depth until

later in the article and play it off as if Hamilton did no wrong. Then talks in depth about why the

last lap decision by the FIA was so controversial, and Verstappen stealing Hamilton’s world title

destiny. Then talks about Hamilton being humble after the race. Then they finally go in depth

and chronological order of how the race went down. The Sky Sports article really tried to

emphasize right in the beginning the unfair way Verstappen won and how the Mercedes team

was attempting to undo the tainted results of the race and the championship. The NBC Sports

article starts by explaining the controversial finish of the 2021 F1 season. Then they proceeded to

write about the immediate responses and after thought of the 2 drivers and even gave some
context of what had happened throughout the season leading up to this last lap shoot out. The

NBC Sports article does start with the controversy and then gives the context, but other than that

there is no major bias in the way they set up the order of their article. The NL Times article starts by

stating how Verstappen is the first Dutch F1 world champion, and quotes Verstappen’s post-race

reaction. Then they briefly review the events of the race and mention the safety car but not the

controversial part of the FIA’s decision. Then quotes Hamilton congratulating Verstappen and spews

some random statistics about Verstappen’s accomplishments. The way the NL Times ordered the article

is a little bit funny, because they start by praising Verstappen, then briefly mentions a safety car, then

immediately goes back to praising Verstappen.

Bias is inescapable in the media, whether a sports review or a political scandal. As educated

readers we must always keep a keen eye for where there might be bias in articles and academic

journals. That is why it’s necessary to learn the ways an author might subtly or even unconsciously push

their own narrative in their works. When we think of bias in the media we often first think of political

biases, but I hope this essay proved that where there are opinions there is bias.
 Citations

Galloway, James. “Abu Dhabi GP: Max Verstappen Takes F1 Title from Lewis Hamilton on
Final Lap after Late Controversy.” Sky Sports, Sky Sports, 13 Dec. 2021,
www.skysports.com/f1/news/15740/12493844/abu-dhabi-gp-max-verstappen-takes-f1-
title-from-lewis-hamilton-on-final-lap-after-late-controversy.
“Max Verstappen Crowned First Dutch Formula 1 World Champion.” NL Times, 12 Dec. 2021,
nltimes.nl/2021/12/12/max-verstappen-crowned-first-dutch-formula-1-world-champion.
“Verstappen Wins Formula 1 Title with Dramatic, Controversial Last Lap Pass of Hamilton.”
NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 13 Dec. 2021,
www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/verstappen-wins-1st-formula-1-title-last-lap-pass-
hamilton-rcna8531.