First championship: 2021Age: 24 years and 73 daysStage of his F1 career when title was won: Seventh full season F1 debut: 2015 Australian Grand Prix (aged 17)Hamilton won the title on the final lap of the 2008 season but he would lose it on the final lap in 2021 in circumstances that remain a source of huge controversy.His rival in a thrilling and intense season-long duel was Red Bull's Max Verstappen. There were plenty of flashpoints along the way and it all came to a climax in Abu Dhabi.Verstappen and Hamilton went into the final race of the season level on points.
The Dutchman qualified on pole but Mercedes' Hamilton beat him off the line and largely controlled the race thereafter, until Williams' Nicholas Latifi crashed with five laps to go, bringing out a safety car. Hamilton did not have enough of an advantage over second-placed Verstappen to pit for fresh tyres and maintain the lead, so stayed out.
Verstappen, with nothing to lose, came in and fitted softs. Race director Michael Masi allowed the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to go past, but not those behind the Red Bull.
He allowed the race to restart for one final racing lap and Verstappen overtook Hamilton, who was a sitting duck on his old hard tyres.Verstappen and Hamilton, in their own ways, were both stunned and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff shouted over the radio to Masi: "No, Michael, no! That was so not right!"As happened with Vettel from 2010-13, this was the first of four consecutive titles for a Red Bull driver with Verstappen dominating the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons.