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Formula One F1 – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – December 12, 2021 Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after the start of the race REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Reuters
Formula One F1 – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – December 12, 2021 Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after the start of the race REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
The year 2021 arguably witnessed the greatest Formula One season of all time, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen attracting most of the attention with their exhilarating battle for the championship. But, the entertainment did not stop there for F1 fans.
There were multiple other factors sprinkled throughout the 22-race calendar that kept the viewers glued to their seats.
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Formula One F1 – Russian Grand Prix – Sochi Autodrom, Sochi, Russia – Williams’ George Russell in action on first corner at the start of the race REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
For instance, it was the strategy masterclass in Spain and France followed by crashes between the two protagonists in Saudi Arabia, Monza, Imola, and Silverstone, and most importantly, unpredictable races in Abu Dhabi, Hungary, Monza, and Azerbaijan.
The season had all the thrilling moments that the fans had been longing for for quite a few years. Well, turns out, the impeccable 2021 season has somehow helped F1 break a record on YouTube by quite a margin. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is now the most-watched F1 video of all time.
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F1 breaks record on YouTube
According to Formula Passion, the F1 video featuring the highlights of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has so far, garnered over 14.1M views followed by the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with 12.3M views. Prior to 2021, the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix was leading the charts with around 8.5M views.
The race had quite a lot of interesting incidents, including Verstappen’s failed dive attempt on Hamilton around the inside of the port chicane. And there was the incredible fightback by Charles Leclerc before tangling with Nico Hulkenberg around Rascasse.
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Formula One F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton crash out of the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
Well, they don’t own the record anymore as the viewers have apparently swarmed to re-live the intense 2021 Abu Dhabi GP where Verstappen ended Hamilton’s title run amidst massive controversy.
Behind Abu Dhabi, the race in Baku, too, earned massive views, because of Verstappen’s high-speed crash followed by Hamilton’s brake failure. This eventually led Sergio Perez to claim his second F1 race victory, as Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly picked up P2 and P3, respectively.
Apart from Baku and Abu Dhabi, around five of the 2021 season’s races made the top 20 most-watched F1 videos; The five races being Bahrain GP (8.7M), Hungarian GP (8.5M), Emilia Romagna GP (8.4M), Italian GP (8.1M), and British GP (7.5M).
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