Retired football star Gareth Bale says he doesn’t watch Formula One anymore after Lewis Hamilton was controversially dudded in the 2021 season finale.
Hamilton was famously denied a recordbreaking eighth F1 world title at the final race of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi when Australian race director Michael Masi made a contentious call with just a few laps to go.
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his first drivers’ title when he sped past Hamilton on the final lap at the Yas Marina Circuit.
The deployment of the safety car after a late crash had wiped out Hamilton’s seemingly unassailable lead.
But a controversial decision from Masi saw the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen instructed to overtake the safety car, which meant the frontrunners were given clear air to fight each other for the win over a one-lap shootout.
Verstappen had a huge advantage as he had the chance to pit for fresher tyres — and he made it count overtaking Hamilton on the first corner of the final lap.
The last-lap thriller was the most dramatic conclusion to an F1 season in decades, but it left the F1 world divided with many believing Hamilton was robbed of the title.
The dramatic finale turned many motorsport fans off F1, including former Tottenham and Real Madrid striker Bale.
Asked in an interview with Random Golf Club whether he liked F1, Bale replied: “Do you know what? I don’t after what happened to Hamilton.
“It wasn’t fair. The fact (Hamilton) had to go through all the traffic and he couldn’t pit stop.
“It was never a race.”
Many F1 fans would agree with Bale.
And while the F1 world has tried to move on from the saga, there are still reminders of that fateful day in Abu Dhabi in December 2021.
Sky Sports commentator Ted Kravitz couldn’t believe Masi was brave enough to show his face in the paddock at the Australian Grand Prix earlier this year.
Verstappen dominated the 2022 season to claim his second drivers’ championship and is on track to win a third straight title with a 53-point lead in the championship this season.
Masi was later removed from his position as race director and Hamilton has admitted he has mental scars from being robbed of the chance to edge ahead of Michael Schumacher to statistically become the greatest F1 driver ever with eight titles.
Hamilton is believed to have considered walking away from F1 at the end of 2021, but he is now set to sign a multi-year contract extension with Mercedes.
The F1 season continues at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Monday morning (4am AEST).