Max Verstappen wins the F1 Championship

 Max Verstappen wins the F1  Championship.

Sport does revel in controversy. In fact it positively thrives on it at times. There are the inquests, fierce arguments, the questioning of officialdom, the downright injustices, the sour taste in mouths and the inconclusive nature of the end result. Did the ball cross the line, were they offside, was the batter leg before wicket, run out, bribed, and did the ball hit the chalk on the tennis tramlines of the world? If this was the case then the ball was in and the player had won the point before game, set and match.

Sport is full of technicalities, formalities, blurred lines, percentages, close shaves, offside, toes and elbows that mark the difference between goals scored and goals chalked off. It is all about fine margins and subtle inconsistencies in sport that drive most of us crazy at times. Why does VAR in Premier League football take so long to reach a decision about a goal when most of us can hardly remember whether the ball hit the hand for a penalty or the player was simply tying up their bootlaces and was offside when the ball came to them?

But when your whole F1 season is dependent on one single motor race and you feel sure that you've already won the Championship then things can get a bit heated and emotional. Sport can do strange things to the mind, playing tricks with your psyche, leaving you in a state of complete bafflement and consumed with rage. Besides, Lewis Hamilton is now so accustomed to winning the F1 championship that he probably felt as if he had a divine right to winning it every year. Hamilton is a serial winner, a champion par excellence and when things go haywire you're likely to blame everybody and everything around you. 

And so it was that Lewis Hamilton was beaten to the F1 Championship by Dutch driver Max Verstappen who was generous and gracious in victory because he knew he'd beaten a British legend. It must have rubbed up Hamilton the wrong way to think that he'd actually been beaten for once but then there are winners and losers and Baron Pierre Coubertin, an Olympic diplomat, wasn't wrong when he talked about the spirit of taking part in sport. 

Over the weekend the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix provided an enthralling race to the finishing line between two men who were both obsessively committed and determined to beat each other. When the cars came roaring around the final lap in the desert heat, it looked as if Hamilton had sewn it all up with seconds remaining. Then with both Verstappen and Hamilton going head to head, engines blasting at full pelt, carburettors firing and sparking with the highest intensity, there was a general jockeying and manoeuvring that looked ugly and certainly seemed unpleasant. 

Suddenly, the radios in both men's cars spluttered into life and for whatever reason, a safety car intervened right at the end when there seemed to be a clashing of cars. Hamilton was promptly distracted almost critically, Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the final bend and raced towards the finishing line triumphantly. Verstappen had won the F1 championship in a Grand Prix of the most dramatic quality. There was nothing between both drivers and it was easy to understand Hamilton's frustration. But you can't always be successful and win everything in sight

How many times throughout the years must the likes of Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, David Coultard, Jensen Button and the late James Hunt felt as if they'd been criminally robbed of victory because outside forces had conspired against them. |Motor racing of course is glamorous by its very nature, a wondrously competitive sport of timing, instinct and shrewd judgments on the spur of the moment. There are the endless pit stops, changes of tyres that have to be carried out with unseemly haste and a sense that if you do happen to lose then you'll never win it again.

Motor racing has always carried on almost intolerably heavy baggage of death around with it for as long as any of us can remember. The deaths of Ayrton Senna and the recent passing of Nicki Lauda after the German's face had been horrifically burnt as a result of a dreadful crash, was a stark reminder of the sport's inherent dangers and terrible risks. Of course there is the obscene wealth that can always be generated within the sport but then again who on earth would want to put their life on the line for millions in your bank account?

Many moons ago now British motor racing produced one of its most accomplished and charismatic of F1 drivers. Jackie Stewart was, and still is, motor racing's most intelligent spokesman, a sterling ambassador for his sport who mixes quite happily with both royalty and the rarefied world of celebrity. Stewart has also tasted victory in Formula One over the years and when the gentleman who was Graham Hill died in a most horrendous air crash, Stewart took over the role of motor racing's champion with exemplary champion with effortless ease. 

And so it is that Lewis Hamilton, the renowned champion himself now adopts the role of the upright role model, bruised perhaps by defeat this year but full of turbo charged energy and positivity, a man who loves his sport with a passion that you can only admire. And yet this time it wasn't meant to be. The child who always wanted to win Formula One was, for the first time, denied his place on the winners podium with a garland over his head and champagne bottle to spray over all and sundry. 

On Sunday the BBC will be handing over the yearly trophy to the most fitting of sports personalities of the year. You suspect that Hamilton may well have beeen a strong contender once again but not this year. There is still an infectious enthusiasm about the way in which Hamilton goes about his preparation for the big race. But this is the one year when the Englishman who drives a Mercedes was beaten by the man who drove a Red Bull. For Lewis Hamilton though another year brings with it even greater challenges and, when the season resumes, rivalries will once again be to the fore. Sport embraces all and never forgets its champions.