The ‘What could have been?’ is always an entertaining question to ask. The answer is always delightful, but never grounded in reality. For Lewis Hamilton fans, the question was, and still stays – ‘What if he won the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP?’ But that is not what happened and the bitterness of that loss would still hurt him as people call him a 7-time World champion. 2 years after that, his wounds had healed. But they might just have worsened with an F1 expert swooning over that particular race.

With the Safety car about to go in the pits, him leading the race, 5 lapped cars between him and Max Verstappen, in P2, and only 1 lap to go – the record 8th world championship almost had his name written on it. But as fate had it, the 5 lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves. And the Dutchman, on the fresher soft tires, overtook Hamilton to take his maiden drivers’ championship trophy. As much as a heartbreak it was for Hamilton, David Croft enjoyed the beauty of a controversial race and by identifying that race as his favorite, he’s added insult to injury for Hamilton.

Croft said, on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, “I could go on forever about the great races. If anything ever comes close to the last lap of Abu Dhabi 2021, I will be not only stunned but impressed that a sport can do that. Because it was an incredible championship battle. That was a battle for the ages.”

‘Crofty’ further added to say how part of his prediction came right, but still had an unexpected ending. He said, “I was in the office one day, eight races out and I went ‘this is going down to the wire. They’re going to have the same amount of points when we get to Abu Dhabi.’ I could just see it. And so it transpired. Did we think it was gonna go down to the last lap? No. But that’s the beauty of Live Sport.”

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That season was a spectacle, with a potential world champion going head-to-head with a 7-time world champion. But have you ever wondered what would happen if they raced for the same team?

Helmut Marko gives his take on the potential Max Verstappen-Lewis Hamilton partnership

Lewis Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes has been reported to have been finalized for post-2023. But to answer the ‘What if’ question around the Verstappen-Hamilton combo racing for Red Bull, RB taskmaster Helmut Marko has shut the conversation once and for all.

“The public, the TV viewers, and the journalists will certainly love that,” Marko told Motorsport-Magazin. “But we as team management want success and we want to win the championship – if possible both the Drivers’ and Constructors’. Then it is better if you have a hierarchy, where it is clear who is the clearly faster number one and who is the number two driver.”

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Ever since that race, there has been barely any Red Bull v/s Mercedes competition. It is heavily one-sided, in Verstappen’s favor and all Hamilton can do is hope that the Silver Arrows give him something more to work with to achieve glory again.