One incident that went under the radar in the aftermath of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP , the spotlight being on the late-race Safety Car period, was Max Verstappen’s first-lap pass on Hamilton. Damon Hill believes it was a clean pass.

On lap one of the Abu Dhabi race, and with Hamilton having a better start from pole-sitter Verstappen, the Dutchman caught up with the Briton and went for a bold move on the inside of Turn 6, with the #44 Mercedes taking to the run-off area and staying in the lead, the Stewards not ordering a position swap.

Red Bull objected but the Stewards upheld their decision.

With the way the race developed, the focus was instead on the way Race Director Michael Masi handled the Safety Car period after Nicholas Latifi’s lap 53 crash, which Mercedes claim handed Verstappen the victory.

Had not that debacle happened, we would have now been most probably reading about Red Bull appealing against the Stewards lap 1 decision.

A Daniel Ricciardo-style lunge

Speaking to the F1 Nation Podcast, former F1 Champion Damon Hill commented on this incident, likening to an overtake Daniel Ricciardo might pull-off, the Australian known for his deep-braking, from-far-behind overtakes.

Hill said: “The one that Max did on Lewis on lap one where he dived down the inside, took a long, massive Daniel Ricciardo-style lunge from miles back, Lewis allowed that to happen but he’s perhaps got in his mind being taken out by Max.

“So he’s thinking ‘Crikey! He’s going for it,” he went on. “I’m going to have to slightly open the door’ and Max put his wheels right down there on the inside.

“Lewis took evasive action and had no track left to play with and had to take to the escape road.

“That was a bold move but it was a move that has come on the back of a number of moves like that, that have gone unpunished or they’ve let it go so the drivers are unsure as to whether or not this is going to be the way to race or not,” the 1996 World Champion said.

“The doubt is the thing that has given us all these difficulties. It has given us uncertainty,” Hill claimed.

It was a clean pass nevertheless

The 61-year-old who won his only Championship with Williams went on: “Lewis had to take the evasive action but actually, you look at that pass and it was a clean pass.

“Actually, he was ahead, so I didn’t understand when Lewis got back on the track why he didn’t give the place back because, in a sense really, Max had got the place.

“He didn’t gain a lasting advantage on that one, that is what they said. But he kind of did, because he didn’t get overtaken when in fact he had been overtaken,” Hill mused.

A suggestion was brought up in the discussion, that gravel run-off areas would help avoid such conundrums in the future, as drivers would think twice before taking risky moves or using run-off areas to gain advantages.

Hill jokingly responded: “I’m going to take out shares in a gravel quarry somewhere!”