Max Verstappen beat arch-rival Lewis Hamilton to claim his first F1 championship title at Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The Dutch driver’s victory received mixed reactions , mainly because of a controversial overtake in the last lap. 

Hamilton had a record eighth championship ripped away with five laps remaining when a crash by Nicholas Latifi triggered the safety car and gave race director Michael Masi a decision. The season-ending race and championship could be decided under yellow, or, the track could be cleaned for one final lap of racing.

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Hamilton had been on cruise control and dominated Sunday after surging past pole-sitter Verstappen at the start. He led 51 of the 58 laps and was minutes away from breaking a tie with Michael Schumacher for an eighth title that would strengthen his case as best in F1 history.

“Hats off to Max…big congrats & respect!!! Also an awesome performance by Lewis…it’s been an epic F1 season!” Nico Rosberg, 2016 champion, tweeted.

“Max is an absolutely fantastic driver who has had an incredible season and I have nothing but huge respect for him, but what just happened is absolutely unacceptable. I cannot believe what we’ve just seen,” Williams’ George Russell wrote on Twitter.

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Mercedes lost both its protests against the result. 

“Although Car 33 (Verstappen) did at one stage, for a very short period of time, move slightly in front of Car 44 (Hamilton), at a time when both cars where accelerating and braking, it moved back behind Car 44,” stewards concluded. “It was not in front when the Safety Car period ended (i.e. at the line). Accordingly, the Protest is dismissed.”

“I’m new to F1 and it’s been amazing to watch Lewis and Max battle it out. I’m no expert on it but I feel like there’s some bizarre rules that give an unfair advantage like today ? Why should Hamilton be penalised for somebody else’s crash? He literally raced the perfect race under the highest pressure and gets the World Championship taken away from him. Seems like common sense to keep the lead that you’d raced so hard to gain. Shame it had to end like that,” England football team skipper Harry Kane wrote in a series of tweets.

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“WHAT A BOSS! @Max33Verstappen,” Dutch football team captain Virgil van Dijk tweeted.

“Congrats to Max for becoming the World Champion for the 1st time & there will be many more. However, my heart goes out to Lewis. What a season he’s had too. If not for the safety car, the trophy would’ve been his. Sheer bad luck. All the best for the next season,” Sachin Tendulkar said. 

With inputs from the Associated Press