Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinched his maiden Formula One title after winning Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a last-lap overtake on Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman was on course to finish second behind his Mercedes rival and in need of a “miracle” in team boss Christian Horner’s words to stop the Briton clinching an unprecedented eighth championship.

The racing gods duly smiled on him on the 53rd of 58 laps when a safety car to clear the crashed Williams of Nicholas Latifi turned the race on his head. Verstappen, 24, pitted under the safety car to fit a set of grippy soft compound tyres, Hamilton, meanwhile, to keep track position stayed out on worn hards. That gave Verstappen the edge he needed, as racing resumed for one final flat out blast, with a lunge into the Turn 5 hairpin sealing the win and the championship.