Max Verstappen won the most thrilling Formula One world championship ever in the most dramatic fashion imaginable

• Max Verstappen is the Formula One world champion after a dramatic race in Abu Dhabi.
• The Dutchman overtook Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the final race of the season to win.

Max Verstappen won the Formula One world championship in the most dramatic fashion imaginable in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The Red Bull driver overtook his championship rival Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to win the tightest title race in decades by the barest of margins.

Verstappen's win, however, is already the subject of huge debate thanks to the circumstances in which he took victory.

After 54 laps of the 58 lap race, Hamilton was around 10 seconds clear of his rival, and looked likely to come home for a record-breaking eighth title.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Verstappen needed a "miracle" and an intervention from the "racing gods" to have any chance of victory.

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When Williams' Nicholas Latifi crashed at the end of the 54th lap, a safety car was deployed, and Horner got his miracle.

As the safety car came out, Verstappen gambled by pitting for a fresh set of tires. Hamilton, with just a slim lead, stayed out.

With fresher tires, Verstappen knew that should the race restart, he'd be quicker than Hamilton and be able to overtake him and win the race. With only five laps left and a crashed car to clear off the road, it didn't look sure that the race would restart. As there is no overtaking under a safety car, it seemed like Hamilton would still win.

Race director Michael Masi, however, pulled the safety car in with a lap to go, and the race was back on. Verstappen flew past Hamilton and took the victory, and with it, the title.

The circumstances of the end of the safety car, however, were doubly controversial.

With the race approaching its conclusion, many of the cars lower in the field had been lapped by the frontrunners. After the safety car was deployed, the order of the cars behind Hamilton in the lead was shaken up, meaning that several cars were between him and Verstappen on track.

Under F1 regulations, any lapped cars can be allowed to overtake the safety car and unlap themselves to put the race back in the right order. The decision is left to the race director.

In Abu Dhabi, it didn't look like that would happen.

In the end though, the five lapped cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen were allowed to quickly overtake the safety car before the start of the final lap meaning Verstappen had to simply overtake Hamilton in the final lap to be named world champion.

With older tires, Hamilton could not do much to prevent the Dutchman who eventually overtook the seven-time world champion on his way to a maiden world title.

The decision was hugely controversial, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff screaming down the radio to Masi: "Michael this isn't right!"

A topsy-turvy race ends arguably F1's greatest battle

Before the last lap controversy unfolded, Verstappen had started the race on pole. That lead did not last long with Hamilton taking the lead going into the first corner.

In a season of clashes, fans were treated to one more as the two almost collided in the first lap. Hamilton claimed he was forced off the track as he cut the corner to retake the lead. Despite Red Bull's protests, the stewards decided to make no action.

With a quicker car, Hamilton looked to be disappearing off into the sunset for an eighth world title, while Red Bull were left scratching their heads as to what they could do.

They were given a brief glimmer of hope when, following pit stops for Verstappen and Hamilton, Sergio Perez lead the race. The Red Bull driver produced some excellent defensive driving to keep Hamilton, who was on newer tires, behind him and allow Verstappen to briefly close the gap.

With Hamilton back in the lead, he rebuilt the gap until a virtual safety car following a failure to Antonio Giovinazzi's car allowed Verstappen to pit for newer tires while Hamilton stayed out.

With the fresher wheels, the Dutchman had the task of cutting an 18-second gap if he wanted to become the world champion, but lapped cars blocking his way looked to have made it an impossible task.

That was until Latifi's crash, which changed everything, and made Verstappen the first ever Dutch world champion.

Controversy over the race looks set to rumble on, with Mercedes launching two formal appeals against the race result. Racing authorities will hear those appeals Sunday night, but for now, Max Verstappen is Formula One world champion.