Lewis Hamilton’s F1 title showdown with Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi to be shown for FREE on Channel 4

LEWIS HAMILTON'S titanic battle with Max Verstappen for the F1 title will be shown live on Channel 4.

Sky F1 have reached an agreement with the channel to provide free-to-air coverage of the Abu Dhabi GP.

Hamilton is level on points with Verstappen as he bids for a record eighth world title after an explosive race last weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The winner-takes-all clash is a thrilling finale to an excellent season where the Brit has battled back from being 32 points behind the Dutchman.

Over 2.6million watched on Sky F1 as Hamilton won the last race in Jeddah.

But those numbers are set to rocket this weekend with it being made more widely available.

Sky have the rights to broadcast all of F1's GPs live while C4 only show the British GP live with the rest of their coverage in the form of a highlights show.

They did come to a 'sharing' agreement with Channel 4 for England's dramatic Cricket World Cup final win in 2019 - so there is precedent.

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A similar deal was also struck in September when Prime Video let Channel 4 show Emma Raducanu's historic win in the US Open tennis final.

Channel 4’s chief executive Alex Mahon said: “We are delighted that the whole nation will be able to watch what is set to be one of the most thrilling finales to an F1 season in living memory as Lewis strives to become the most crowned World Champion of all time.

“After bringing Test cricket to free to air television for the first time in more than a decade, and enabling millions to share the joy of Emma Raducanu’s US Open triumph, we are so pleased to be partnering with Sky to enable the widest possible audience to share this historic sporting moment.”

Former sports minister Tracy Crouch earlier wholeheartedly urged the broadcast giant to make it available for free.

She told The Times: “It is only the last day of the season we are talking about, so I would hope they do so.

“Pay TV does provide a massive investment in sports and we wouldn’t want to see the end of that because of the large benefits it brings.

"But where there are epic endings or finales to sporting occasions I do think it makes sense to make them available to the widest possible audience.”