Six Races That Have Defined 2021s Formula One Championship Season
This weekend the Formula One circus heads to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the 2021 season. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are dead level on points. It simply means whoever finishes in front of the other will take the title.
Formula One rivalry cannot get much closer than this incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at Monza. ©Mercedes/LAT Image
On a three-race winning streak, Lewis Hamilton has the momentum but the fearless and aggressive Max Verstappen can never be discounted.
The season has been a compelling duel from the outset. Here we have listed six decisive races that have defined the season for both competitors.
Round 1 Bahrain
Max Verstappen had aced all three practice sessions at the season’s curtain-raising race weekend, and he took pole position by a huge margin.
Racing to an early advantage, the Mercedes team took a strategic throw of the dice and pitted Hamilton relatively early. This gave Hamilton the upper hand, but with 16 laps of the race remaining, Verstappen emerged from the pits with fresh tires and a nine-second deficit.
The Red Bull driver hunted down his rival and passed him with four laps to go. However, Max completed the overtaking maneuver at turn four at a time when he was outside of the track limits.
Consequently, the Dutchman was instructed to hand the position back. He did so but at an inopportune moment meaning he lost a significant amount of time.
Rapidly closing for a second time, Verstappen was unable to overtake Hamilton on the final lap giving Lewis an unlikely victory.
Round 6 Azerbaijan
When the teams arrived in Baku, Max Verstappen had collected two race victories and a further two seconds. Lewis Hamilton had acquired three wins and a second. But Monaco – where Verstappen had won – yielded only a seventh-place finish.
Therefore, Verstappen was leading the title by four points (105 vs 101) and that advantage looked like being extended as he comfortably led the Baku Grand Prix with just five laps remaining. But then, disaster struck as the 23-year-old driver suffered a huge blowout on the high-speed straight.
When Verstappen’s stricken car was removed the race was re-started from a standing start with just two laps to race. Hamilton began in second and took the lead on the dash to the opening bend.
When Lewis Hamilton selected the wrong brake mode for the re-start, he could not stop his car at the opening corner in Baku. ©Clive Rose/Getty Images
However, the Brit had inadvertently selected the wrong brake mode and he was unable to stop his car at the sharp left-hander. He proceeded to go directly into the escape area, rejoining the race in last position. It meant neither driver left the venue with any championship points.
Round 10 Britain
Verstappen dominated the next three races and arrived at Silverstone with a 32-point lead over his rival. It meant he could crash out and still leave the venue with the title lead. And that is exactly what happened.
The 2021 British Grand Prix was the first race to feature a new sprint-qualifying format. Verstappen won this ahead of Hamilton meaning the pair started Sunday’s from race first and second on the grid.
In a dogfight of a start, Verstappen took an early lead and the pair dueled around Silverstone’s famous opening curves. A half-lap had not been completed before the pair touched and Verstappen was sent crashing into the tire barriers at high speed.
The 51-G impact saw Verstappen taken to hospital for check-ups as Hamilton raced on to victory despite being forced to serve a 10-second time penalty for his part in the accident.
The Red Bull pilot later described Hamilton’s part in the accident as “dangerous, disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior.” The gloves were now truly off.
Round 11 Hungary
Mercedes qualified a surprising 1-2 in the Hungarian Grand Prix but a slow start by second-placed Bottas saw Verstappen enter the opening bend in second position. Here Bottas managed to rear-end Lando Norris who, in turn, collected Verstappen in a messy accident.
Verstappen ultimately nursed his badly damaged car home to finish ninth. But a bad strategy call by Mercedes meant Lewis did not take full advantage and he finished second after failing to stop for new dry tires when every other car did.
On the day Hamilton finished second and gained 16 points on Verstappen. It took the scores to 195 vs 187 in the reigning World Champion’s favor.
Round 14 Italy
Courtesy of back-to-back wins in Hungary and Belgium (where only half points were awarded) it was Max that was back on top as the teams went to Monza, Italy.
Verstappen, sitting second, and third-placed Hamilton collided on the opening lap at the second chicane. Both continued but this was just a taster of things to come.
Emerging from the pits on lap 26 marginally ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and his rival came together at the opening chicane. This time both were out of the race. The low-speed crash left a unique spectacle of Verstappen’s Red Bull perched on top of a Mercedes.
Post-race, the stewards ruled that Verstappen was chiefly responsible for the collision and imposed a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Russia.
Round 21 Saudi Arabia
Entering the penultimate race of the 2021 season Max Verstappen had an eight-point lead in the World Drivers’ Championship standings.
He left the Jeddah Corniche Circuit level on points with Hamilton but not before there was enough action to make an intense feature film that would last considerably longer than the two-and-a-half-hour race.
Who is in the hot seat? Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas wait for race winner Lewis Hamilton in the press conference after the ill-tempered Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. ©Sam Bloxham – Pool/Getty Images
Ugly, ill-tempered, aggressive and hectic, both drivers and both teams were not discreet in questioning the morality of decisions made by race officials during and after the race. Inconsistent rules, the need for red flags, overtaking outside of track limits, were all bones of contention.
The history books show Hamilton was the convincing winner, but his victory was aided by two time-penalties given to Verstappen. The second was post-race when a Stewards Report stated:
“The sudden braking by the driver of Car 33 was determined by the Stewards to be erratic, hence the predominant cause of the collision and hence the standard penalty of 10 seconds for this type of incident is imposed.”
Erratic was not the term used by Lewis Hamilton during the race. He declared “This guy is f*****g crazy, man” after almost rear-ending him high-speed.
Round 22 – What Will Happen Next?
And so, the final curtain call will be in Abu Dhabi next weekend. Hamilton has an exceptional record at the venue winning in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Verstappen has driven marginally inferior equipment before 2021 but he did take this contest by a wide margin 12 months ago.
This circuit, all $900 million of it, does have a reputation for delivering a mind-numbingly boring race. Finishing numbers are normally high, winning margins are big and on-track overtaking virtually non-existent.
Thankfully changes have been made to the Yas Marina Circuit this summer. Hopefully, they will contribute to make the championship decider a fitting spectacle. Will it be clean? Will there be accidents, incidents, accusations, complaints, appeals and criticism?
Based on 2021 form and simmering tensions, this will be a gripping contest. For the sake of motorsport, let’s hope it does not boil over into a repeat of the 1989 or 1990 title deciders.
On these occasions, in Japan, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna collided (sending both cars out of the race in 1990). The crashes determined the destination of the Championship both years – in dubious circumstances.
Hamilton Is 2/5 for the Title According to William Hill
If you think history could repeat itself, you might be interested in the numerous Abu Dhabi betting markets found at William Hill.
The decades-old betting firm is offering 12/1 about Verstappen being the first retirement of the race. Hamilton is 16/1 in the same market. For the Championship William Hill Sportsbook rate Hamilton the 2/5 favorite. Verstappen can be backed at 7/4.
