Has Max Verstappen’s best career performance been completely over-shadowed at no fault of his own?
The major drama around Formula One over the past few years has to be the finale of the 2021 season, which saw Lewis Hamilton’s lead of the finale grand prix fall into Max Verstappen’s hands, after a horror sequence of calls by the FIA, which consequently granted Verstappen his first ever Driver’s World Championship title, with many fans claiming he didn’t deserve it and/or saying that it does not count.
However, has all the bad press around this finale over-shadowed what was really an outstanding season for the Red Bull driver?
Season Opening.
The Dutchman entered the season as an underdog for the championship, with seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, being the clear favourite to continue his incredible winning streak of titles. According to Coral, a UK betting company, Lewis Hamilton was the 2/5 favourite, with Max Verstappen behind him at 5/1.
Hamilton started the season incredibly, winning the opening race of the season in Bahrain, and going on to win three out the first four races of the season, leaving him 14 points clear of Max.
Baku Blowout.
It was a season where Verstappen would not finish three races throughout the season, his first in Azerbaijan, after an unexpected tyre failure saw his car crash into the barrier, just 5 laps shy of claiming his second win of the season.
However, Hamilton completely blew his chance at gaining an easy advantage over his rival, after locking up into turn 1 at the race restart, tumbling down the order and finishing out of the points.
Max Verstappen Hat-Trick of Wins.
The French, Styrian and Austrian Grand Prix would see the Dutchman claim an excellent hat-trick of race wins off the back of an action-packed race in Baku, seeing him take a 32-point lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
That Silverstone Incident.
Though, a great start to the race for Max, his race would soon end into Copse corner, turn 9, where Hamilton attempted an ambitious move down the inside, but clipped his rival’s right-rear wheel in entry and sent him flying out of the race, his second DNF of the three.
Despite receiving a 10-second time-penalty, Lewis would still go on to win the race and gain 25 points on his rival’s lead in the championship.
Tenpin Bowling at Hungary.
Hungary was next, which would see Verstappen receive damage to his car in a crash caused by a Mercedes driver yet again, however this time it was Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, after the Finnish driver did his best impression of a bowling ball into turn 1, slamming into the back of McLaren driver, Lando Norris, who subsequently hit Max Verstappen, causing major damage.
Due to the damage, it meant he struggled for pace for the rest of the race, clinching 9th place, and only two points, whilst Lewis secured second place, after a great battle with Fernando Alonso, and 18 points, taking the lead of the championship once again by eight points.
Belgium Cut Short & Home Win for Max.
The Belgian Grand Prix was next and cut short after torrential rain meant it was too unsafe for the drivers to complete a full race stint.
However, they completed enough laps behind the safety car to be able to award half points, which would see Verstappen win the race, but only receive 12.5 points rather than the usual 25 and Hamilton claim third place, with seven and a half points rather than 15, cutting the difference down to only five points gained for Verstappen rather than 10, which would have seen him take the top spot of the championship, if he was to have gone on to win the full grand prix.
Next up was Zandvoort, the Dutch Grand Prix, where Verstappen would return to winning ways, with 100% points awarded, in his home country, managing to keep the Mercedes drivers at bay during the 72-lap encounter.
Max & Lewis Monza Crash.
Max would top the championship for the first time since the British Grand Prix, with a seven-point lead, heading into the Italian Grand Prix, where the two drivers had their infamous crash, which would see them both retire from the race and Max receive a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Russia.
Verstappen P20 to P2 in Russia and Turkey Podium.
The Russian Grand Prix saw Lewis Hamilton return to winning ways and back in-front of the championship by 2 points, whilst Max Verstappen drove an immense race, from last place, due to fitting new engine components, to second place to limit the difference to his British rival.
Neither driver managed a win in the next race, in Turkey, but Max still managed to get himself onto the podium, whilst Lewis Hamilton could only get himself as far as fifth place, meaning that the positions in the championship would change yet again, with a six-point lead for the Dutchman.
Double-header Double-winner Verstappen.
After a great performance in Russia, and once again taking the lead of the championship in Turkey, it was the United States and Mexico where Verstappen would extend his lead at the top, to 19 points, with two wins in two weekends.
Lewis Hamilton’s Brazilian Masterclass.
Sao Paulo would be the next destination for the two drivers to battle out their differences, where we would see one of the best performances in Formula One by any driver.
Hamilton had qualified on Pole for the sprint race in Brazil but was later disqualified for a DRS infringement and dropped to the back of the grid – with an additional five-place grid drop for the race after Mercedes fitted a new engine on to his car.
The Brit would storm his way through the pack, from P20 to P5 in the sprint, but that extra penalty would see him start 10th in Sunday’s race.
However, this didn’t stop him at all, as he drove a world-class race to see him win the Grand Prix, and close the gap to his rival, Max Verstappen, showing that he was still well within chance of winning the championship.
The Season Finale.
After wins in Qatar and Saudi Arabia for Lewis Hamilton, both him and Verstappen would enter the final weekend of the season tied at the top of the championship.
Hamilton had been driving a great race, managing to keep Max at bay, after overtaking him into turn 1 at the start, up until the 53rd lap, where Nicholas Latifi of Williams would crash out and cause a safety car to be deployed.
Red Bull made the quick and wise decision of pitting Verstappen for fresher tyres, whilst Mercedes opted to keep their driver out on his old hard compound, which would come back to bite them as the controversy of the finale would start to begin.
Initially, Michael Masi, the then FIA race director, made the call to not allow the lapped cars to unlap themselves and overtake the safety car, however, after a lot of pressure from both teams, he reversed his decision and made the call to allow the cars to unlap themselves, meaning that Max Verstappen would be right on the tail of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, with faster and fresher tyres.
Incidentally, this would cause Verstappen to breeze past Hamilton once the race restarted on the final lap, leading to his first ever Drivers’ World Championship.
Summary.
In a season which saw Verstappen DNF three times to no fault of his own, but claim the most pole positions, lead the most laps and win the most races against a Mercedes which was thought of as the fastest car on the grid, and evidently as they went on to win the Constructors’ Championship, behind the hands of one of the greatest drivers ever to step into the sport, Lewis Hamilton, Max came out on top in an intense and long battle.
But is Max Verstappen’s incredible 2021 performance, against a top performing Lewis Hamilton, being completely over-looked and over-shadowed at no fault of his own?
Could Verstappen’s 2021 season be up there as one of the greatest individual performances ever in Formula One?
Commentaires