Last Updated on November 15 2024, 11:39 am

The 2021 Formula one season will be remembered for three things in particular. Lewis Hamilton taking out Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver responded in Monza which resulted in his rear wheels spinning an inch from Lewis’ head and of course the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Then 2023 was another memorable season as Red Bull and Max Verstappen rewrote the F1 record books like never before. This year the memories include the incredible ten race weekend win drought for the world champion which was ended by a sublime drive in Brazil in treacherous conditions where Max was peerless amongst the rest of the field.

The winless streak began way back at the Austrian Grand Prix, where Norris and Verstappen were the class of the field. The McLaren driver repeatedly harried Max for lap after lap before finally making a move into the infamous turn three.

 

 

 

Max/Lando tussles begin in Austria

Verstappen saw him coming and placed his car defensively to prevent the Norris overtake. The inevitable then occurred as the pair came together, with Lando the worse off having discovered quickly he would need to retire the car. Max pitted for brief repairs and continued but only to finish down in fifth place.

Post the chequered flag there heated debates across the paddock over which driver was at fault but the stewards had found Verstappen guilty of causing a collision in addition to awarding him a ten second penalty, they also added two points to his super licence.

Yet Max had done what he needed to do. With Norris in the quicker car the Red bull driver had prevented him from winning the race or scoring big points and in fact the McLaren driver was to score no points at all.

For the rest of the European season, the RB20 even in the hands of Max looked tricky to drive something Red Bull thought they had resolved with upgrades brought to the USGP. There Max was once again competitive claiming pole and the win in the Sprint.

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Uproar in COTA

Come qualifying, McLaren had unlocked some additional pace which saw Norris pip the world champion to the pole position by a mere 31/1000ths of a second. Yet an error from Norris at the start allowed Max up the inside into turn one yet carrying too much pace Verstappen forced the McLaren wide and let the Ferrari’s through.

To a certain extent this was already mission accomplished for Max who had prevented his rival for the title scoring big points in Austin, Texas. Yet the pair continued to duel on track for lap after lap with Norris briefly passing the world champion on the lengthy back straight.

Max immediately braked later, rolling his car into the apex at speed with the result neither the Red Bull or McLaren could remain on the track. Norris completed the overtake off the circuit and was penalised five seconds by the steward, whilst Max came out of the incident scott free.

The paddock uproar was instantaneous. How could Lando Norris be penalised and Max Verstappen not, was the question on everyone’s lips. Next time out in Mexico City, the pair found themselves once again fighting over the same piece of asphalt.

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Verstappen slammed by stewards

Again Max defended heavily as Norris attempted a move around the outside. Predictably the McLaren was forced outside the white lines and this time the stewards found Verstappen to be a fault issuing what for many was harsh – two ten second time penalties.

The ensuing debate revealed that the stewards are given each year a ‘secret’ manual (not published) which contains guidelines over how to interpret on track incidents between drivers. It appears there is a loophole which needs addressing which states the driver at the apex first, has the “right” to the corner.

This is something Max had been exploiting to the limits in his battle to prevent Norris catching him in the title race. No the drivers are set for a big ‘’sit down’ in Qatar with the FIA, to hammer out once again the rules of engagement.

Whilst the paddock voices were predominantly critical of Max and his driving style, a number of the drivers admitted later in Brazil that they would have deployed the same tactics if in Verstappen’s position. The job of the Dutch world champion after all is to prevent Norris scoring big points each weekend.

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Young F1 driver reveals his admiration

Now Verstappen is receiving plaudits for his driving style from an unusual source. F1’s latest rookie Gabriel Bortoleto who has been recruited from the McLaren young driver programme by Sauber-Audi reveals how big a fan he is of Max Verstappen.

Asked by the F1 Nation podcast which of the current F1 drivers he admired, the Brazilian replied: “From nowadays, I really like how Max drives, in the sense of… I really admire his quali laps and how much he extracts of the car in these laps, the way he drives and races.

“Obviously it can be very hard,” he added referring to the recent on track skirmishes. “We have seen in the last races, but obviously they are fighting for a world championship, so we all expect them to race each other like that.”

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Bortoleto reveals “I’ve always admired how Max drives – since I was very young, because I was part of a team in go-karts that he grew up with, so they always told me stories about him, and I was always like, ‘OK, what would Max do in this situation?’

“I wanted always to be a bit like him, because he won every single thing he did in junior series.”

Of course being Brazilian, Bortoleto is naturally a fan of one. Of his nations greatest ever F1 drivers. “Obviously, my biggest hero is Ayrton Senna, for the driver he was, for everything he did on track, but also outside of the track, I think he was a great person with great morals, and the legacy he left behind, and everything he did for Brazil, I think that’s something I am inspired by.”

Gabriel Bortoleto will partner Nico Hülkenberg on his move to Sauber-Audi whose key strength is his one lap pace in qualifying.  When both Haas drivers have started Grand Prix qualifying this year, Hülkenberg is 14-4 up on his current team mate Kevin Magnussen.

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Verstappen’s brutal response to new F1 car launch event

Formula One announced this week that there would be a makeover in how the teams reveal their new cars for 2025. There will be an “approved” event held at the huge O2 arena outside of London and each team is required to bring a mock up of their next season’s challenger.

The event on February 8th is scheduled just two weeks before pre-season testing begins in Bahrain later in the month. The great and good of the sport believed the old car launch format to be looking tired and so are bringing a refresh.

There are some spectacular F1 car launch events from the history of the sport, with McLaren’s in 1997 regularly ranked amongst the favourite. Pulling out the all stops for the new car’s presentation, McLaren had engaged the hugely popular Spice Girls to perform their hit “wannabe” before some ‘fun’ interaction with the drivers, David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen… READ MORE