🏆 5 turning points as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fought for the F1 title

We previously looked at what-ifs that had knock-on effects on the heated title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, but not their actions and interactions themselves. 

That’s what this blog will do, and what a brilliant season they’ve both had by any measure, in a season filled with more politics than a big-budget drama, with the result being a vastly fragmented fanbase, more and more casual fans tuning in and the fulfilling of what Sky Sports’ Simon Lazenby called ‘the crossover of two generational talents’. 

On the track, you already know the result, which will be talked about for as long as the sport exists. We’ll start all the way back at the first race of the season, with track limits making early appearances in the controversy. 

What if Verstappen had overtaken Hamilton without a track limits controversy in Bahrain? 

Turn 4 at Bahrain was a mess during the opening weekend of the season. Drivers ran wide repeatedly, with Hamilton doing it an estimated 29 times over the course of the race. Drivers were also aware that overtaking with four wheels off the race track will result in having to give the place back or take a penalty, which is what happened to the Red Bull. And despite having a quicker car, Verstappen could not catch up. 

It meant a seven-point swing for the Mercedes and set the tone for a season of controversy, where things that quite literally happened off track being the story, rather than the skills of two brilliant drivers. 

I compared 2020’s qualifying times with 2021 with only one driver doing better than the previous season. 

What if Verstappen had not breached track limits on his fastest lap in Portimão?

Track limits were the issue a couple of races later in Portugal, with the Portimão rollercoaster setting the scene for Max to attack the circuit and take the extra point after Hamilton made it 2-1 on wins.

But track limits late in the lap cost the Dutchman that extra point, with it instead going to Valtteri Bottas. I looked into the fastest lap points that had been given out this season, with Hamilton taking one more than Verstappen. Interestingly, there were a couple of races where Red Bull took fastest lap without finishing in the top 10. While they didn’t get a point for that, it took it away from their rivals.

A deeper look at Portimao and the extra point for fastest lap. 

What if Hamilton hadn’t left his brake magic button on in Baku? 

Verstappen was cruising to 25 points in Azerbaijan before a tyre blowout - the cause of which is still disputed between Red Bull and Pirelli - forced a red flag and a restart. What looked like an uncontested victory for Hamilton was changed in the first corner of the two-lap sprint when Hamilton left his “brake magic” on, forcing an unwanted brake balance and no chance of making the corner. It meant he finished outside the points, nullifying Verstappen’s retirement.

With both Mercs out of the points, it was Sergio Perez who collected the victory, and six different constructors in the top six. An extra 25 points for Mercedes would have dramatically changed things in the title race - the same had Verstappen’s tyres not exploded. 

I wrote about the importance of a good second driver after the Baku race.

What if Hamilton had been given a more severe punishment at Silverstone? 

At his home Grand Prix, Hamilton got at least one massive break after his first lap incident with Verstappen. With a damaged car, the stroke of luck came with a red flag to recover the Red Bull and fix the barrier at Copse. This gave Mercedes a chance to fix the car ready for the restart, specifically the left wheel rim, which would have been a terminal problem, were it not for a stoppage.

The other possible bit of luck heading the seven-time champion’s way was the punishment, being hit with a 10-second penalty. Had it been higher, there was a chance that he would not have fought his way through the field before overtaking Charles Leclerc at the same corner near the end of the race. It’s important to consider that the consequences of an incident aren’t taken into account, and despite Red Bull’s protests, 10 seconds is the standard penalty. Combine that with it being Silverstone and Hamilton’s brilliance, the result was almost inevitable. 

I looked at Hamilton’s 100th F1 win after the Russian Grand Prix. 

What if Mercedes and Red Bull hadn’t suffered slow stops in Monza? 

Another race weekend with a sprint element, another coming together for the leading pair, this time out of pit stops. Curiously, both drivers suffered poor stops before crunching into each other at turn 1.

Hamilton’s was close to seven seconds quicker, but still stationary for 4.2 seconds after Verstappen’s comparative 11-second marathon. The crash itself felt like a proper bad blood letting, with all the off-track anger and rancour from all parties coming to a dangerous head. But what if it had not happened and Verstappen hadn’t been given a three-place grid penalty in Russia? Maybe he doesn’t take a new engine and the associated penalties in Sochi, for example. 

The other massive what if is the role of the halo. It feels like at least once a season, the titanium structure in front of the drivers justifies its presence, be it a tyre hitting a driver, to the famous Romain Grosjean crash in Bahrain 2020. In this case, Hamilton credits the device as saving his life and that is something everyone associated with F1 should be thankful for. 

I wrote about the importance of a DNF after the US race, and how the teams have better reliability than any other point of the hybrid era.