Just In: Lewis Hamilton talks about his……Read more

In 2021, when Verstappen and Red Bull were on the rise to challenge Hamilton’s four-year Formula 1 title reign, the two teams were embroiled in a number of intense clashes and crashes, with the incidents at Silverstone and Monza sticking out in people’s minds.

Adrian Newey, who will be joining Aston Martin in Formula One in 2025 and was previously a design guru for Red Bull, brought attention to the heated battle that occurred in Brazil that year between Verstappen and Hamilton. At one point, both drivers were using the Turn 4 run-off, but Hamilton was trying to go around the outside and Verstappen was braking too late.

The pressure on Verstappen and Red Bull was already high when Hamilton passed him and won the race. Newey said that Verstappen was lucky to avoid a penalty; he finished second, ten and a half seconds behind Hamilton.

“I think a little bit perhaps in his championship win in ’21,” Newey said during an interview for the High Performance Podcast when asked if Verstappen ever displays any indications of breaking. Verstappen is currently a three-time World Champion.

Where the animosity between Lewis and Max on the track grew particularly great after Silverstone, I believe Max had very strong thoughts about that accident.

Going into Silverstone, he was clearly leading the championship. However, he was later eliminated from the race and was nearly eliminated in Hungary after being hit by Valtteri Bottas—not intentionally, but still—and barely scored any points. As a result, he went from being an easy leader to now feeling a bit of pressure.

And by the season’s end, Mercedes had gotten a lot more speed out of their vehicle.

Being the hunter is always simpler than being the hunted. The hunted were beginning to exert a slight amount of pressure on Max, I believe. Thus, it’s safe to say that he was fortunate not to face a driving punishment in Brazil.

A little bit more went down in Saudi Arabia, where they had a little dingdong. I do not think that was crystal evident, but I do believe that Max was feeling it a little because he was likely a little out of whack in Brazil.

“And yes, Checo [Perez], it’s the typical thing; it’s not like the teammates’ performance improved overnight if the teammate they’ve been crushing starts to bridge the gap.

“At the tail end of 2010, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were in a similar situation; out of nowhere, they started to draw closer to each other, due to the lead driver feeling the pressure.”

Starting in 2022, Verstappen began a dominating streak in Formula One. Even though McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari erased that supremacy in F1 2024, Verstappen is still 62 points ahead of Lando Norris in the Drivers’ standings, and he is in a solid position to earn his fourth consecutive World Championship.