For most of the season, it was Verstappen who was more aggressive, with Hamilton willing or obliged to step down several times. Saudi Arabia was the Dutchman’s approach in an extreme way.
“I think he’s certainly someone who’s been doing everything all season,” former F1 driver and Sky Sports expert Karun Chandhok told Telegraph Sport.
“Max is obviously ready to take advantage of every trick in the book to the nth degree. I think Lewis seems to have a cleaner approach to the wheel-to-wheel battle in general. “
The last two races of the year were a particularly chaotic situation – although there was nothing wrong with either driver in Abu Dhabi, unlike in Saudi Arabia – there is no doubt that the drama made the season. The arguments between Senna and Prost of 1989 and 1990 will be remembered for a long time, as will Michael Schumacher’s incidents with Damon Hill in 1994 and Jacques Villeneueve in 1997. These are arguments that determine epochs.
The two men are also very different personalities. Verstappen has an unscrupulous sharpness that is reminiscent of Schumacher and Senna. His reaction to his sentences in Jeddah was confusion about what he was doing, could even be viewed as wrong. Uncompromising is a word that is used a lot. Chandhok says that’s a similarity he shares with Schumacher.
“People like Michael and Max are not ready to give in an inch: It’s like, ‘This is my place, I’ve earned the right to be in this room, and you all just have to pull out of mine.” Way. ‘ And that’s how they are, ”he says.
Hill also has doubts about Verstappen’s style. In an interview with Telegraph Sport he said: “This is not a go-kart. This is F1. There is a certain standard that we strive for. F1 is not supposed to be a contact sport. It should be a demonstration of skill and daring. “And judgment.”
All of this has sparked numerous debates about penalties and conduct on the route. Some find it boring, but it feels like it has breathed new life into Formula 1 as well.
The F1’s least competitive era is coming to an end
To understand how brilliant the season was, you have to put it in the context of what F1 has been through since the new regulations of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014.
There will be deserved recognition of the continued brilliance of Hamilton and Mercedes, but it cannot be overlooked how one-sided seven consecutive championships have been and how much they have dampened the appeal of F1. From 2014 to the end of 2020, Mercedes won 111 races (and Hamilton 73) out of a possible 138.
