The rivalry on the track between the reigning Formula 1 world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Young Gun Max Verstappen was almost cinematic this year. With both drivers fighting for a point advantage with everything in their arsenal, the fans have almost got used to the breathtaking collisions at Silverstone and Monza. The time has come for Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to expect an explosive conclusion to the 2021 season between his shining knight in the Silver Arrows and title challenger Verstappen.
“It should come to the scenario of the last race in Abu Dhabi and they would compete against each other for the title, whoever is in front.” [on points] will definitely try to do the same thing as in the Senna Prost years, ”explains Toto Wolff in a recent interview with Martin Samuel.
“What happened in Monza? Verstappen eliminated Lewis because he was about to overtake and was faster. And that is absolutely understandable. When you race for the championship and see it fade because the other is overtaking you, what tools do you have besides the one to make sure he can’t overtake? We saw it at Schumacher and Villeneuve, we saw it twice at Senna and Prost. “
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A strategic – albeit unsporting – maneuver like the one outlined above has a pretty rich history within Formula 1, to which Wolff himself alludes. In the 2021 drivers’ standings, Max Verstappen is currently in the lead with 287.5 and Lewis Hamilton is behind with 275.5. The closest competitor is his Mercedes teammate Valterri Bottas at 185 – which means it’s hard to imagine someone with five races remaining on the calendar even getting anywhere near # 1 and # 2; and which means that the title fight at this point is almost entirely between Verstappen and Hamilton. Read: every single point counts.
“I would never instruct you to run into someone else, but if you go to that final race and whoever is ahead wins the championship, they will compete – tough.”
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“And I don’t think you can control it – Hamilton and Verstappen – I don’t think you want to control it because they’re the gladiators in their machines. That is what makes this sport so interesting. Because it is anchored in our nature that we don’t like confrontations, and then one is fascinated to see how this relationship develops. “
“I look back at Silverstone. Our perspective is an over-aggressive Verstappen, who has been over-aggressive for a long time, but always got away with it, which then ended up in the wall. We think he should have left space. We saw him fall which was tough but he got out of the car and we heard on many occasions that he was fine, that he was taken to the hospital for a precautionary exam, but was fine … and that came from Senior Red Bull employees. “
Whether Toto Wolff gets the money with his forecast for the Formula 1 season in 2021 will only become apparent with time.
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