Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton started dueling wheel to wheel in this 2021 since the inaugural event in Bahrain, where the Dutch driver put his wheels slightly on the asphalt during the overtaking and was punished with a five-second penalty. Then the close duels continued in Imola at the first corner, where the Red Bull rider accompanied Hamilton on the sausages to the Variante del Tamburello. The overtaking between the two continued in Portimao and Barcelona, until the first major accident that saw the duelists for the title at Silverstone in Great Britain as protagonists, a collision with a very high toll for Verstappen, who lost 25 points out of over thirty of advantage at that time of the season also having to say goodbye to the power unit with which he was equipped due to a crack resulting from the impact at 51 G.
According to René Arnoux, the Silverstone accident allowed Max Verstappen to take a step forward in terms of maturity and strategy: “I think that the exit from the track at Silverstone made him reflect, it could have had much more serious consequences. Monza was a different thing. They did not risk their safety and neither of them gave up. Their duel is like this “, the analysis of the former Renault, Ferrari and Ligier driver interviewed by The Gazzetta dello Sport. The rivalry between Verstappen and Hamilton is deflagrated this season and it could not be otherwise. The stakes are too high for both as Arnoux points out: “They hate each other, a competitive hatred, on the track, outside I don’t know, I don’t think so. It’s just that this title is too important for both of us. For Lewis it means history, Max knows he can’t waste this opportunity ”.