The Hunagrian GP wrote an interesting chapter in the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. But who is now the title favourite?
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It’s officially been a week since the last Formula 1 race prior to the summer break in the 2021 season took place. To say it was an eventful race is an understatement. The 2021 Hungarian GP had it all – from a new winner to post-race chaos. However, the race also wrote an interesting latest chapter in the budding rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The two title rivals had contrasting weekends at the Hungaroring, with Hamilton finishing second and Verstappen ninth. That result combined with Verstappen’s DNF and Hamilton’s win at the British GP actually means that it is the latter who leads the world driver’s championship.
It is a situation that, strangely enough, had been foreshadowed by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “I don’t know what is he (Hamilton), 32 points behind Max? That’s a DNF away. And he’s in the hunt again,” Wolff had said after the Austrian GP.
Indeed, Verstappen following the DNF with a 9th-place finish meant Hamilton is now leading the charts. And this is despite Red Bull winning 5 straight races on the trot – 4 of them going to Verstappen.
It just shows how fine the margins in F1 are. And indeed, it is the experience of dealing with these fine margins that might just give Hamilton an edge in the second half of the season.
Hamilton, lest we forget, lost the world title by a point in his rookie season in 2007 and then won the title by a point in 2008. In both instances, it was down to the smallest of things making a difference.
In 2007, a misjudgement while pitting for tyres at the Chinese Grand Prix caused Hamilton to retire while leading. Eventual title winner Kimi Raikkonen won that race, as well as the Brazilian Grand Prix to secure the title.
In 2008, Hamilton needed a fifth-place finish at the final race in Brazil to guarantee the championship win. He was running sixth in the final lap before overtaking Toyota’s Timo Glock to win the title.
And it isn’t just the finer margins. Hamilton has won seven titles, and has been in the mix of things almost throughout his career save for a lean period when McLaren’s decline truly begun to set in.
And while in 2014 and 2015 Hamiton battled teammate Nico Rosberg for the title, Mercedes’ main title rivals in 2017, 2018 and 2019 were Ferrari.
And besides 2019, Hamilton had to fight hard against Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel to win the title in 2017 and 2018. Rival fans might make it seem like Mercedes sleepwalked their way to 8 titles since 2013 but that’s simply not true.
In 2017 and 2018, Vettel led Hamilton in the standings during the first half of the season. What’s more, the Ferrari’s were clearly superior cars to the Silver Arrows – at least in the beginning of the season.
But Singapore 2017 and Germany 2018 saw Vettel make mistakes that would eventually cost him the title. Hamilton won out in the end because he was consistent and thus able to take advantage of Vettel’s errors.
Verstappen, by contrast, is in his first major title fight. Since his debut in 2016, he’s always been seen among the sport as a future world champion.
The Flying Dutchman has won races in the past but a sustained title challenge has eluded him till this point. Then of course, there is the small part of the mental side of things.
Verstappen’s take on mental pressure and mental health is a bit… old school, to put it mildly. He has previously stated that he would never reveal if he did struggle with mental health issues. The reason? Because he didn’t want to appear ‘weak’.
This is in stark contrast to someone like Lando Norris, who has been open about dealing with anxiety and pressure during his career.
But for Verstappen, it isn’t something he tends to focus on. And this quote from a 2016 interview ahead of his promotion to Toro Rosso shows it’s not something new for him either.
“I have no problems at all with (mental strength)! I’m really relaxed and I don’t want to think about mental stress, or how strong you are mentally because, to be honest, I find it a bit bullshit.”
Verstappen has also stated previously that he focuses solely on on driving really fast. That’s great, but every elite F1 driver who won a championship will tell you that in a title fight, it is brain that will win over brawn.
And the misfortune of the last two races did appear to impact Verstappen. Prior to the Hungarian GP, he snapped at a journalist who asked questions about the Silverstone incident.
Hamilton, who was seated beside him, had to hide a smile. The Brit knows his young adversary is feeling the pressure of the fight.
But it is worth noting, of course, that the title is nowhere near decided. Both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have just as good a chance as the other of winning.
Yet one gets the feeling that Verstappen will need to focus on being a more rounded driver. Neglecting the mental side of things will give him no discernable advantage over Hamilton.
Not only is the seven-time world champion battle-hardened, he is a master of mind games both on and off the track. Verstappen has been subject to those so far this season, but only in the smallest of doses.
Hamilton will most likely ramp things up as the season goes on, however. Which means that Verstappen will need to try and beat the veteran both on and off the track if he is to end the season as the winner.
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