Quote:
Originally Posted by Artemis
The F1 world witnessed that very December day in Abu Dhabi back in 2021 the dethroning of the reigning king and the crowning of the new king.
Silverstone or no Silverstone (2021), Monza or no Monza (2021), Abu Dhabi Masi or no Abu Dhabi Masi (2021): Verstappen still required the race craft and shrewdness to overtake (with a sudden cramp in his right leg) in a "do or die" shootout lap, with a sportsmanlike maneuver, on a circuit with limited obvious overtaking possibilities, Hamilton, the reigning 7-time WDC legend driving a Mercedes rocket who was perfectly aware that he was race leader (but, due to a questionable team strategy choice, on used hard tires) and only 1 lap away from ultimate 8-time WDC record bliss. Beating Verstappen that day in the shootout lap would have been one of his most memorable and monumental victories of his whole race career.
But despite his vast racing experience and knowledge of all tricks of the race book, Hamilton misjudged the timing of Verstappen's overtaking attempt: the fact that Verstappen (P2) managed to surprise and pip Hamilton (P1) already in Turn 5, going all-in without further ado and in a fair way, demonstrates that Verstappen deserved the 2021 WDC title. From the footage of the shootout lap you can conclude that Hamilton did not expect an overtake attempt in Turn 5 - Verstappen caught him off guard, compromising Hamilton's exit speed out of Turn 5 (an aspect that proved to be crucial for the rest of the road to the chequered flag). Verstappen knew that there would be no DRS during the shootout lap and that, unlike his car, Hamilton's car still featered used tires. Outsmarting your rivals is part of the sport - to boss a living race legend fair and square during a crucial final lap, is a claim to fame.
The final outcome did justice to all achievements throughout the whole 2021 season (featuring missed oportunities due to DNF's in Baku [tire failure], Silverstone [controversial crash with Hamilton] and Monza [controversial crash with Hamilton]). And later achievements, albeit with new regs requiring new cars and also requiring teams and drivers to adapt to the new reality, confirmed that the 2021 transfer of WDC leadership didn't happen by accident: compare the number of pole positions, fastest laps, race wins and Sprint wins between both rivals ever since the 2021 season: we all know that the discrepancy of the statistics is outright massive.
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It must be remembered also that LEW has the quicker car than MAX in '21.