The battle Formula 1 has hankered for finally unfolded in earnest as Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton slugged it out to the final laps of a thrilling 2021 Formula 1 season opener.
It was an epic fight with the Red Bull driver hunting down the Mercedes after the final pitstops, the Blue car came very close, in fact, he took the lead but went off track to do so and was told by his pit wall to cede the lead, to the World Champion who then delivered a masterclass in defensive driving to take the lead where he stayed to the end.
Verstappen, who had done all the hard graft to cut back a ten-second lead, he felt he should have been allowed to continue and deal with the penalty later.
From the outset, it was always between the pair, neither of their teammates got a look in. With Verstappen doing the business with a stoking qualifying lap, it was Hamilton doing the chasing for a change.
The start of the race was relatively clean until Nikita Mazepin spun out in the Haas bringing to a close a miserable Grand Prix debut for the unpopular billionaire boy.
This triggered a safety car period with real racing only happening three laps into proceedings at which point Verstappen put the hammer down with Hamilton chasing. Pitstops came into play, with Verstappen apparently in command until Mercedes pitted early and took hold of the momentum with a superb undercut which forced the Red Bull driver to chase.
And that he did reducing a ten-lap deficit in ten laps with the remaining half dozen to do the rest. As mentioned he nearly did this, but was errant and conceded the lead he briefly held.
At this point, Hamilton was giving it all he had with tyres almost ten laps older than the Pirelli’s his rival had on his car. It was defence at his best, repelling the best attacker in the field. In retrospect, Verstappen had one chance but Hamilton had the measure of him.
The Mercedes driver said in parc ferme: “Wow, what a difficult race that was! Definitely stopping early we knew it was going to be difficult, but we had to cover Max. They have had amazing performance all weekend, so it was going to take something really special.
“We stopped for that last stint and trying to find the right balance between not pushing too much and having the tyres at the end of the race. It was difficult and Max was all over me right at the end, but I just about managed to hold him off. It was one of the hardest races I’ve had for a while.”
Indeed Red Bull and their Dutch star will go home aggrieved after he questioned the call to drop back: “Why didn’t you just let me go, man? I could have easily pulled those five seconds. I am prepared to lose a win like that than be second like this.
Score: Old Guard, 1 – Young Gun, 0.
In the other Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas was a distant third. The Finn simply (and as usual) had no answer for his teammate this weekend and should note that the #44 does not make a habit of winning the first race of the season.
On the evidence of tonight, Bottas continues to be the wingman picking up the pieces for his team as he did with third place at Sakhir today.
Fourth place went to Lando Norris who shone on the night, always at the sharp end of the midfield and upstaging his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo in the process. The Australian finishing seventh in what was a strong weekend for the Woking outfit back in the Mercedes fold for the first time since they ditched Renaul last year.
After a qualifying miscalculation saw him drop out in Q2 during on Saturday, the Mexican was handed more bad luck, this time his car switched off on the formation lap forcing an aborted start, another warm-up lap for the field and a pit lane start for the new Red Bull driver.
From there on he soldiered from the back of the field to deliver the kind of drive his predecessors in the car were unable to do. Fifth place was his reward on a day he showed why he is such an asset to the team.
Before the start of the season, Tifosi were warned that Ferrari will only be winning next year (wishful thinking) and as result they will probably be happy with sixth place for a battling Charles Leclerc who, as usual, drove the pants off what he is given, while Carlos Sainz soldiered on to claim eighth on what was an underwhelming night for the sport’s most successful team.
The supposed horsepower the Reds are now able to unleash was kept in the stable because neither Red car looked like a podium contender despite their fine drivers; while their customers Haas and Alfa Romeo were equally abysmal. Progress from December last year to today has been negligible and the results showed.
On the bright side, Yuki Tsunoda scored points in his Formula 1 debut, the Japanese rookie winning the hearts and minds of fans thanks to a feisty style and impressive speed, to finish ninth on a disappointing day for AlphaTauri.
Pierre Gasly qualified well a day earlier, but in the race he made a mistake when he clipped his front wing in a first-lap melee and had to play catch up for the rest of the race until they decided to park his car for a DNF.
Lance Stroll scored a point for his father’s team, but Aston Martin’s debut was a disappointment. This is not a new team as such, but rather morphed from Racing Point who last year won a race and was front runner. Their first green car is hardly that.
Which of course did Seabnstain Vettel no favours. The German’s form continued to plummet. this time after attracting penalties in qualifying which relegated him to the back of the grid, in the race he was hopeless. Opting for a different strategy was a bad mistake.
In the end, the German crashed into the back of Esteban Ocon for no good reason and then had the gumption to blame the Alpine driver for changing lines when he did nothing of the sort. Vettel should seriously consider if he has it in him to be in the top flight. He was as bad in Green as he was in Red.
The Alfa Romeo duo followed each other around with Kimi Raikkonen 11th and Antonio Giovinazzi 12th on an underwhelming evening for the Ferrari powered Swiss outfit.
Report in progress…
