Lewis Hamilton has completed back-to-back Mediterranean race wins in Portugal and Spain to make it three victories in the opening four races of the 2021 Formula 1 season. But there’s more to this story.
In Portugal and, then again, in Spain, Hamilton had to fight his way past Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, his main rival, to claim victory. Hamilton and Verstappen have gone wheel-to-wheel in three of the four races so far this season, and Hamilton has come out on top on each occasion.
In the opening race in Bahrain, Hamilton was defending the lead from Verstappen at the end of the race and prevailed to hold on to the win. In Portugal and Spain, roles were reversed as Hamilton found himself behind Verstappen in the early stages of each race. Still, both times, Hamilton completed brave and brilliant overtaking maneuvers to pass Verstappen and claim victory.
In Portugal, Verstappen took advantage of an early safety car and passed Hamilton at the race restart showing great anticipation when race leader Valtteri Bottas re-started the racing action. Hamilton wasn’t behind for long, though, as he capitalised when Verstappen made a poor exit out of turn 14 to then sweep down the inside of the Red Bull on the main straight that followed. Hamilton then quickly also dispatched teammate Bottas to take the race lead and go on to claim a comfortable victory.
In Spain, Hamilton qualified in 1st place to claim the 100th pole position of his remarkable career. It’s an incredible achievement considering that only three other drivers in F1 history have passed 50 pole positions–Michael Schumacher (68), Aryton Senna (65). and Sebastian Vettel (57).
On race day in Spain, Verstappen qualified in 2nd place. And, at the start of the race, he made an incredible getaway and followed that up with hard yet fair driving into turn one to brilliantly take the lead from Hamilton. From that point on, it seemed that Verstappen was destined to win the race as the Circuit De Catalunya because it is notoriously difficult to overtake a leader.
However, on lap 42 of 66, Mercedes took a huge gamble by deciding to pit Hamilton for fresh tyres–a move that left him 23 seconds behind Verstappen with 24 laps remaining. The thinking was that Hamilton would chase down Verstappen on much fresher tyres, and that Hamilton would also be more likely to pass Verstappen if he could catch him in the laps that remained.
The move by Mercedes invoked memories of a similarly successful move in Hungary in 2019. This time, Hamilton set after Verstappen at a breathtaking pace, closing the gap by almost two seconds a lap. He overtook Bottas on the way, who neglected to help his Mercedes teammate by making the overtake difficult to execute.
Still, though, Hamilton eventually caught Verstappen on lap 60. And, as Mercedes had hoped, Verstappen was easy to overtake because Hamilton was running on tyres almost 20 laps younger than his.
Hamilton had done it again, winning for an incredible 98th time in his career!
Despite pre-season rumors that Hamilton might be past his prime and ripe for the taking, the reality in 2021 communicates something very different. This year equals 2015 as Hamilton’s best start to a Formula One season–three victories and a 2nd place finish in the opening four races.
Yes, Lewis Hamilton is driving at peak performance, showing the racing world his awe-inspiring talent. But the storyline so far this year is that Hamilton needs to be at his best to beat Verstappen. Max Verstappen is ready to seize the crown if given a half chance.
Will that happen? While the end story won’t be known for months, but the next chapter will be written at the most majestic of Formula 1 locations–Sunday, May 23, on Monaco’s famous streets.
