Red Bull Racing Honda's Season So Far: The Finale

Season So Far: The Finale

We turn back time and look at the final two races of the 2021 season, which will never be forgotten.

Two

rounds,

all

play

for,

and

with

whole

host

unknowns

faced

the

season

ending

double-header

all-new

Saudi

Arabia

and

transformed

Abu

Dhabi

would

present

the

team

with

some

the

toughest

challenges

the

year

and

run

the

gamut

emotions

from

final

corner

heartbreak

Jeddah

final

lap

ecstasy

Yas

Marina.

Round

21:

Saudi

Arabian

Grand

Prix

Circuit: Jeddah Corniche Circuit
Max: P2
Checo: DNF

Damage limitation in Qatar meant that when Formula One reconvened two weeks later in Jeddah for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Max still had control of the Driver’s Championship standings, eight points ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

But where Qatar had ultimately not suited the RB16, it was a different story on the narrow, high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The new 6.174km ribbon of track on the shores of the Red Sea was not for the faint-hearted, which meant that Max was right at home. And though in the first two practice sessions the Dutchman lagged behind his championship rival, superb work by the trackside engineers and the crew working in the sim in Milton Keynes meant that at the end of FP3 late on Saturday afternoon, Max was back in the game, two tenths clear of the Mercedes driver at the top of the timesheets.

Max On The Charge In Jeddah

It set up a potential knife edge qualifying session, one that would take the drivers right to the limit.

In Q1 it was actually Checo who prospered. The Mexican driver had built up performance in every session, resulting in P3 in final practice and in the first segment of qualifying he stitched it all together to claim top spot.

That just pushed the title protagonists to greater heights though and after Hamilton took top spot in Q2 ahead of Checo and Max, it became clear that topping Q3 to grab pole would require something pretty special.

And in characteristic style Max pulled that out of his locker in the final run of the top-10 shootout, almost. For two stunning sectors Max took bravery and commitment to another level, putting in a stunning performance to sit two tenths clear of Hamilton with just the final third to go.

But in the final corner Max made a tiny mistake and locked his front-left tyre. He slid wide and slapped the wall. The lap was gone and Max was forced to settle for third place on the grid behind pole-sitter Hamilton and second-placed Bottas. Checo meanwhile, would line up fifth.

On a narrow, high-speed track with few overtaking points, the challenge for Max was now huge and it got even more complicated when the lights went out on Sunday evening.

Third, behind Hamilton and Bottas in the early stages, Max was boosted to the lead when Haas’s Mick Schumacher crashed on lap 10. The safety car was initially deployed and Mercedes pitted both its cars but then Race Control decided repairs to the barriers required a red flag and Max took P1 for the restart.

A Dramatic Race To Fit A Rollercoaster Of A Season

When the lights went out for the second time, Hamilton made the better start and took the lead. Max attacked but went wide and dropped to third behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Behind them though chaos was unfolding. Starting from P8 Checo got squeezed badly and was tagged by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and was pushed into the wall and out of the race. Simultaneously Haas’ Nikita Mazepin locked up and slammed into the rear of George Russell’s Williams and the red flags were flown again.

Max then gained the upper hand at the second restart. He was quickest away from the line and as Hamilton tussled with Ocon, Max dived down the inside into turn one to pass Hamilton and then Ocon to once again lead.

However, Max was on aging medium tyres and Hamilton, on hards, soon closed in again. The pair tussled for the lead on lap 37 and Max stayed ahead, just. However, Max was told to cede the lead to his rival but when he slowed on track to do so Hamilton, it seems, was unaware and the Briton slammed into the back on the Red Bull.

Max powered away in the lead but once more had to hand the place back. And after being handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and with his tyres fading, Max was forced to settle for second place.

Hamilton took the flag and the point for fastest lap, Max took 18 points, meaning for the first time since 1974 the Formula 1 Driver’s title battle would go to the wire with its protagonists level on points.

Only One Race To Go

Round

22:

Abu

Dhabi

Grand

Prix

Circuit: Yas Marina Circuit
Max: P1
Checo: P15

During it’s time in Formula One the Team has experienced plenty of thrilling, heart-in-the-mouth moments in championships and in races. The final-round, four-way title fight at Yas Marina in 2010 when Sebastian Vettel won the championship. In 2012, in Brazil, when Vettel spun at the start and came from the back of the field to finish sixth and win his third title. But nothing could have prepared the Team or anyone watching for the incredible manner in which the 2021 Drivers’ title was decided.

On Saturday, Max put one hand on the crown with a stunning display of pace in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to beat title rival Lewis Hamilton to pole position almost three tenths of a second.

The Dutchman’s 10th pole of the campaign was aided by super teamwork from Checo who provided a tow before letting the championship leader surge past to set an unbeatable time of 1:22.109. It wouldn’t be the first time Checo would provide crucial support across the weekend.

But, though Max had the upper hand positionally, he went into the race slightly on the back foot strategically. The Dutch driver had locked up in Q2 on mediums and had to set his best time of the session on softs, meaning he would start on the more fragile tyre, as would Checo who qualified fourth.

Checo On The Charge

At the race start, Hamilton made the better getaway. Max closed in and attacked into turn seven, but Hamilton went wide. The incident was examined but the stewards ruled that no investigation was necessary and the Mercedes driver was left free to race into clean air and a convincing lead. Max needed a strategic masterstroke and it was Checo who delivered.

After Max’s first pit stop, Mercedes responded by pitting Hamilton on the following lap. He re-joined 11 seconds behind Checo, who was on old soft tyres. As Hamilton chewed through the gap, it seemed like a forgone conclusion, but when he eventually arrived in an attacking position, the Mexican was not in the mood to be easily dismissed.

Checo’s defence against repeated attacks, even muscling his RB16B past the faster Mercedes after having been passed, changed the complexion of the race and though Hamilton was eventually able to get past, Checo’s heroics had allowed Max to close right up and he was now on the same tyre as his rival.

But though Max pushed the RB16B to its limits, Hamilton, armed with greater power from a fresher engine, began to pull away once more and even though a second stop under a VSC allowed Max to close the gap again, the defending champion looked to be heading for victory and a record eighth title.

On lap 51 though, everything changed. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed and the safety car was released. Max immediately pitted and the team fitted a set of soft tyres as Hamilton stayed on track.

Max Hunts Down The Top Spot

Initially it looked a forlorn gamble as the laps counted down and it looked like the race would finish under the safety car. But then on lap 57, race control decreed that the safety car would come in to allow a single lap of racing.

And when the track went green Max was immediately on the attack. He closed on Hamilton and with a brave dive down the inside he claimed the race lead. Hamilton fought back on the next straight and drew alongside the Dutchman and almost got past, but Max held the line, held his nerve and kept the lead until the finish line and the chequered flag. Victory and an incredible first Formula 1 Drivers’ title belonged to Max Verstappen.

Eight long years had passed since a Red Bull driver had claimed a world title and the celebrations in the wake of the chequered flag were ecstatic and they were replicated a few days later when Max paid a visit to Milton Keynes to party with the hundreds of Team members who hadn’t been able to be trackside but whose work was just as crucial to victory.