For a few seasons now, Formula 1 has been offering additional content on YouTube , such as the best onboard cameras from a grand prix or the summaries of the races themselves. On this occasion, on the occasion of the end of the exciting 2021 campaign, the category published a video with the 10 most dramatic moments of the year.
(Click on the video to watch it on the Formula 1 YouTube channel)
10. The accident between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
The first of this F1 selection stars Bottas and Russell, two drivers with paths that intersect. The Briton will take the Finn’s seat at Mercedes in 2022, but when this happened there was still nothing confirmed.
Williams tried to overtake Bottas around the outside of Turn 1 at Imola when the asphalt was wet. Russell lost control of his car when he lightly touched the grass and collided with the side of the Mercedes at high speed.
The two cars ended up on the gravel of Tamburello , and the young Englishman, knowing that Bottas was a rival for the seat in Mercedes, showed his anger with a few small touches on his helmet that denoted how he felt.
“What the f**k was she doing? Is she s**t or what?” Russell said. The Finn, when he recovered from the blow, expressed surprise with gasps: “What f**ks?”.
It wasn’t all there because in the statements after the race, the #63 stated: “It’s very frustrating. I was fighting with him for 9th position, which doesn’t mean anything.”
9. Max Verstappen’s non-pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The Red Bull driver was heading towards the 13th pole of his sports career at the new Jeddah street circuit, but his insatiable desire to beat the rest of his rivals made him overbrake in the last corner and hit the wall.
Verstappen set the fastest times in the first two sectors in Q3, and was more than four tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. However, the Dutchman was on the verge of starting in first position due to the breakage of the rear right suspension arm when he touched the wall.
It was a decisive moment, because the championship was at stake and the incident left both Mercedes on the front row for Sunday’s grid.
8. Valtteri Bottas ‘plays bowling’ at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix
The appointment at the Hungaroring began with nerves for everyone because the asphalt was wet and the drivers wanted to go to the summer break with a good result. At the start, Bottas’s Mercedes skidded, and Lando Norris took the opportunity to get ahead.
But what the British did not expect was that the Finn lost control of his car and collided with his diffuser, something that caused a chain accident . The result of this was the abandonment of Norris, Pérez and Bottas himself, as well as leaving Verstappen’s Red Bull in very poor condition.
Lance Stroll did something similar. He ended his career, that of Charles Leclerc and spun Daniel Ricciardo after trying to go through the inside of turn 1 without success.
7. Verstappen’s 300kph puncture at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Max Verstappen dominated the event held in Baku until lap 46, at which point his left rear tire exploded in the middle of the finish straight at more than 300 km/h. The Red Bull rider was lucky, he hit the wall in a relatively controlled manner and came out of the cockpit on his own two feet.
“Frustrated and disappointed,” he said. “Giving up due to a flat tire is a shame, I can hate this sport, but it goes away in a few hours,” he explained with a laugh.
Verstappen’s impact caused the race management to raise the red flag to avoid further possible explosions, and led to Sergio Pérez’s first victory with Red Bull, the second of his career.
6. Sergio Pérez triumphs in the frantic start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
The red flag caused by Max Verstappen made the Baku race have a heart attack. With only two laps to go, the drivers started from the grid and, when Lewis Hamilton seemed to be in first position, snatching victory from Checo Pérez, the Mercedes driver pressed the ‘ magic brake button ‘.
The Briton over-braked and fell to the back of the pack, while the Mexican from Red Bull uncorked the champagne at the top of the podium. This also allowed Sebastian Vettel to achieve his first podium with Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly to enjoy a gap in the places of honour, in addition to seeing a lot of action among the rest of the drivers, as happened with Fernando Alonso, who overtook four cars.
5. Lando Norris misses out on victory at the Russian Grand Prix
The Briton from McLaren surprised everyone by setting the fastest time in Sochi qualifying, which helped him start from pole position on Sunday. Norris lost first place at the start to Carlos Sainz , but the Englishman set his pace and returned to the lead.
With Hamilton blocked, he took the opportunity to get a cushion of time, but the last few laps showed that in Formula 1 nothing should be taken for granted. The rain appeared strongly in sector 2, but the rest of the track was completely dry, so going in to put intermediate tires was a bet that could go well or badly.
McLaren advised Norris to enter, but he refused because he saw victory too close. The young driver was unable to maintain the lead when it started to rain more heavily and lost what could have been his first F1 victory .
“I was able to win the race and I didn’t. It is what it is. These are the decisions I have made and they have been the wrong ones at the end of the day,” Norris commented with disappointment after getting out of the car.
4. The duel and controversy between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The Jeddah circuit premiered on the calendar at the beginning of December, and its first edition could not have been more chaotic. Verstappen took advantage of the red flag caused by Mick Schumacher to take the lead, while Hamilton dropped to second after his stop.
At the restart, the Red Bull driver went wide to maintain his position and, after a negotiation with the FIA, the Dutchman was relegated to third place, from there, he returned to the head of the race. Hamilton was cutting time until he was in the DRS zone on the main straight.
The Mercedes driver tried to overtake on the outside of Turn 1, but Verstappen chose to shorten the turn to avoid the crash. From the radio, Red Bull insisted on returning the position to Hamilton, but in a strategic way, something that the Dutchman took at face value.
Just before the DRS detection zone, Verstappen braked for Hamilton to pass so he could catch his DRS, but the Briton, not knowing exactly what was going on, was unable to avoid colliding with the Red Bull’s diffuser.
“He did a brake test on me!” exclaimed Hamilton. “I hit it, my wing is broken. I don’t know what happened, it was just a dangerous drive.” The seven-time champion recovered and won the race, but the controversy, with the two drivers level on points for the final round in Abu Dhabi, was served.
3. Max Verstappen finishes on top of Lewis Hamilton’s car at the Italian Grand Prix
Following a sprint race at Monza, the feature race took place on Sunday, with the McLarens quickly taking the lead. Daniel Ricciardo got away from Verstappen, while Hamilton was behind Norris.
At the time of the stops, a bad change of tires by Red Bull caused Verstappen to lose several seconds, something that Mercedes wanted to take advantage of by stopping Hamilton. The two came out parallel to the Rettifilio Variant, and no one slacked off.
The Red Bull tried to take the inside, but Hamilton left the minimum space. The Dutchman went over the curb and his car, after contacting the British’s rear wheel, rose above the Mercedes, leaving one of the images of the season.
“That’s what you get when you don’t leave the space,” Verstappen said just after the touch.
This was the second moment of high tension between the title candidates in 2021, and it allowed to see the only double of the campaign of a team, that of McLaren, with Ricciardo winning again after three years and with the second position of Lando Norris.
2. The start of the war between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix
After winning the sprint race, Verstappen enjoyed first place on Sunday’s starting grid. Hamilton, for his part, was in front of his fans, and he wanted to give them his eighth victory at Silverstone.
On the first lap, the two were parallel for half the circuit, but when they reached Copse, the 2021 F1 season changed. The one from Mercedes was on the inside, while the one from Red Bull kept its line on the outside.
Hamilton entered in a very aggressive way and contacted Verstappen’s left rear wheel, which went straight into the wall at more than 300 km / h. The Englishman was able to keep going, and even won the race with a 10-second penalty, but the Dutchman ended up in hospital after a 51G crash (his car went from 745kg to nearly 40t).
“He’s turned on me. Is Max okay?” Hamilton said right after the action. Max Verstappen’s father Jos spoke about how his son was that day: “He felt a little dizzy, and he’s going to the hospital for a scan. Otherwise he’s fine, just a little pain in the shoulder and a little bruising. But yeah, it sucks…”
1. The overtaking of Max Verstappen that was worth a world championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton arrived level on points at the last race of the year, something that had not happened between two title contenders since 1974, with Emerson Fittipaldi and Clay Regazzoni. The Briton took the lead from the first lap, and the Dutchman’s options a few laps from the end were minimal.
But the safety car caused by Nicholas Latifi was a miracle for Red Bull. Those of the energy drinks put on a set of soft rubbers to try the epic, although they were not sure if the appointment would resume.
Race management announced that they would leave the last lap to compete, and Max Verstappen hit Hamilton’s diffuser on the jump. The Dutchman was quite far into Turn 5, but he dived inside and achieved what seemed impossible.
Verstappen regained the lead with just a few meters to go, and was able to keep Hamilton at bay. This gave him his first world title and left a heart attack ending in one of the most controversial and exciting seasons in all history.
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride, I didn’t have a chance to win until the last lap. It all came at once and you have to go for it,” Verstappen said after winning the championship. “It’s unbelievable, amazing emotions, I’ve lost my voice, I think some in the garage too.”
