“Sometimes we hate each other,” Max Verstappen admitted after the 2021 Formula 1 season ended in reference to his world title duel with Lewis Hamilton. On this, Zak Brown assured that the category has been able to benefit from the battle between the two and from the clashes that have occurred repeatedly between Mercedes and Red Bull.
“It’s been an incredible year from top to bottom of the grid. There have been a lot of fights, starting with the battle between Lewis and Max for the title,” said the McLaren CEO.
“I don’t remember a year that has been this toxic between two drivers and two teams since the Senna/Prost era,” Zak Brown acknowledged.
It is true that there have always been close battles for the title, for example in 2008 between Hamilton and Felipe Massa. But neither at that time nor later between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel had such “intensity” been experienced as was seen last year.
It was above all the “emotions” that made the title fight so exciting. The two team bosses, Christian Horner and Toto Wolff , also contributed to this, said the McLaren man who lived everything that happened from a distance.
“They definitely have a real revulsion for each other,” Zak Brown said.
While it is true that what happened outside the races drew attention, the continuous struggles on the track did not disappoint either. Time and time again, the balance of power shifted. “It was first assumed that Mercedes would win, but then Max was quite dominant,” recalls Brown .
Towards the end of the season, Hamilton came out on top again with three wins in a row. But in the end, as we all know, the title went to the driver of the energy drink team.
According to Brown , the 2021 Formula 1 season has also had a lot of interesting things beyond the world championship duel in which there were “some surprises”.
“Monza was great because McLaren did a one-two,” he recalled with a smile. In addition, Alpine came out on top in Hungary unexpectedly, among other stories: “Aston Martin fell back a lot and Williams made up positions,” Brown said of other examples of surprises in 2021.
“I don’t think Formula 1 has ever been this exciting. And I think it’s going to get even better,” Zak Brown predicted to finish.
