Hamilton holds off Max in season opener epic!
By Joe Murphy
The first race of the 2021 Formula 1 season is officially in the books and despite a familiar three up front, things were far from easy for Lewis Hamilton as he just about held off a late comeback charge from Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
The race started unusually right out of the gate. Sergio Perez’s Red Bull conking out in the warm up lap before finally starting again, leading to an aborted start, a second procession lap and a pit lane start for the Mexican.
The race was action packed from the off once we did get away, with Nikita Mazepin’s poor first weekend in Formula 1 ending with a DNF after a self induced spin at turn 3. The Haas man’s race was over in a very similar way to Romain Grosjean’s last year, but in a far less serious way.
When the race finally did get going, it was immediately clear that having two Mercedes cars up front helped the German Constructor’s tactically. On the other hand, whilst Hamilton kept Max within arms distance, the pair pulled away from the eventual other podium finisher Valtteri Bottas. The Finn endured a tough race featuring a botched pit stop, which cost him any chance of a race win, of which he stood very little chance anyway.
As the race progressed, Verstappen and Hamilton traded the lead, during which point, the Brit set a new record of most laps ever lead, cruising and extending past Michael Schumacher’s previous record of 5111 laps.
With 14 laps to go, Verstappen trailed Hamilton by around eight seconds, and by the time lap 52 came around, he was within DRS of the race lead.
However, it was Hamilton who held on to the win by seven tenths of a second, after Verstappen had gotten past the Brit, but was instructed to give back the place, having judged to have done so illegally.
It was a day to forget for the returning Fernando Alonso and Frenchman; Pierre Gasly, both retiring. Gasly had effectively blown his race when he lost his front wing early on, whereas an issue on the Spaniard’s car, ended his race prematurely.
Solid races for the pairings of Alfa Romeo, Mclaren and Lance Stroll, whilst Ferrari surprised fans yet again with a very impressive points haul. But it was “at the back” misery for Williams and Haas, which looks set to be a feature of the upcoming season. The American outfit will be glad that Mick Schumacher saw the Chequered Flag in his first outing for the team, however.
Of all the debuts though, Japanese rookie; Yuki Tsunoda of Alpha Tauri picked up his first ever points in his first F1 start, finishing 9th. He was a candidate for driver of the day, but Sergio Perez’s incredible recovery drive showed everyone why Red Bull chose him to replace Alex Albon for this season. The Mexican also reminded us of what F1 would be missing, had he not found a seat this year.
His replacement at newly formed Aston Martin; Sebastian Vettel, did not make quite such a good day of it, failing to score points and receiving more penalty points after a collision with Alpine’s Ocon at Turn 1 which was the clear fault of the German. Not the best start for Seb in his new team.
All in all a good day for Mercedes. However, they will certainly now know that they are in for a title fight with Red Bull and Max Verstappen this year. Two of the greatest drivers we have seen, Hamilton and Verstappen, are poised to do battle again, in a few weeks time in Italy when the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari hosts the action on the weekend 17th/18th April.
1 up 1 down from the race:
1 UP – Lando Norris finished P4 😎
1 DOWN – Turn 4 rules apply some of the race, not others, it seems 🤔
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