Hamilton Versus Verstappen – The Showdown Continues in Monza
The 2021 Formula 1 season has become a thrilling battle. The sport has needed an all-out dogfight for some considerable time. The last decade in the premier category of motorsport has been uncompetitive. In Verstappen versus Hamilton we have a fight that matches the halcyon days of Prost versus Senna in 1989 and 1990.
Between 2010 and 2013 Sebastian Vettel won four world championship titles with minimum fuss. In 2011 he took 11 of the 19 races and finished on the podium a further six times. In 2013 the German went on an unchallenged nine-race winning streak.
Red Bull’s 2021 F1 car is different to its predecessors. It can go toe-to-toe with Mercedes at all types of circuits. ©GettyImages / Red Bull Content Pool
In a similar fashion, Lewis Hamilton has dominated the remainder of the decade. In each of the last three seasons, the seven-time world champion has won 11 races – some feat considering 2020 consisted of just 17 races.
Could Max Have Been on an Unbeaten Sequence of Eight?
Heading into this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix Red Bull’s Max Verstappen holds a slender three-point lead in the World Drivers Championship standings. The Dutchman has won five of the last eight races and he is arguably unfortunate to not be unbeaten since the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
An exploding tire ended his Azerbaijan Grand Prix when he was holding a decisive lead. Likewise at the British Grand Prix where he had started on pole courtesy of a victory in a ‘sprint qualifying race’, a hotly disputed coming together with Lewis Hamilton saw Verstappen’s race end on the opening lap.
More pain was to follow when he was taken out of the Hungarian Grand Prix at the opening corner. Combined these incidents have seen Verstappen forfeit 40 points to Lewis Hamilton.
Is Red Bull up to the Temple Challenge?
Nine races, starting with this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, remain. The venue is commonly called the Temple of Speed as this is the fastest of all Formula 1 tracks. Last year cars hit 360-kilometers-per-hour at the end of the straight and Lewis Hamilton’s pole-position qualifying lap averaged 264 kilometers per-hour.
High speeds are associated with a ‘low downforce’ configuration which has not suited Verstappen’s car in recent years. Traditionally, when Red Bull have managed to go toe-to-toe with Mercedes, it has been at ‘high downforce’ venues such as Monaco, Singapore, and Hungary where the inference is on cornering.
But the 2021 Red Bull is a different beast and the pace it showed in Azerbaijan – a similar low downforce venue – implies Monza should not present an insurmountable challenge.
Indeed, speaking after his latest race victory in Holland Verstappen told the waiting press: “Naturally [Monza] hasn’t been our best track of the calendar the last few years, but of course, I know that this year we’re more competitive in general everywhere. We just need to nail the details and then I’m sure we can be competitive.”
Will Bottas Still Play the Team Game?
In the World Drivers’ Championship market, the major online bookmakers make Verstappen the marginal favorite at 4/5, Lewis is 5/4. But for this weekend’s race, they cannot separate the pair. Both can be backed at 11/10.
Interestingly Mercedes’ number two driver, Valtteri Bottas, is 12/1 in the betting and William Hill is offering 28/1 about the Red Bull number two, Sergio Perez. Given their cars are so closely matched, it is a big price disparity.
Unlike Bottas, with a contract for 2022 in his pocket, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez is sure to assist Verstappen in every possible way. ©GettyImages / Red Bull Content Pool
The bookmaking firm’s odds compilers are clearly of the opinion Perez will be playing the role of rear-gunner for his championship-chasing teammate. However, as it was announced this week that Valtteri Bottas will be dropped from the Mercedes team in 2022, they clearly believe he may race as his own man.
Sprint to Victory
That is speculation. But there is another imponderable to consider before placing a wager on this weekend’s race – that being a 100-kilometer sprint race on Saturday being used to determine the starting order for Sunday’s race.
This will be only the second time this format has been used. It made its debut at Silverstone in July when Hamilton qualified for the sprint race on pole position during Friday. He then finished second in the sprint race on Saturday meaning he started the actual race from second on Sunday.
Roll on the weekend!
