Amid plenty of acrimonious words from both camps, Formula 1 title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have reflected positively on their “exciting” fight ahead of Sunday’s winner-takes-all Abu Dhabi season finale.
Verstappen and Hamilton will share the front row for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, knowing that whoever scores more points will become the 2021 F1 champion.
It’s been a season-long duel that began with a controversial showdown at the Bahrain season-opener where Verstappen had to hand Hamilton the lead back after an illegal overtake, and subsequent collisions at Silverstone and Monza only ramped up the tension.
Those tensions reached fever pitch at last weekend’s inaugural Saudi Arabian GP with multiple incidents between the drivers fuelling the potential for a title-deciding incident between the duo at this weekend’s finale.
An off-track war of words and protest threats all season long between their respective Red Bull and Mercedes teams has only increased the drama.
But after qualifying on Saturday, both drivers were able to put their rivalry to one side and reflect on what has been one of F1’s most hard-fought title battles ever.
“Lewis has won already so many championships. But also this year, I think we have been pushing each other, certainly in some races to the limit,” Verstappen said.
“We’ve been really basically trying to get everything out of our cars, tyres to the last lap, to the last corner. And that’s very exciting.
“Especially when it’s between two teams as well, because when it’s team-mates it’s always a bit different, but when there are two teams fighting you have different strategies, you don’t know about preparation.
“It has been really enjoyable – for most of the time! That’s normal in a championship and of course probably in 10, 20 years’ time people will look back at it, even myself, and you will remember this year for sure.”
Hamilton was sat alongside Verstappen, having been beaten in qualifying for Sunday’s race in a pole position shootout that Verstappen was able to dominate.
Hamilton replied “well said, I agree fully” after hearing Verstappen’s comments.
“It’s been an incredible year, an amazing battle,” Hamilton added.
“I’m grateful I’ve had such a close battle with Max and his team. I think they’ve done an exceptional job and shown true strength.
“It’s pushed us to the limit in ways that we needed, and we have grown stronger as a team in ways we didn’t know we could grow.
“It’s been amazing. I hope that we have many more seasons like this.”
In parc ferme after qualifying, Hamilton was quick to praise Verstappen for his “fantastic lap”, believing Verstappen was “fully deserving” of pole and admitted “we just couldn’t answer that lap” as he fell almost four tenths shy.
Though his comments were not without a tinge of mind games, as a grinning Hamilton would later express his surprise at Verstappen’s Turn 1 lock-up in Q2 that meant he abandoned starting the race on the mediums, and instead switched to the soft tyres.
“I’m always kind of sceptical with everything, so it’d be interesting when we go back and look at the information and onboard laps,” Hamilton explained.
“It’s very rare that people lock up in Turn 1 but if he truly did lock-up in Turn 1 then maybe we’re in a better position in terms of that tyre or maybe they know something we don’t, and that soft tyre was their plan all the time.”
Speaking to Sky after the lock-up, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the tyre starting choice was “very much 50/50” with both the soft and medium tyres having their own positives and negatives.
In contrast, Horner’s opposite number at Mercedes and partner in the off-track theatre this year, Toto Wolff was adamant that his driver was on the correct starting tyre.
“I’d much rather start on the medium,” Wolff told Sky after qualifying.
“We will have a slight disadvantage on the start I would guess, and for the first six or seven laps if he drives fast. If he manages [tyre wear], then it’s not a big advantage for them.
“But we can go longer, or we can also go for an aggressive undercut and try to control track position.
“So overnight we will be running lots of programmes and algorithms to see where it ends.”
