F1 commentator Karun Chandhok has shared some interesting insider details from the Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen title battle from 2021.

The season would go down as one of the best in the history of the sport for various reasons. One of them would be the intensity of the battle involved.

Neither Hamilton nor Verstappen were willing to give an inch to each other, and neither were their respective teams.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull’s Christian Horner were intensely involved in a very close title battle. As a result, there were certain places where either of the teams would try to gain the advantage.

As it turns out, one of these arenas was the media. In a Reddit AMA, Sky Sports presenter and commentator Karun Chandhok revealed that Mercedes and Red Bull would have their people approach the pundits throughout the paddock intending to sway the narrative in their direction. He said,

also-read-trendingTrending
“I would have to say the 2021 F1 season. It was such a rollercoaster and really trying to look at, for example, the big moments, the accident at Silverstone and then obviously the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that year, arguably the most controversial race we’ve had in recent F1 history.”
He added,

“It was such a difficult race to try and break down. And even today there are people who are still upset and emotional when we talk about that race. It was clearly a weekend and a season where there was so much pressure from the paddock and you had all these people from within the Red Bull and the Mercedes camps telling you things, trying to get you to sway your opinion.”
Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen: The 2021 title battle and the aftermath
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen squared off in 2021 in one of the closest titles in F1 history. Throughout the season, the two were evenly matched and it came down to the last race of the year where they were level on points.

The driver who would finish ahead was going to win the championship. In this race, the race director’s call to end the safety car period on the last lap of the race meant that Verstappen would beat Hamilton to win the title.

Since 2021, Hamilton and Verstappen’s careers have taken contrasting paths. The Red Bull driver is now a three-time world champion and heading towards what would be a 4th title if he wins this season.

Hamilton, on the other hand, has been unable to challenge at the front much because Mercedes has regressed. The driver will be moving to Ferrari next season to see if that leads to a change in fortunes. The 2021 season, however, will go down as one of the best in the sport’s history.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam