Lewis Hamilton Makes it Two-in-a-Row in Barcelona
The weekend of the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix was a historic one for Formula 1, as Lewis Hamilton qualified ahead of the rest to score his 100th career pole position. To highlight the sheer immensity of that number, the man with the second-most pole positions in F1 history, Michael Schumacher, has “only” 68.
Hamilton then went on to win the race, his third victory in 2021 and his second in a row after dominating the Portuguese Grand Prix a week before, thus extending his lead in the driver’s standings to 14 points over Max Verstappen. The duel between the championship rivals was hard fought — as all their battles have been this season.
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That said, it’s becoming clear that Mercedes once again has a pace advantage on Sundays. Verstappen held on the lead for 60 laps in Spain, but only because he managed to pass Hamilton at the start — which is becoming a something of a pattern — at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult and track position thus often matters more than outright speed.
In 2016, Verstappen won his very first race for Red Bull Racing at the same circuit after fending off the faster Räikkönen for nearly 20 laps. He was doing the same to Hamilton until Mercedes made the call to pit its star driver one more time, giving him the chance to come back at Verstappen at the end of the race with significantly fresher tires.
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This ultimately proved the key to Hamilton’s victory and wasn’t helped by the fact that Sergio Pérez wasn’t anywhere close enough to the frontrunners to limit Mercedes’s strategy options. Ever since Daniel Ricciardo left for Renault in 2018, RBR has been trying to find a second driver who can keep up with Verstappen enough to put double pressure on Mercedes, but to no avail.
Nonetheless, RBR will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out where it can find more pace in its car. For now, the 2021 season has the makings of a great championship, but if RBR falls behind in the development race, it may quickly turn into a snooze. Monaco is up next, where RBR has traditionally been a favorite, and a 1-2 finish for Verstappen and Pérez could be just what the team needs to keep the title fight well and truly alive.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.