2021 MEXICAN GP
RED BULL RB16B STARTED 3rd
“Some motorsport moments are just magic. Bits of driving that are just spinetinglingly good, showcasing supreme skill, flair and sheer bloody-mindedness.” That’s how this author described Verstappen’s Turn 1 double-pass on Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the start of the 2021 Mexican GP in our report of that event, just five races out from the season’s thrilling climax.
The brilliance of the moment combined with the pressure building on Verstappen’s first real attempt to win a title. And that pressure – with just 12 points separating him and Hamilton at this stage – had only gone up when Alphatauri and Red Bull messed up tow tactics on the final Q3 runs in Mexico City and spoiled things for all their drivers bar Pierre Gasly.
Bottas started on pole, but Hamilton’s better launch wrecked Mercedes’ plans for them to work together because it meant the Briton could not get a tow to Turn 1. Instead, this went to the grateful Verstappen, who then pulled off arguably the best pass of his F1 career after starting third.
Armed with Red Bull’s bigger maximum-downforce rear wing – needed in the thin highaltitude air – he bravely chose to brake later than the Mercedes pair and steamed around the outside of both to claim the lead. Verstappen’s efforts to just stay within track limits on the corner exit encapsulated how on the edge this pass was.
Daniel Ricciardo then tapped Bottas out of contention, which led to crashes in the pack and an early safety car, after which Verstappen nailed the restart, then just roared clear. Even while managing engine and brake temperature requirements through plenty of lift-and-coast, he was still able to lap regularly 0.3s clear of Hamilton. That turned Mercedes’ attention to rebuffing Sergio Perez, and Verstappen even had spare capacity to initially thwart Bottas’s efforts to take the fastest lap late in the race.
We had this race as our original number one choice because, although it only contained one moment of action, that double-pass was sublime. Verstappen could have easily messed it up and retired, handing Hamilton a 25-point swing and shock lead in the standings. But he didn’t. He was finally approaching peak Verstappen – calmer, slightly more mature, supremely confident.