“Greatness that surpasses the magic of the Senna-Prost rivalry”: Looking back on Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s incredible podium statistics in the 2021 F1 season

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen ended the 2021 season with more 1-2 finishes than Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost did in 1988. 

The 1988 F1 season saw one of the closest Title battles of all time. The drivers who were battling for glory back then were none other than the legendary Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Both were driving for McLaren that year, and to say that they dominated the season, would be an understatement.

Out of the 16 races that year, Prost or Senna won 15 of them with the only other race winner being Ferrari’s Gerhard Berger in Monza. On top of that, the duo finished 1-2 in 10 out of those 16 races which accounts for 62.5% of them.

For a very long time, F1 hadn’t seen two drivers dominate a season like they did. That was until the 2021 season, where we saw Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight each other for the title, until the very last lap of the the very last race.

Verstappen and Hamilton finished 1-2 in 14 out of the 22 races in 2021. That accounts for 63.6% of the total races!  This shows us that the Red Bull and Mercedes starlets produced a season like no other. F1 fans all over the world will be hoping that this is just the beginning of a ‘Senna-Prost’ like rivalry.

Also read: The beautiful, enduring tale of Ayrton Senna desperately convincing arch-rival Alain Prost to not retire from the sport

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s final showdown in Abu Dhabi

Senna and Prost’s 1988 season was turbulent to say the least. The former accused his team of favoring the Brazilian driver and demanded more transparency from the team bosses. It wasn’t meant to be as tensions between the teammates arose as the season progressed.

The winner of the season was decided in the final race in Adelaide. Prost won the race, but it wasn’t enough for him to win the title, as Senna went on to win the first of his three Championships that day.

The manner in which the 2021 season finale was decided was far more controversial. Both drivers entered the final round level on points, and Hamilton seemed to dominate the race. A late safety car however, changed the 7-time World Champion’s fate under the lights in Abu Dhabi.

Also read: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz praises the high standards of the existing talent pool in Formula 1

Verstappen, who was on fresher tyres passed Hamilton on the final lap after race director Michael Masi’s questionable decision making. The Red Bull driver took home the chequered flag and became the first Dutch World Champion in F1 history.

Recently, there have been rumors about Hamilton retiring after his heartbreaking loss in Yas Island. For the sake of the sport and it’s millions of fans, we all hope that isn’t true. Verstappen and the other people involved within F1 all agree that Hamilton is ‘too good’ to not come back and fight for his 8th World Title.