The 2021 championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen ignited a rivalry so fierce that its effects are evident even today. There was a lot of on and off-track tussle between the two, their team principals, and even the staff.
Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas recently revealed the mind games their rivals had resorted to, which also probed them to do the same.
On the Road to Success podcast, he highlighted how the Mercedes crew often kept their gun lines out to make it difficult for the Red Bull cars to get to their pit box. Nicholas deemed how it was typically considered ‘gentlemanly’ for all teams to pull back their gun lines to avoid causing any inconvenience during another team’s pit stop.
“In 2021, Mercedes stopped doing it, halfway through the year, they just started leaving the gun lines out there to make it more difficult,” he said. Nicholas mentioned that later in the season, Red Bull considered returning the favor.
Pit stop practice but make it pic.twitter.com/k5fEndWOu9
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 2, 2021
He narrated an anecdote of their logistical coordinator, Mark Willis, who pulls their lines in the garage, standing firmly in the pits beside the lines just two or three inches away from the fast lane. Nicholas insisted that he did not “flinch” when the cars went past him.
The host asked the Red Bull mechanic whether the intense 2021 battle had made these small tussles feel ‘personal.’ However, Nicholas clarified that, despite how the media might portray it, “it’s never really personal.”
Red Bull and Mercedes did not give an inch during 2021
It was a cutthroat rivalry between the two teams as Hamilton and Verstappen did not back down in their pursuit of the Drivers’ championship. With multiple crashes and collisions in Silverstone, Monza, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, it all boiled down to the season finale in Abu Dhabi, which saw a mind-boggling climax.
The race started with a small controversy with Hamilton retaining the race lead by going off track. From there on, it just kept on amplifying. Sergio Perez put on some borderline dangerous defense to keep the Briton at bay and bring Verstappen back into the fight.
Then came the dramatic twist: just as Hamilton seemed to have the title secured, a crash occurred with five laps remaining, triggering a safety car. Unsurprisingly, the way the safety car situation was handled—ultimately benefiting Verstappen and Red Bull—did not sit well with Mercedes.
Hamilton was crestfallen and the Dutchman was ecstatic with this chaotic turn of events. There was unspoken discomfort between the two drivers, although they seemingly moved on in the coming months.
Team Principals, however, don’t let things go that easily. Both Toto Wolff and Christian Horner continue to take jabs at each other, showing that there is no end to the rivalry in sight.
