The year 2021 witnessed one of the most controversial seasons in the history of Formula 1, orchestrated by the two leading title contenders, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The duo threw the kitchen sink at each other, hoping to salvage what would’ve been a record eighth title for Hamilton and a first title for Verstappen. However, what started as a respectful title rivalry eventually turned into something far more ugly, as Verstappen and Hamilton often succumbed to extremely contentious incidents.
Indeed, the Dutchman acted as the aggressor and he was often known for his fearless lunges into the corners. There are several instances to talk about, including the Emilia Romagna GP, Italian GP, Saudi Arabian GP, and of course, the wildly infamous Abu Dhabi GP. However, in most cases, Verstappen managed to get away with minor penalties; the leniency was very evident and eventually played a crucial factor in deciding the title winner.
Carlos: “ Ahh it was going to happen at some point with these two”
Oscar: “ Even yesterday it was…”
George: “After the sprint race I had a feeling Lando was gonna be fired up”
They all have been observing and waiting for it to happen 😭 pic.twitter.com/N6JS0ukJxe
— Mari (@very_berry99) June 30, 2024
Three years later now, Lando Norris has found himself in Hamilton’s shoes. The only difference here is that McLaren’s boss Andreas Stella has managed to utter a statement that directly impacted Verstappen and his controversial title victory in 2021.
Andreas Stella calls out lack of hefty punishments for Max Verstappen
Stella wasn’t going to let this slide without calling Verstappen out publicly, considering his team had just lost what could’ve been a second race win of this season. And what’s more, Norris was on the verge of closing down the gap to Verstappen in the driver’s standings. The McLaren boss opined that the FIA and Red Bull Racing failed to address Verstappen’s on-track aggression and that the unaddressed issue has now caused Norris to lose a race.
“The entire population of the world can see who is responsible for the incident except for a group of people. The problem is that if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back. They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past where there were fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way.”
Andreas Stella on Max Verstappen’s racing:
“It’s not about racing in a driver’s way. It’s about racing within the regulations.” pic.twitter.com/i9AplPW46k
— deni (@fiagirly) June 30, 2024
Overall, the FIA eventually blamed Verstappen for the incident with Norris and even slapped a 10-second time penalty on the Dutchman. However, the penalty hardly affected Verstappen’s result who ended up in the same position (P5), as he had a much larger gap to Nico Hulkenberg in P6. On the other hand, the not-guilty Norris ended up retiring from the race altogether, not only losing out on a race victory but also losing another 10 points to his title rival.
Sara Chavan