In the F1 2021 season, the dramatization of the championship battle between Verstappen and Hamilton has exceeded the brain-burning degree of the screenwriter, and even Jos waden and Zach Payne (screenwriter of the Avengers series) could not write such a script.
Today brings you ten of the most dramatic moments of the duel of the season.
After the controversial finale of Bahrain's season opener, Imola once again staged a brilliant series of Hamilton and Verstappen. Verstappen started from third and the two went side-by-side into Turn One, with Verstappen pushing Hamilton towards the sausage road shoulder. In the first half of the game, Verstappen led Hamilton slightly before a stop, and Hamilton counter-attacked after the change. Hamilton tried to approach Verstappen and made a small mistake at Tossa Bend where Hamilton rushed into the gravel buffer zone while damaging the car's front wing, Hamilton managed to slowly drive off the gravel onto the track and rejoin the race, but by the time he pitted to replace the front wing, he was already a lot behind. However, a few minutes later, when Bottas and Russell collided at Tamburello bend, the race was suspended due to red flags. This gave Hamilton a chance and struggled to get back to second place at the end of the race, minimizing point losses.
Verstappen has been comfortably leading the race since starting from third place into the lead. Verstappen suffered a puncture on lap 47 and had no choice but to retire, and the race was immediately interrupted by a red flag. After the game restarted, Hamilton drove directly into the One Corner buffer zone because of the mishandling of the "magic button" and did not bring back points in the end.
Silverstone proved to be the first flashpoint between the two protagonists. With the British Grand Prix hosting the first sprint, Hamilton was unexpectedly beaten in the sprint after taking pole position on Friday night. Hamilton launched a fierce attack on Verstappen on the first lap of the Grand Prix, after which Hamilton and Verstappen entered Copthorn side by side, and Verstappen's right rear wheel collided with Hamilton's left front wheel, causing the car to lose control and rush to the retaining wall with 51G impact force, so he was taken to a nearby hospital for a preventive examination, for which Hamilton was sentenced to a 10-second penalty.
With the red flag showing in the race, Hamilton pitted to replace the front wing and re-enter the race, and he began chasing the leading Leclerc at an extraordinary pace, eventually managing to overtake and win the championship, a race that left him with 26 points.
The incident exacerbated the hostile atmosphere between the two teams, with Red Bull racing unhappy with Mercedes' post-race celebrations. By contrast, Mercedes and Hamilton believe they did nothing wrong.
Verstappen perked up from Silverstone's defeat and headed to Hungary, eager to catch up with Hamilton again there.
At the wet Hungaroronen circuit, Verstappen finished third behind two Mercedes drivers, but with a good start, Hamilton also made it to Turn 1. Bottas' start was not ideal, being directly overtaken by Red Bull and Norris, falling behind Norris, but he missed the brake point and rear-ended Norris, the British driver himself was powerless to stop himself from rushing straight to Verstappen's Red Bull car. Bottas, in turn, bumped into Perez, knocking out a second Red Bull on the spot.
The resulting red flag allowed Red Bull to make some initial repairs to Verstappen's car, and he fought back to finish in ninth place, which could be two of his most important championship points.
Qualifying in spa rain is sure to be spectacular, but no one expected them to see Williams racing in the front row. After Norris had a major accident in qualifying, the 10 drivers who advanced to Q3 had to go all out. Williams' ingenious tyre-warming strategy allowed Russell to temporarily secure pole position in the final stages of qualifying, when the British driver ran amazing lap times. But Verstappen snapped back pole position a few seconds before qualifying.
The next day, the race was forced to run three laps under the safety car in the distant rain and it was over, and Hamilton lost the opportunity to get more points at Spa, although the drivers' points were halved because the race was not halfway through.
Heading to Monza, Hamilton was eager to weaken his opponents after Verstappen's home win at home in the Netherlands.
Mercedes locked up the front row in Friday's qualifying session, but Bottas suffered a penalty for changing the power unit. This allowed Verstappen to finish second in the starting position.
At the start of the race, Verstappen was second and Hamilton began climbing from fifth. Verstappen's slow stop on lap 23 appeared to have given the initiative back to Hamilton, but invariably Hamilton's slow stop meant he and Verstappen were side-by-side on Turn One of Lap 25.
Verstappen tried to overtake on the outside of Turn One, but Hamilton stuck to his own route, forcing Verstappen onto the shoulders, his car being thrown into the air and landing on top of the Mercedes car, with both of them withdrawn.
Thankfully, Hamilton's HALO device avoided his head injury, and Verstappen was later sent back five times for the incident.
Norris took his debut pole position with an outstanding lap in the Qualifying of the Russian Grand Prix and he will win his first Grand Prix until the heavy rains have extinguished all hope.
Norris faced enormous pressure from Hamilton in the second half, but he still managed to maintain the lead well. However, the rain god has something to say and is still five laps away from the end of the race. Hamilton chose a half-rain tire for the pit stop, while Norris, who was carrying a dry tire, wanted to stay on the track until the end of the race.
It wasn't until Norris rushed off the track on the penultimate lap while ceding the lead to Hamilton, forced to limp back to the pit for a tire change, and finally lost the race. That gave Hamilton his 100th win, while Verstappen unexpectedly finished second, avoiding point losses as much as possible.
The Brazilian Grand Prix weekend was probably the craziest race of the year. First, Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying for a DRS rear wing violation, starting from P20 in Saturday's sprint.
Meanwhile Verstappen was fined 50,000 euros for touching Hamilton's racing rear wing in PARC FERME. To heighten tensions, both decisions were announced ahead of the sprint.
From the last start of the starting line, Hamilton finished fifth in the regular race with an impressive performance. However, he had to accept a 5-place penalty for replacing the internal combustion engine, so he started from the 10th place in the main race. After the start of the ride, Hamilton quickly crossed the midstream formation and struggled to chase the lead Verstappen.
In the final stages of the race, the Mercedes driver was squeezed out of the track by Verstappen at Turn 4, and the event officer said there was no need for further investigation, which angered Mercedes.
Hamilton managed to finish the overtaking on the track, still overtaking Verstappen at Turn 4, and finally won the championship and blew the clarion call of the counter-attack.
The battle between Hamilton and Verstappen continued in Jeddah with a hugely controversial penalty.
A red flag gave Verstappen great luck, but Hamilton climbed his head and tried to overtake Verstappen at Turn One, where Verstappen was unable to get into the corner properly and rode the curb at Turn 2. Behind this was a major accident involving Perez, Russell and Mazepin that created another red flag.
When the race restarted, race director Michael Masi negotiated with Red Bull and Mercedes for the car's pick, and the drama continued. Verstappen was asked to give up the position to be relegated to third, with Hamilton and O'Conn in front. Verstappen took a head start at Turn 1 when he re-inspired the car in the second race.
Just like Brazil, Verstappen didn't make things easy, when the race officer informed Red Bull Racing to ask Verstappen to give up his place, and Hamildu didn't know it, so there was an unexpected rear-end event before Turn 27.
Verstappen continued to lead, but then asked to let Hamilton pass again, but the result was to take advantage of the DRS detection point at Turn 27 and re-overtake Hamilton. But the advantages of the Mercedes car itself allowed hamilton drivers to still surpass Verstappen on the track with a damaged front wing and win the championship.
After this battle, the two actually went to Abu Dhabi with the same driver points.
Hamilton was on track to win a record eighth world title with a dominant victory, but the safety car caused by Nicholas Latifi going up the wall added a final turn to this epic season.
The safety car dispatch and withdrawal procedure is highly controversial, as only some of the slatted cars are allowed to exceed the safety car. In the end, Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the final lap of the race with a brand new soft tyres.
It was an unbelievable ending, and F1 probably never had such a scene again.