2021 Season Review: Why will this season rank alongside the most memorable?

The 2021 season is definitely over. However, it should be noted that this year’s edition will be one of the most memorable and unforgettable ones for several reasons. So what has the past season already offered us and what to expect in the future?

This year, Formula 1 has offered us just about everything that racing and motorsport in general can offer. This season has literally forced fans who have turned their backs on the queen of motorsport in previous years for a variety of reasons to return to the sport.

So is F1 starting to thrive again after the past few seasons? The current season has brought in a lot of new fans. The question is what the next year will bring as F1 enters a whole new era.

This year, we say goodbye to the fastest monoblocks ever. The 2021 season will see some of the fastest monoblocs ever to appear on the grid. We’re also saying goodbye to 13-inch tyres.

From next year, 18-inch tyres will be on Formula One cars. Pirelli has said goodbye to them with a special “Next year I turn 18” sign for the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

One of F1’s biggest icons, Kimi Räikkönen, will also hang up his racing gloves. So what does the 2021 season have in store for us?

Max Verstappen vs. Lewis Hamilton

The 2021 season brought an absolutely epic and fascinating title fight. And it had everything that a championship battle can hopefully bring – spectacular on-track battles, emotions and suspense, controversy and, last but not least, mutual collisions and contacts (Silverstone or Monza).

The battle for the title reminded us of the old duels between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Niki Lauda and James Hunt or Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen.

Verstappen and Hamilton are also two very different personalities. Both have completely different racing styles and both communicate and work with their teams in completely different ways. Formula 1 has shown to all its fans that, although it is a highly publicised and, in a way, commercial sport, the sporting side of the queen of motorsport is still an integral part of it.

A bitter battle between Ferrari and McLaren

Although the media attention in the last two Grands Prix has been focused only on the two protagonists who fought very hard for the championship title. But of course, it’s no wonder. However, during the season we also witnessed a very interesting battle for third place in the Constructors’ Cup.

McLaren ran out of breath in the last quarter of the season, while Ferrari, on the other hand, managed to stabilise and also managed to upgrade their power unit very well. In the end, it is the Italian team that takes third place.

While it was not the fierce battles that these two teams have fought in the past (think of Hamilton vs. Massa, Lauda vs. Hunt, Häkkinen vs. Schumacher), this year’s race left us with a preview of the days to come.

The next editions could be very interesting from this point of view as well, and it is certainly not unrealistic that these two teams will fight for the championship in the years to come.

Sebastian Vettel – the king of overtaking

The record for the most overtakes in a single season has so far been held by Max Verstappen, who recorded 78 in the 2016 season. Compared to this year, in 2016, a total of 21 circuits were raced, whereas this year we could see one more grand prix.

But the difference, as we must objectively admit, is significant. So Vettel narrowly beat Fernando Alonso in the Alpina and Kimi Räikkönen in the Alfa Romeo.

McLaren’s double at Monza

McLaren completely dominated the race at Monza. Daniel Ricciardo was the winner, with Norris finishing second. But that’s not all, the thirty-two-year-old Australian also scored an extra championship point for the fastest lap of the race on the last lap. He was also voted the best driver of the day.

McLaren has won a Formula One race for the first time in nine years. The last time the Woking team won a grand prix was in Brazil in 2012. That time, Jenson Button won the championship. For McLaren fans in particular, this triumph is very satisfying.

Ocon’s sensational victory, Alonso on the podium

Esteban Ocon put in a really great performance in Hungary. At times, Vettel was not far from victory, but apart from a few promising moments, he did not have the necessary speed. In any case, the Alpine driver showed his talent and great defensive skills.

He deservedly took his first career victory. The Hungarian Grand Prix was also an infarct affair. Alpine, however, had one more notable success, namely Fernando Alonso.

Fernando finished third in Qatar and after seven years we had the opportunity to see the legendary Spaniard on the podium! His last podium finish was in the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Goodbye, Kimi

In short, this one is impossible not to mention. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked the end of Kimi Räikkönen’s career. He has 349 starts, 21 wins, 103 podium finishes and, last but not least, one championship title from 2007!

The duel of the team duos

Before the season, there were several transfers. Sergio Pérez got a seat at Red Bull, Carlos Sainz left McLaren for Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo moved from Renault to McLaren.

And it was the latter who unfortunately didn’t handle the role as well as expected. In the first quarter of the season, it could still be blamed on the new team’s lack of habits, he was driving a completely different formula again. But the improvement, with a few exceptions, did not come.

In the last five Grands Prix, he even managed to finish on points only once, in the penultimate race in Saudi Arabia. Pérez also had problems with the Red Bull monoposto, but he was able to cope with it much better and thus managed this miniduel best in points.

Sainz, you could say, was really happy with the Ferrari. During the season, it was not very obvious from the purely sporting results who was actually the team leader. His performances were so good in places that he overshadowed Charles Leclerc. In the final standings, he beat the 24-year-old Monegasque by five and a half points.

Final results of the 2021 season

The drivers’ championship thus belongs to Verstappen, but the constructors’ championship belongs to Mercedes (for the eighth time in a row – ed.). Second-placed Red Bull is 28 points behind. The third place goes to Ferrari, which has 323.5 points.

Position number 4 belongs to McLaren. The Woking-based team lost 48.5 points to Ferrari. Fifth place was taken by Alpine (155 points), sixth by Alpha Tauri (142), seventh by Aston Martin (77), eighth by Williams (23), ninth by Alfa Romeo (13) and last without a single point was Haas.

In the post above we can also see how the drivers’ championship went. Personally, I believe I’ve managed to summarise the highlights of the 2021 season in this article, as a lot happened and I really hope I haven’t forgotten anything.

Finally, we would like to thank you, our readers, for your attention throughout the season. Although we are not saying goodbye to F1, as there will certainly be a lot of topics discussed over the winter break, we would like to wish you a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year on behalf of our editorial team.

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