Adrian Newey believes the pressure was starting to get to Max Verstappen in his epic 2021 World Championship battle with Lewis Hamilton, calling Verstappen “a bit out of order” in Brazil that year.
As Verstappen and Red Bull rose in 2021 to challenge Hamilton’s streak of Formula 1 dominance – having claimed four titles in a row – the title protagonists found themselves involved in several fierce battles and collisions, their Silverstone and Monza incidents living long in the memory.
Adrian Newey: Max Verstappen ‘a bit out of order’ at 2021 Brazilian GP
But Red Bull’s former F1 design guru Adrian Newey – who will join Aston Martin in F1 2025 – drew attention to the intense scrap between Verstappen and Hamilton in Brazil that year, both drivers taking to the Turn 4 run-off at one stage as Hamilton looked to go around the outside, while Verstappen went late on the brakes.
Hamilton went on to make the overtake and win the race, further ramping up the pressure on Verstappen and Red Bull, with Newey claiming that Verstappen was fortunate to escape a penalty, ultimately crossing the line P2, ten-and-a-half seconds behind Hamilton.
Asked during the High Performance Podcast whether Verstappen – now a three-time World Champion after going on to take his first crown in 2021 – ever shows signs of cracking, Newey replied: “I think a little bit perhaps in his championship win in ’21.
“Where the intensity, particularly after Silverstone, on track, between Lewis and Max became so intense, I think Max had very strong feelings on that Silverstone accident.
“And of course, he’d been clear championship leader going into Silverstone, then him out of the race, and then more or less out of the race in Hungary, when he got hit by Valtteri [Bottas], not intentional at all, but still got hit and pretty much hardly scored any points, so gone from easy championship leaders to now feeling a bit more pressure.
“And Mercedes managed to find quite a lot more pace out of their car towards the end of the season.
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“So it’s always easier for the hunter than the hunted. And Max was starting, I think, to just feel a little bit of pressure from the hunted. And hence that, he was, in reality, probably lucky not to get a penalty for his driving in Brazil.
“Saudi, where they had a bit of a dingdong, that was a little bit more… I think that was not clear, but Max was probably a bit out of order in Brazil in truth, so I think he was feeling it a bit.
“And indeed Checo [Perez], it’s the usual thing, if the team-mate they’ve been beating suddenly starts to get closer, it’s not that suddenly the team-mates’ got better.
“It was the same with Fernando [Alonso] and Felipe Massa towards the end of 2010, suddenly they get closer, because the lead driver is feeling the pressure.”
Verstappen began a run of F1 dominance from 2022, and despite McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari having erased said dominance in F1 2024, Verstappen remains in a strong position to claim his fourth World Championship in a row, his buffer 62 points over Lando Norris at the top of the Drivers’ standings.
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