Verstappen beat Hamilton to take the F1 pole despite car problems

Competing in his homeland at the 2021 Dutch F1 Grand Prix race, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen brilliantly overcame rival Lewis Hamilton to take the pole.

Verstappen beat Hamilton to take the F1 pole despite car problems

In front of the cheers of nearly 70,000 passionate compatriot spectators at Zandvoort, Dutch driver Max Verstappen of Red Bull took the pole in the 2021 Dutch F1 Grand Prix race, 0.038 seconds faster than Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton.

According to Red Bull’s boss Christian Horner, the Dutch driver even won the British driver by more than 1/10 of a second, if it didn’t take time to fix a small problem.

Specifically, the DRS system – a system to reduce drag and reduce traction on F1 cars placed in the rear spoiler – of Verstappen car was damaged near the finish line, making the Dutch driver’s car more disadvantaged. 1/10 second.

Thus, for the first time since the British Grand Prix, Verstappen will start the main race in the upper row of Hamilton. On the total standings, Hamilton is 3 points ahead of Verstappen. Besides the Verstappen vs Hamilton fight, the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix qualifier also witnessed disaster for the F1 Williams team

Minutes after Williams’ George Russell crashed himself into the barrier when he crossed the last corner and was disqualified, teammate Nicholas Latifi’s turn jumped off the track and crashed into the fence, sending qualifying for the Grand Prix. Dutch Prix delayed.

Nicholas Latifi crashed his car into the Tec-Pro fence on the 8th turn at high speed, as a result he was also disqualified. The incident caused BTC to raise a red flag, causing the race to stall significantly due to the need for someone to adjust the barrier.

Mercedes finished selecting Lewis Hamilton’s teammate to race F1 season 2022?

The development of the F1 Belgian Grand Prix race in 2021 turned out to be a pivotal moment for the Mercedes team to decide to choose the driver to race with Lewis Hamilton in the 2022 season.

The F1 media have reported that Valtteri Bottas’ move to Alfa Romeo is set to be confirmed as soon as this week, clearing the way for George Russell to join Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton. Thus, Russell will become a teammate of the driver who holds a record of 7 world championships to form the British duo of Mercedes appearing in F1 for the first time since 2012.

At the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, which ended unfinished last weekend, 23-year-old Russell excellently finished second in both qualifying and the main round, while Hamilton finished 3 in both rounds. Before moving to F1, Russell won GP3 in 2017 and F2 in 2018. He was loaned to Williams by Mercedes for three years and helped the UK-based team return to near the top.

Now, Russell has taken another step in his career when he was chosen by Mercedes to be a teammate with Hamilton. In fact, this choice is not surprising. Many rumors have been circulating for a long time and almost became certain over the weekend, when Mercedes boss Toto Wolff accidentally forced his mouth to confirm his intention to choose Russell.

Mr Wolff added: ” If there was an easier decision, we would have announced it sooner, because we know what the team will have with Valtteri and we know well what we can achieve with George. Both deserve to be looked at in the most comprehensive way, as both are family members and we both rate them very highly. ”

Once Mercedes confirmed not to renew Bottas’ contract, Alfa Romeo had the opportunity to sign the Finnish driver. Now 32 years old, Bottas has won 9 Grand Prix, but has not been number 1 in nearly 12 months. He will replace compatriot Kimi Raikkonen as the 41-year-old leaves Alfa Romeo and will almost certainly announce his retirement. Once Alfa made a deal with Bottas, Mercedes officially asked Russell to sign a new contract.