Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the podium together again at the Canadian Grand Prix; it just felt right, didn’t it?
The pair are two of the most successful drivers in the entire history of F1, and despite their 13-year age gap, they are also two of the most experienced racers out there too, and hold a lot of respect for one another.
But that hasn’t always been the case. Previously, that mutual respect was clouded by one man’s desire to win a record-breaking eighth world title, and the other’s pursuit of his first title.
And now F1 insider Naomi Schiff has said that the pair got so caught up in that one particular season in 2021 that she was worried that Hamilton would not return to the F1 grid ever again after his heartbreaking defeat to Verstappen.
Hamilton and Verstappen friendship ‘not normal’
Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, Schiff reflected on her first interview with the seven-time champion: “Well, I remember telling Lewis before I actually did the interview that I was incredibly nervous because I’d grown up borderline idolising him.
“He was really like my hero growing up. I looked up to him and so to share this moment with him, which I wanted to fill with joy and happiness and we also had to talk about Abu Dhabi. I mean he disappeared off the grid for a while, we didn’t know if he was coming back or not, there was a lot to unpack.
“All that to say, we did touch on Max. I asked him about coming back into the paddock and what it was going to be like, and already then Lewis was very clear that, as much as everything that went down in the year because, even Abu Dhabi aside, there was a lot of hardcore wheel-to-wheel racing between the two of them, a lot of borderline stuff.
“He just said, ‘You know what? At the end of the day, he’s my rival, and are we going to be best mates? Probably not, but I’m still going to respect him as a competitor on track.’ And so I think there’s always been that respect with them.
“And it was interesting to see the way that they were so cordial with each other in the cooldown room. You can tell that it’s probably still not natural for them to engage easily because you don’t just forget that; there’s going to be some of that competitive scar tissue that will last forever.
“I don’t think anyone’s forgetting that any time soon, but they make an effort to be cordial with each other and they respect each other, and that’s what we saw play itself out on track in Canada, which was great racing in my opinion.”
What happened at Abu Dhabi in 2021?
After Hamilton had overtaken Verstappen at the start of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, it looked for much of the 58-lap race that it was going to be Hamilton who would canter to a record-breaking eighth world title.
But, Nicholas Latifi’s late crash saw a safety car be deployed, and Verstappen dived into the pits with nothing to lose to make sure he was on fresh tyres in case there was an opportunity to attack Hamilton.
There were several lapped cars between the leaders, which prevented Verstappen from being right on Hamilton’s tail but, towards the end of the safety car period, race director Michael Masi decided to let those cars through to unlap themselves, but not the rest of the lapped cars further down the field.
It was seen by many to be a huge injustice, and one that led to the sacking of Masi from his position, but nonetheless Verstappen still had to get past Hamilton.
And on the last lap of the last race of the season, he did just that, passing the Brit and racing away with the championship as they had gone into the final race of the season level on points.
