I can’t stand Max, but I imagine this is how people felt about Senna in 1990 when crashing Prost to win the WDC. We’ll look back at this season as one of the best for sure.
I started watching f1 half way through this season, I remember watching this race live as I was working, I was busy cooking and stopped for a good 10 minutes, I was in disbelief with what was happening, being shouted at by everyone around me to get on with my job, but I couldn’t take my eyes off what was happening, I wanted Lewis to win, but to see this live was worth every bit of abuse 😂 This race made me fall in love with the sport, I’ll never forget this moment. One of the greatest memories I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. In my eyes both Lewis and max turned this sport I saw as average, into something I cannot get enough off. Pure fucking cinema.
Totally agree! Here in the Netherlands, most fans who watch longtime F1, halfway the season said: wouldn't it be great if they were equal on points in the last race and it would be decided in the last lap. I should have put money on that..... Watching for so many years, this was the most exciting season ever because of Max ánd Lewis.
to be fair completely different situations. Checo here saved up his battery for many laps before and threw away his own race just to back up hamilton while Ocon had to take care of himself as well and was on dead tires in a much worse car.
Honestly my favourite onboard telemetry, not only you can see how cautious hamilton is being anyways but the skill it takes to back someone up without just getting straight up passed is incredible. Max should be better to checo after all this man
Max even bought him a honda car if im not mistaken. Then Monaco happened where Checo purposely crashed in qualifying to secure P1, but I heard they already made up now.
@@HamasakiFanz Thing is he didn’t secure P1 but P3, right behind the two Ferraris. I might be biased cus I like him, but I don’t think someone would purposely crash to secure an inferior position, which makes me believe he didn’t purposely crash
As a Verstappen fan witnessing this was epic. I was jumping from the couch from excitement. Till this day I still regret Max didn't pay Checo back in Brazil. 😢
It's like watching a masterclass in team dynamics. Perez's move against Hamilton wasn't just racing, it was high-stakes, high-skill strategy playing out at 200mph. Its easy to forget these moments considering Checo's recent struggles on the track. What a season 2021 was 🏎💥
Why everyone's forget about Giovinazzi's VSC? I know Alfa Romeo was a disaster in 2021, but Hamilton had a chance there and Mercedes did a big Ferrari by ignoring it.
@@the1stmetalhead A bit more,but still half the time compared to normal pitstop (I think it was between 11 and 13 seconds for Abu Dhabi), even falling behind Verstappen,Hamilton had the pace and time to take the lead back (no mistakes from Lewis that night, and the W12 had a great setup for that track).
hardly! legends fight to win races not to ruin other people races. Hamilton will always be one of the greatest (if not the greatest) to ever do it. Nobody will remember Perez in 20 years time.
He seems to be struggling with the new gen car. Ever since Max beat him starting from ninth when Perez was on pole in Miami, it's just been one big downward spiral as I think all of his confidence he could challenge for a title was destroyed
@@Baguenaudeur Well..he gave them everything that he was hired for. He was clearly hired as a second driver to support Max winning the title. Would it have been better to just let him sit out of F1 like he was going to before they scooped him up?
@@Baguenaudeur mate what you on about Horner and the team has been nothing but supportive in what has been unacceptable form he's shown this season in that car. They've never publicly spoken against him and at every opportunity where media and fans alike have placed scrutiny over whether he'll have a seat for next season not once has the team said anything to make him feel like he's on his way out. His issues are his own doing, he was the one put pressure on himself by publicly declaring to the media he could challenge Max for the title. He underestimated Max's early struggles with the car and overestimated his own performance relative to Max. It turns out Checo's performance ceiling is much lower than Max's able to achieve which was obvious to anyone other than Checo. All Checo had to do is keep getting podiums throughout the season, qualify in the front two rows and his seat would be his for as long as he kept delivering those performances. He had ambition beyond his own ability and Max as completely buried any idea of him ever challenging him for a title in the same car.
Perez was the ultimate team player in this race and he deserves so much respect regardless of how he’s performed this year. If he never gets a world title he will still definitely go down as one of the best in my eyes
It was a very disappointing end to such a good season. Ruined by the FIA where the racing could have been amazing if they didn’t unlap those cars. Not even a Hamilton fan
I root for Checo since he got P1 in pink F1 car then again in this incident. I still wish him the best no matter where he goes. Never thought he's my real fav driver along with Kimi. Please bounce back man.
This is his excuse when someone with a worker car but better in terms of attacking&defending driving skills is humiliating him on track… is the same he said about Alonso in Hungary 2021 and maybe Bahrain 2023(but I m not sure).
@@sheabryantmusic too bad you have no idea about Hamilton cutting the chicane in 1st lap of the race and gaining some significant advantage over Verstappen and got away with it but those 13 seconds were about having an overpowered engine,running in clean air
@@Bahamuttiamat cleaner în attacking and defending driving style? Dude are you dumb or you muck me? Have you seen him 2011 when he screwed Massa 5 times by driving so dirty? Or fighting Maldonado in Valencia 2012,or fighting Rosberg 2014-2016 especially 2015 US when he showed how frustrated and dirty he can be, taking the corner wide,pushing his opponent out of track,that is called clean for you? Or Hitting Ricciardo in Hungary in t1 on the same way, or hitting Albon in Brasil 2019 and Austria 2020 or Verstappen in Silverstone 2021 … about his rookie crashes from 2022 on there s no need to be said because I can t identify a driver from the grid that haven’t been touched by your ,,clean” driver … everyone can be clean in terms of attacking&defending driving style while he is driving a car that puts 1 second per your gap advantage or having a car too fast so the chased car decides to let him through in order to save tyres and fuel… is the same Verstappen now when he has no challenger, against that boy from 2016-2018/19 when he was very aggressive and sometimes dirty. But talking about clean driving,Hamilton is the last one to have the right to talk about it as long as he has a long story that haven’t been finished yet but British media will hide his dirty moves as soon as possible.
Why do you, Mercedes fanbase are trying to start a war of arguments between fans? You show how Verstappen acted in 1 race against Perez as if from 2017 up to 2021 Mercedes have threatened any better Bottas by ordering race by race to aboard fastest lap for Hamilton,held position or gave Hamilton his position… or screwing his own race testing tyres for Hamilton… but suddenly you seem not to remember any of these.
Nope. He is being a good worker. That is what he is being paid for. He is doing his job, bacause like all working areas if you do not produce, someone else will be brought in and get your job. He is being a good employee and being paid more handsomely than most of us. So he should be grateful for having this job.
Man this was sooo epic; Perez gives everything to defend against Lewis, and then let Max pass to get another chance to fight once again with Lewis for that P1.. But Max a year later couldn't give even a simple 6th place to him.. hope he gets lucky this 2 finals race and get that 2nd place for be a 1-2 for rb
@yugarten8523 well I understand the comparison, when Checo did what he did in Monaco, no tittle was decided. Had things gone bad for RB or Max in 2022 (instead of Ferrari) that could have affected Max in a big way. Checo tried to screw Max, and it ended up with just Max screwing Checo. Also, even if Max had let him through in Brazil, Checo would still have been 3rd in the championship
@@martimxavier9690he still owed checo a big one and never repaid it. I understand people are all up the great white hope in max but the dude is a proper cry baby diva. Who's daddy doesn't even let red bull give his team mate an equal car. Checos car has been compromised many times. Watch you will see checo saying this after he leaves red bull 💯
It really isn't peak Perez - his first win for Racing Point, his amazing win for Red Bull at Singapore, or his tight win at Baku over Max are peak Perez. But this was definitely incredible defensive driving.
I remember this defensive action very well. A little over the limit in my opinion, especially in the last sector where Checo literally parked the car in some corners. I think Max should always remember this moment when he is tempted to be a little harsh on his teammate. His first and most memorable WDC title came (also) thanks to this fantastic work by Perez.
Breaking Point for me (apart from Brazil 22) was Austria this season. The team allowed Max to have another Pit Stop without any pressure just to snatch fastest lap from checo, WHO would have needed the points ..
@@Cal3000 , Lewis should be grateful for having a chance for the championship at the last race. It should have been decided way earlier. Remember Baku and Silverstone for example?
@@theracingguy4739 In your mind Spain, Imola and Brazil appear to be lucky escapes for Lewis not knowing that these F1 drivers have A LOT more awareness than you do. To you, they're like an algorithm running 1 million predictions each second and the closer they get to the corner the more scenarios they eliminate until they arrive at the turning-in point and they decide where to place the car relative to the opponent. Max shoved Lewis wide in Brazil but Hamilton saw it coming all the way, as it wasn't a drastic lock-up or anything. Lewis had plenty of time to avoid collision and Max wasn't worried about that too. Because, importantly, Max still turned the corner, he didn't just straight-line it. It looks more spectacular for the clueless fans, so stop projecting your overwhelmed mind onto the driver's abilities
@@theracingguy4739 monza wasnt even max's fault. saudi was a hige miscommunication by the FIA. brazil, like the guy above me said, wasnt that big of a deal at all. idk what happened in spain and imola at all. at this point ur just making up incidents that never happened.
Epic driving by Checo and epic team work. Red Bull really deserved that bit of luck at the end of the race, and Checo made it possible to convert that into a race win and therefore the Championship win for Max.
Max was the one fighting for the WC so as a team member pretty obvious and true that Checo was ordered !!!!! to help Max Next year Checo tricked Max in Monaco at qualify with a stupid crash so Max had to abort his purple lap and THAT my friend was the reason for a payback in Brasil 2022
@@rodynote 1. Max already won the Championship 2 races prior to Brazil 2. Checo was in a tight battle for p2 in the championship with Leclerc, which he ended up losing no doubt partly because of this 3. Max was given multiple team orders to let checo by but he refused Max most likely cost Redbull a position in the drivers championship worth Millions of Dollars though his own immaturity and arrogance Youre coping so hard you cant even remember half of what happened Also if you ask me if Max really did that as “payback” for Monaco thats a pretty good indicator of poor character. How can you be so sour and self absorbed over that incident that you fuck over your entire team to get retribution 6 months after it happened. Verstappen may be a good racer but hes an extremely poor character. He can act all nice in interviews with his 15 pr managers in the background but when the adrenaline is pumping the real Verstappen comes out
@@noahh6032 i reffered to 2021 when Max was fighting for WC And Max is 100% racer with winning mentality If you fuck me...ill fuck you later There are many examples of that And what about pr managers??? Max is really the ONLY !!!one Who just says what he thinks.... Just straight forward... and i love it!! And believe me ....every multiple WC is a dick sometimes......otherwise you cant be a WC
@@rodynote no, max shouted on the radio perez did that on purpose the same moment perez crashed. thats why GP was furious with max. watch the replay. max been trying to make mends with checo for a long time now
Im convinced if Bottas didnt take the piss in 2021 Lewis wouldve won the thing. It was 1 on 2 all year for Hamilton. Without a teamate youre always at a disatvantage strategy wise
01:59 Was that "Press and hold turn 12?" Sounds like it, but the radio wasn't very clear and English is not my native language, so I could be wrong. I had my doubt though, because the overtake button should be used after turn 14, not turn 12 which is the first of the 3 slow corners of T12-14. T14 is the one followed by a short straight.
One of the best time wasting/defensive laps in F1 history. Have to say though at 3:15 I’m surprised Perez didn’t dive back down the inside to interfere even more with Hamilton.
I think RB told him something in the lines: "Whatever it takes EXCEPT contact". Perez played it extremely clean. Also, it would have been a career ending move if Perez somehow ended crashing into Ham to give Max the win. Look what happened to Masi and he didn't even do it on purpose.
@@anameyoucantremember I see your point but I don’t mean as a “take Hamilton out move” he could’ve legitimately carried on the fight and even got Max directly involved.
I've always wondered the same, but I think the radio message 'Max is right on his tail' made him think he had done enough. Had he made another move, he could have held Lewis at the apex to ensure Max got DRS on Lewis.
Checo could see that Lewis was well past him and would take the apex, to under brake and put his car there would have caused a crash. Checo put up an incredible defence but everything he did upto that point was clean racing despite Lewis's whiny complaint about dangerous driving. To cause an intentional crash was a line Checo would have refused to cross. He did everything he could fairly and had he been a few metres further ahead I'm sure he would have parked on the apex, but he wasn't so he dropped back to do what he could for Max. What surprised me is that he didn't dab the brakes early in the straight to deny Lewis the DRS and give Max the earlier activation, potentially allowing him to get the 2nd from Lewis, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
This is what baffles me, they have a great driver in Checo. I understand that he's made a lot of mistakes and cost the team a lot more than just points this year, but it is just one year and the car isn't really to his liking. Replacing him, while it might be better for the team in the long run, as of right now, it is just like stabbing the man in the back. He isn't like Lance or Nikita.
But it isn't 1 year. Look at 2021 season. Redbull had the stronger car but perez consistently qualified outside the top 4 and rarely got on the podium. 2022 he lost p2 in the championship in the much faster redbull. He has like 3 good races a year. A driver needs 20 good races a year if you are at the top
@@SergeantAveryJohnson in 2022 RB was only dominant for half the season, ferrari was still the stronger car up to about hungary and that was clouded by horrible strategies and poor reliability from spain especially on charles's side. had charles not binned it in france and imola that p2 would've been his long before abu dhabi.
@@izzy3784 even after hungar chalres was consitently getting posiums whilst perez was wither on the podium or in p6 and p6 for some reason. 2022 was the only stand out ok season he had. 2021 was poor as cos of him redbull lost out on constructors and i dont need to explain this season. how if not for lewis dsq in USA ewis would be p2 in the championship. If another team catches up next season and is fighting with Max what good would it be to have a driver who can barely qualify inside the top 10. perez has had 8 podiums total this season same as fernado alonso in a much slower car
When his car was good he was challenging and beating max. But then magically his car was all off. They compromised him. Maybe newbies won't know but red bull has never been a 2 driver team. Their priority is with one driver and trying to make that one driver a superstar like Schumacher
@mrshab wtf are u talking abt? Both cars are the same, the car is made to be as quick as possible to drive. Max just gets more out of the car than Checo
This is one of the dirtiest examples of driving I've seen go unpunished in modern F1. He had no intention to race Hamilton for position and was only forcing him to avoid crashing every corner. If you want to see clean, look at Alonso in Hungary.
Great overview of this critical moment in Maxs career...its no wonder RB have given Checo alot of leeway considering his second half performance this year 😅
I am surprised that, after having made two such incredible defenses (Abu Dhabi and Turkey 2021) with a slightly inferior car and in a context of maximum tension, Checo was unable to identify that Alonso came out with better traction than him on the main straight during the last race in Brazil or that, if he had waited for the second DRS zone to overtake him on the penultimate lap, he would have reached the podium with a clearly better car
Different situations, in Abu Dhabi 2021 was Hamilton VS the 2 Red Bulls and the RB Pitwall,the whole team fighting for the driver championship while Bottas was left behind on his own (with a tired engine) and the Mercedes Pitwall doing nothing after the pitstop, Red Bull went all or nothing that night. In Brazil 2023, Perez had the side effects of Mexico, he got himself in a lot of pressure right in his home track, and did a dumb move in the first corner, loosing a massive amount of points of advantage over Hamilton. He went into "Safe mode" in Brazil,no unnecessary risks,he needed the points to keep P2 in the championship, maybe a bit too safe,but logical move at the end.(the same can be said about Tsunoda,that did the exactly same thing and got points).
@@0megalul309Hamilton takes multiple lines behind in dirty air to try and cool off tires but what you’re saying is he’s much more patient behind people and Alonso is much more likely to make a bolder move in weird places. Lewis always been super calculated but he definitely isn’t afraid to make a bold move if the moment arises
@@0megalul309Alonso was fighting for a mere podium on a straight, Hamilton was dealing with a car that was instructed to slow him down even at the cost of a crash, that happened to be the teammate of his title rival, in the final race he was easily winning due better pace
hamilton had the brazil engine that gave him all the advantage over the red bulls, especially verstappen who he prematurely destroyed his engine in silverstone@@dymrjones8746
Between the time lost with Perez and Mercedes doing a Ferrari during Giovinazzi's VSC (Hamilton telling them that was dangerous to keep him on track, and Bono response was a simple"we want to keep track position", Bono released his inner Xavi), Hamilton was on alone and on his own against a team that used everything at hand, every pit window and both drivers if possible. And as the cherry on top,just like in France that very same year, Bottas reaction to Hamilton loosing the race was "this was a 2 pitstop race",they got Ferrari treatment,and people seems to forget about it and just say "Bu-but Masi".
Honestly this.. yeah the whole SC car situation was a mess, but ending behind the SC would also have been trash and equally rob Max of the opportunity to fight for the win, in the end I think it played out the best way possible, the only ones who can really complain are the cars who did not get to unlap themselves whilst their direct competitors did, like Ricciardo.. but he was P12 anyways, and they did not have a lot to fight for. Lewis should not have given up DRS to Perez and Mercedes should have not gambled with their tire strategy which always left them vulnerable to a safety car, and if that had happened a lap or 2 earlier they'd lose out in the same way.
@@Miragexe Masi had a hard choice there, the Red Flag at Baku left some people upset,the same with the one at Jeddah(between the red flag pitstops and the restart),Spa was a disaster for F1 and FIA between the waits and the SC Parade (probably the biggest disaster since Japan 2014 and Indy 2005), but there was no big issues with the SC at Qatar(I think that between Alonso's podium and the tyre drama, the SC wasn't an issue at all). From all possible scenarios, the SC in the way that got used in Qatar was the only way to finish the race(and the season) with minimum drama,but they poorly managed the time for everything (lapped cars could unlap themselves before and the 1 lap green made clear earlier,still drama,but not as big) and what we saw in Monza 2022 is an example of this,we got another SC Parade with a working crew right next to the cars,not exactly a good picture to look at(and worse thing in Japan, looking at Gasly's onboard).
People forgot. Lewis backed up P1-P7 hoping Rosberg would be overtaken. Ultimately it failed and he was whining afterwards about how he lost. Couldn't even congratulate Nico properly.
How is it "no different"? Lewis didn't have to defend position versus Rosberg even once, whereas here Perez is deliberately blocking and weaving! Totally different.
@@Cal3000the same FIA that haven’t penalized Hamilton for cutting so wide the chincane in L1 he almost gained a lap advantage and you seem to forgot about? Selective and short memory….
@@Miragexethey didn’t he would’ve come out behind and considering maxes driving that season they probably wanted track position, and they rightly thought the race was gonna finish under safety car
@@vladaltreilea1431 Max literally launched his car at Hamilton like had been doing the whole season. That's a poor short sighted argument to go by and Hamilton gave back the time anyways. Now lets talk about Brazil and SA...
i started casually watching f1 in 2020 but this 2021 season i was absolutely glued to my screen lol didn't realise how spoilt i had been with the 2021 season
That’s why sir Hamilton is the goat !!! He was fighting alone both redbulls but hey they needed a third guy to intervene to crown crashtappen a champion
After this race Checo was called "the minister of defense" With a VERY good reason. Those 12 seconds were crucial for the following Mercedes strategy blunders leading to loosing the race in the last lap (Mercedes wanted track position....2 times....during VSC and SC.......making Lewis a sitting duck) Also I remember Lewis was during this action on brand new tyres....Checo on the old since the start of the race which makes it even more incredible driving.
As I said elsewhere, he is a great driver with a very shaky psychology. In 2021 he had no pressure to perform, and he done it great. Same for early 2022 and 2023....as soon as there's the call of duty to win the Championship against Verstappen himself he crumbles while Verstappen feeds on challenge...if he chills he can be the best of RB options.
Nope if u watched his 2021 season,u won't say this. He was literally nowhere in 2021, except Turkey 🇹🇷 and Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪 and RB lost P1 in Constructors cuz of him. Yes his 2021 season would look in comparison to his 2023 season but 2021 was still a poor season for Perez.
@@divyanshchaudhary2891 Tbf to him in 2021, he drove a totally different type of car w/ RB16B compared to 2020, He pretty much drove a copy of Merc w10
@@xxtetsukuroxx4879 I understand and agree with u but to say that his 2021 was great when his gap to Max was similar to Albon's 2020 is just ridiculous. Would anyone call Albon's 2020 season great?
It seems that his driving style has conflicts with Newey's designs, inconsistent with the RB16b (can't put a blame on Hungary or Russia, between Bottas and the rain many got affected,but Imola and Silverstone were his lowest trough the season), with RB18 he got a hard time (with reliability issues during the first half) and once again with the RB19 (including the pressure of keeping P2 in the championship, with Mexico being the race that showed that he can make a terrible choice of actions under pressure).
That’s one of the reasons why I like red bull honda more than most teams, there is (usually) a good sense of team discipline and teamwork. Bottas > Russle
@@TheOrionNebula. That’s true and fair, so that is why I said “usually”. Max did not help his teammate Sergio in Brazil 2022, and i personally don’t like that because Sergio helped Max in Abu Dhabi 2021. However, I still believe that Red Bull Honda has superior teamwork to most teams- for example Singapore 2023. Sainz’s Ferarri teamed up with Norris’ McLaren because the other ferrari of leclerc was way too slow, meanwhile Russle refused to let Hamilton overtake despite being the slower driver in mercedes. Qatar 2023 shows merc teamwork in action.
Ooo the memories ... Lewis with a juiced up engine. Perez holding Lewis up like crazy. Latifi crashing (thank you👌🏻) Odd SC procedure by Masi (also thanks👌🏻) Last lap pass for the lead and race win. Damn! A season for the ages!!
Very true, I started watching F1 this year, but whenever there are talks of Perez losing his seat my dad keeps saying (like many others) that Max would not have won 2021 without Perez He's an amazing team player, and someone like Ricardo would just be focused on the win - they won't have that problem in places like now when shit is so one sided in Red Bulls favor - but it really matters in competitive seasons. Notice Max not trying to help Perez so Redbull gets a Drivers' Champ P1 P2 - Mf just wants to win. (Like I don't know how possible it is but for example Brazil sprint he could have tried holding back Lando so Perez could catch up and compete - there was a safe gap between Perez and Russel too.)
As great a job as Checo did ultimately it was Hamilton's indecisiveness that cost him. Had he passed Checo earlier here then the last lap drama wouldn't have happened as he would've had enough in hand to take the pitstop. There's no way Max in this position doesn't make this pass much sooner.
@@Miragexeyou guys are trying so hard to be revisionists with this. Merc made the right decision for the Safety car. FIA broke the rules to give Max the championship.
@@Cal3000 If they made the right call they would have pitted Lewis, but it's easier to blame Masi of course, and not Mercedes and Lewis. Just like it's easier to blame the regulation or even the cost cap breach from RB as to why they are dominant and not Mercedes.
lets be real here though, most of the time he won for max was through T12 to T14, where hamilton has no opportunity to overtake. It's like lifting your foot from the gas through castle in baku, I don't find it particularly impressive and if teammates actually started doing it more often it would get addressed by the FIA super quickly. The first two corners was nicely done though.
@@fredrikronnberg684yeah but “most of the time” he made up wouldn’t have been possible without the DRS sneakiness and the re-pass etc. You need to look at the defence as a whole
In retrospect, that was borderline cheating from Perèz, never before have we seen another team do something like that, I'm surprised that no one called it out.
33.4: "At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person." @@GeorgeSofroniouCy
The Mercedes Pitwall being the Ferrari one didn't help Hamilton at all, "we want to keep track position" during Giovinazzi's VSC, while he had the pace to take back the lead,normally Binotto is the main joke while talking about poor team orders, but that night Toto released his inner Binotto.
@@alpacaman6256 While true, 2021 wasn't a calm season overall,19 of 20 cars had DNFs from crashes or reliability(Sainz was the only one with no DNF ), and by that time 2 cars abandoned the race, Russell (on track, transmission) and Kimi (brake failure, crashed but went back to pits), it seems that Mercedes had no plan B for that night(unlike Qatar,where they used every pit window available).
He needs to get his shit together. He is a great driver with a very shaky psychology. In 2021 he had no pressure to perform, and he done it great. Same for early 2022 and 2023....as soon as there's the call of duty to win the Championship against Verstappen himself he crumbles while Verstappen feeds on challenge...if he chills he can be the best of RB options.
@@jaguatiricaimediata5305excuse me when did he do great in 2021 except for his defences in Turkey 🇹🇷 and Abu Dhabi 🇦🇪? RB lost P1 in Constructors in 2021 cuz of him,he had a poor season,granted 2023 is even worse but that doesn't make his 2021 season good. This revisionalism needs to stop.
@@jaguatiricaimediata5305 He had a strong start and had some hope, but when Max won in Miami despite starting far down and after that the whole Monaco carnage happenned Checo just lost all of his mental and still never got it back
