How Many Times Did Lewis Hamilton & Max Verstappen Collide With Each Other in 2021?

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. It’s hard to find a motorsport fan who hasn’t heard about them. Not just in terms of the sport, but both these F1 drivers have become global superstars now. As for Hamilton, he’s one of the popular Brits out there, whereas Max is also a very popular figure in his country, the Netherlands.

Apart from being celebrity figures, the two are also undisputed primary figures in their teams. They spearheaded their team, Mercedes and Red Bull, for a long time. And in 2021, they were up against each other for a season-long battle. After last year’s last-lap showdown, Max emerged victorious. However, Lewis seems to have not backed down as he looks to come back stronger this year.

It’s needless to say that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are two of the most talented drivers of this generation. One’s a seven-time world champion and another is the defending F1 champion. One has taken the last decade of F1 by storm, another has proven to be the only driver to test Lewis to the limit in recent times.

The 2021 season was one of its kind. The sport has never seen such a dramatic end to the final. Even though F1 has had its title deciders in the last race. But never before, the two title contenders have ended up with the same amount of points just before the final race.

Both Lewis and Max have taken 17 and 18 podiums out of 22 races they took part in. And in the order to reach these podiums, the two titans had a couple of intense battles with each other, which didn’t end well every time. So today, we have counted down the number of times they crashed into each other. Hold your breath as we’re about to see more of them this season as well.

1. British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix marked the first crash between the two. After the successful Sprint race, Lewis and Max started the race from the front of the grid. As the race started, they started to have a go at each other. After a series of in and out takeaways against each other, Max managed to hold on.

The British audience cheered the duo as they went on to put up a great fight. However, the battle didn’t long last as one of them had to go out. Max was ahead of Lewis going into Copse corner, when they hit each other. While making the corner from the outside, Verstappen closed in on Hamilton. This led to the collision that saw Max in the barriers.

2. Italian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen went to Italy leading the driver’s championship by 7 points from Lewis Hamilton. The start of the duel took place between the two when they battled for P2 in the Variante Della Roggia of Imola. The two banged wheels and Max went ahead leaving Hamilton behind. Lewis fell behind due to the hit and went to the kerbs. From there on Hamilton was chasing Verstappen all the way until they clashed with each other.

This was just a trailer of what’s coming ahead. A long pit-stop by Red Bull on Max helped Hamilton close the gap he had. When Lewis went to pit-stop, the world wasn’t ready to witness what was coming next. As the Briton came out of the pit lane, Max was also going done the pit straight, trying to get ahead of the Mercedes.

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As they both tried to make the turn 1 together, The Dutchman ran out of space. He then got his car mounted on top of Hamilton. Verstappen’s car’s right wheel even hit Lewis’s head. Luckily Hamilton escaped unscathed thanks to Halo. After the massive pileup, they were both out of the race. Max came out of the car angrily by stating, “That’s what you get when you don’t leave space.” This eventually allowed McLaren to get the only 1-2 of the entire season.

3. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The Jeddah race was the second last race in the most exciting 2021 season. There were pretty much close shaves between the duo before they hit each other at the closing stage.

As the race started, the Briton had a good lead over Verstappen. However, after a series of crashes and red flags, the tables turned and Max got the lead of the race from Hamilton.

But as the race reached its final laps, due to an earlier incident, Verstappen was asked to give the place to Hamilton. As the Red Bull man came closer in giving back the place, Max slowed down and allegedly ‘brake-tested’ the Mercedes driver.

Hamilton hit the left rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull with his right front wing. Lewis’ wing got damaged. However, it was still good enough to get the Briton to his much-needed victory. After the race, Max received a 10-second penalty for the collision.

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Here, we’ve covered only the occasions where Max and Lewis massively crashed against each other, thus leaving out the slight touches or pushes against each other. Let us know if we should add any other incident to the list. And which is your favorite battle that took place between the two in 2021?