Who Are The 20 F1 Drivers For 2021

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying in Turkey, but was dropped down the grid because of a penalty due to a power unit component change. Valtteri Bottas was promoted to pole position and won the race, his first of 2021. He was followed by Max Verstappen, who re-took the championship lead, and Sergio Pérez, who took his first podium since France. Verstappen continued his momentum in the United States Grand Prix, taking pole position. Despite Hamilton taking the lead in turn 1, Verstappen was able to win the race with Hamilton in second place, in front of Pérez. The result increased Verstappen's lead to 12 points as Hamilton collected an extra Championship point by setting the fastest lap.

Who Are The F1 Drivers For 2021 Bottas took pole in Mexico City, but was spun around at the first corner by Daniel Ricciardo. Another incident behind involving Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher took both drivers out of the race, calling out the safety car. Verstappen took his second win in a row, increasing his lead from Hamilton in second, and Pérez took the final spot on the podium in his home race.

Verstappen would again take pole at the first Dutch Grand Prix to take place since 1985 at Zandvoort. He held his lead from Hamilton to take the win at his home race, taking over the lead of the championship by three points. Bottas came third, overtaking Norris, who finished tenth, in the standings for third place.

Bottas won sprint qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix, but was forced to start from the back of the grid after exceeding the quota of one on his power units' components. A slow stop for Verstappen meant that he ended up alongside Hamilton after the latter made his pitstop. Ricciardo led to the end to take his first victory since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and McLaren's first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. His teammate Norris finished behind him to secure the team's first 1–2 finish since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix and the first 1–2 finish of the season. After a penalty applied to Pérez, Bottas came third from the back of the grid. After the race, Verstappen was judged by the stewards to have been predominantly at fault for the collision with Hamilton.

As a result, he was given a 3-place grid-penalty for the next race and two penalty points on his super licence. Hamilton was fastest in qualifying in Brazil, but was disqualified the following day for a technical infringement. Bottas won the qualifying sprint, giving him pole position for the Grand Prix. By finishing second in the sprint, Verstappen increased his championship lead over Hamilton by two points, and Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished third, increased Ferrari's championship lead over McLaren.

Hamilton finished fifth in the sprint from last on the grid, but a five-place grid drop due to taking a new engine relegated him to tenth on the grid for the Grand Prix. On race day, both Verstappen was able to overtake Bottas on the first lap. Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Sainz were involved in a separate incident, with Norris getting a puncture. On lap 48, Hamilton caught up to Verstappen and attempted an overtake, but failed and resulted in both of them going off track.

He won the race from Verstappen, decreasing Verstappen's championship lead from 21 points to 14 points, while Bottas completed the podium. Verstappen took the pole position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Hamilton and Norris. During the race, Hamilton had a better start and took the lead into the first turn. At turn six Verstappen attempted to pass, forcing Hamilton to evade by going off the track. Emerging from the corner still in the lead, Hamilton was instructed to give up the advantage he had gained. The pair settled in their positions until the first round of pit stops, with Hamilton gradually extending his lead.

He later lost much of his advantage when Pérez, Verstappen's teammate with Red Bull, and who had yet to make a pit stop, made it difficult for Hamilton to pass him, though Verstappen was unable to capitalise. Later, a virtual safety car period allowed Verstappen to change his tyres without losing track position, which was an attempt to catch Hamilton with fresher tyres. Race director Michael Masi took the decision to allow the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves before restarting the race with only one lap remaining. Upon the restart, Verstappen quickly passed Hamilton and held him off for the remainder of the lap to win the race and the championship. Max Verstappen took his third season pole at the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring.

On the first lap, three cars collided at the third turn, forcing Pierre Gasly out of the race. Verstappen won from Lewis Hamilton, meaning Verstappen extended his title lead to 18 points. Verstappen took pole at the Austrian Grand Prix, the last race of the first triple header. Lando Norris received a penalty after being judged to have forced Sergio Pérez off track.

Pérez later received two penalties for doing the same to Charles Leclerc. Hamilton finished fourth, after picking up damage to the underside of his car, meaning that Verstappen was able to extend his championship lead to 32 points. Hamilton took pole position in Qatar, while a penalty for failing to respect double waived yellow flags during qualifying forced Verstappen to start from seventh. Verstappen quickly recovered to second place but was unable to threaten Hamilton's race lead despite setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race.

Fernando Alonso used a one-stop strategy to finish third, less than three seconds ahead Peréz in fourth, it was Alonso's first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. Bottas and Nicholas Latifi retired from the race after they and multiple others suffered punctures on track. The result reduced Verstappen's lead in the Driver's Championship to eight points while Mercedes's lead in the Constructors' Championship was reduced to five points. Cars were under parc fermé conditions following the end of free practice three instead of qualifying, further restricting teams and drivers from making major changes to setups ahead of the race.

The length of the two Friday practice sessions were cut from 90 minutes to 60 minutes. The 2021 W Series for female drivers was added to the list of support racing series alongside Formula 2, Formula 3, and Porsche Supercup. The 2021 W Series season started at the Red Bull Ring, where it was a support event for the Styrian Grand Prix in late June. Formula 2 and Formula 3 supported Formula One on alternate weekends, rather than the same ones as a cost saving measure.

The two title rivals for the drivers' crown entered the last race of the season with equal points. Verstappen sealed the title after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a last-lap restart pass on Hamilton. Mercedes initially protested the results, and decided not to appeal after their protest was denied. This was the first season since 2008 where the champion driver was not from the team that took the constructors' title. The major issue has been one of consistency, and how the top two contending teams were too easily allowed to converse with race director Michael Masi to advance their own positions. Some have expressed regret, saying that Masi has tried to do his best in difficult circumstances, that his job is demanding and not easy, and was not helped enough by those around him.

In a season packed with close racing, controversy, and tight championship battles, it is easy to pay attention to just the winners and losers. But the season has so much more than just the championship battle between an all-time great and a future great driver. There were break-out performances, stunning qualifying laps, talented rookies looking to make their mark, and the return of a two-time world champion who still has unfinished business in the sport. Leclerc took pole at the Monaco Grand Prix despite crashing in the final minutes. The crash caused a driveshaft failure, meaning he was unable to start the race.

On lap 30, Bottas was forced into retirement after his front-right tyre would not come off during a routine pitstop. Verstappen took the victory, as well as the championship lead for the first time in his career; Red Bull came away from this race with a one-point lead in the Constructors' Championship. Behind Verstappen, Sainz took his first podium for Ferrari, and Norris took his second podium of the season in third place. In France, Verstappen got his second pole of the season, only to go wide at the first turn and lose the lead to Hamilton in the first lap. After regaining first with an undercut in his first pit stop, Verstappen found himself under heavy pressure from both Mercedes drivers. Verstappen relinquished his lead to pit a second time, one of two drivers to do so, returning to the track 18 seconds behind Hamilton.

The speed advantage allowed him to make up the lost time, overtaking Bottas on lap 44 and Hamilton on the penultimate lap, for his third win of the year and his thirteenth win overall. Hamilton, now 12 points behind in the Drivers' Championship, did secure second, and with an overtake on lap 49, Pérez managed to take third place, pushing Bottas to fourth. It was the first race of the season where the race winner also took pole position and the fastest lap, and the first race of the season with no retirements. Red Bull extended their lead over Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship to 37 points after the race. Took the first pole position of his career at Sochi and would have secured his maiden victory too if not for the sudden deluge which clipped his wings just a few laps from the end.

Scored a second-place finish behind Ricciardo at Monza, qualified high up the grid most weekend and delivered consistent Sunday performances which combined strong pace and composed wheel-to-wheel racing. At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton took pole from Pérez and Verstappen. Verstappen went into the lead at turn 1 on lap 1, after it started raining on race day.

Mazepin and Nicholas Latifi crashed at the exit of turn 13, bringing out the safety car. Under the safety car, Schumacher lost control of his car and spun into the pit exit, losing his front wing. On lap 31, at turn 7, Hamilton made a mistake, hitting the wall and damaging his front wing. The moment he did, his teammate Bottas and George Russell had a crash at over 320 km/h on the start-finish straight, bringing out the red flag.

After the race restarted, Norris overtook Charles Leclerc for second, but the former was overtaken by Hamilton, resulting in a podium of Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris. The four-time world champion scored a couple of superb, and very popular, results by finishing on the podium in Azerbaijan and Hungary. Seemed to enjoy himself significantly more than he did with Ferrari in the previous campaign, but will have been disappointed to be driving the seventh-fastest car on the grid when it has been third the season before. Strange errors of judgement, such as switching to dry tyres in Turkey when the track was still soaking wet, seem par for the course now. Valtteri Bottas finished first in sprint qualifying, but was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in qualifying, but did not start the race.

Verstappen was required to start from the back at the Russian Grand Prix for exceeding his quota of a number of his power unit components. The running order changed substantially as heavy rain began to fall in the closing laps. Hamilton took his 100th Formula One victory as well as the championship lead, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Verstappen took pole from Russell and Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix in a wet qualifying session. The race was heavily affected by rain, which initially saw the start delayed by 25 minutes. After two formation laps behind the safety car, the race start was suspended and red-flagged due to poor conditions and lack of visibility.

It was not restarted, becoming the shortest race in Formula 1 history and the sixth to award half-points as less than 75% of the race was completed. Verstappen won by default, with Russell in second and Hamilton in third place. As a result, Hamilton's lead in the championship was cut to three points from Verstappen. Hamilton was fastest in qualifying to start in first place for the first ever sprint in the British Grand Prix. In the sprint, Verstappen made a better start than Hamilton and overtook him before the first corner, leading every lap and winning the sprint with Hamilton second and Bottas third, thus Verstappen started on pole for the Grand Prix itself.

On lap five of the sprint, Pérez spun, dropping him to the back of the field, and later retiring, forcing him to start from the pits for the race. On the first lap of the Grand Prix, Verstappen and Hamilton collided at approximately 290 kilometres per hour at Copse corner. Hamilton made contact with Verstappen's right rear wheel, causing the tyre to come off and Verstappen travelled into the barrier, causing the race to be stopped temporarily. Hamilton was penalised for the contact with a ten-second penalty, which he served during his pit stop. Leclerc led most of the Grand Prix, but finished second after Hamilton overtook Norris, Bottas, and Leclerc in the late stages to win the race. Leclerc took pole again in Azerbaijan, this time he was able to start the race.

Hamilton was held up in his pitstop to allow Gasly to pass him in the pitlane, handing Verstappen the net race lead. On lap 30, Lance Stroll crashed out due to a tyre failure and brought out the safety car. With Verstappen comfortably leading with six laps to go, he suffered a tyre failure, causing him to crash on the pit straight, bringing out the safety car and then the red flag on lap 46 and 48, respectively. Hamilton went up the inside of Pérez at the restart, but forgot to adjust his brake bias and missed the corner. Pérez won for the second time in his career and took his first win for Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel took Aston Martin's first podium in Formula One, while Gasly took his third career podium.

We won't go into recent event surrounding one of Haas's new signings for 2020 for many reasons, but it's safe to say that all eyes will be on the only American team in F1 in 2021. Long-standing drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean both depart the team – Magnussen to IMSA and Grosjean to an uncertain future. It will be an interesting transition for the team, as Grosjean had been a Haas F1 driver for its entire history, leaving a slightly insecure Renault seat to join in 2016. Jumping into their shoes are new F2 champion Mick Schumacher (son of a certain seven-time champion whose name isn't Hamilton) and Russian Nikita Mazepin. Again we won't go into Mazepin's recent actions off the track, but if he does race for Haas he will be on his best behaviour. It will be interesting to see how he copes in F1, and the atmosphere at Haas has hardly seemed like the calmest to step into over the last few years.

Racing Point, which used to be Force India, which used to be Spyker, which used to be Midland, which used to be Jordan, becomes an Aston Martin works team in 2021, marking the company's return to F1 for the first time in 60 years. Naturally both shall be retained to drive the Mercedes-clone RP20 for a second season? Stroll – a talented driver no doubt but also the son of the team's owner and Aston Martin shareholder Lawrence – will remain, but Perez finds himself out of a drive just a week after finally taking his first F1 win. On the face of it making a step forward , Vettel arrives as a refugee from a relationship that went sour and will be looking to reclaim some of his former lustre – the 53-time race winner only stood on the podium once in 2020.

From the first lap in Bahrain to the final lap in Abu Dhabi, Carlos Sainz proved that he is every bit as capable as LeClerc in the Ferrari. His season started slowly, but the results started coming as he acclimated to his new team. Four podium finishes, including a second place in Monaco and a third place in the season finale at Abu Dhabi, propelled the Spanish ace to fifth place in the world championship. Under the previous rules, drivers could be disqualified as soon as such error had occurred.

The race time limit for red-flagged races was also be reduced from four hours to three hours. From the 2021 United States Grand Prix, lap times set under double waved yellow flags were automatically deleted. The season brought an end to the championship domination of Mercedes in the V6 turbo-hybrid era as Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing-Honda won the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career. Four-time defending and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished runner up. Mercedes retained the Constructors' Championship for the eighth consecutive season. A pretty average season for Vettel with a good period after the first 4 races settling in.

This season also continued his apparent decline and was his second worse performance of his career with last year being the worst. His early-season performances proved that he is a legitimate championship contender, and the Briton did everything but win a race this season on his way to sixth in the championship standings. The 2021 Formula 1 season was one of the most closely fought, dramatic, and chaotic in recent years. 20 drivers lined up to start 23 races across four continents for flat-out wheel-to-wheel racing that pushed their skill and the teams' technical ability to the absolute limit. Transitioned to Ferrari so smoothly after leaving McLaren and beat his highly-rated team-mate in a superb debut season. Stood on the podium four times, including taking P2 behind Verstappen at Monaco, and confirmed himself a driver with the potential to challenge for the world championship if given the machinery to do so.

The only driver to finish every single race of the season, with only two finishes outside the points. The finishing positions of drivers and teams determine how many points they receive. The winner receives 25 points, the second-place finisher receives 18 points, and the third through tenth positions receive 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points, respectively.

Both protests were dismissed, and Mercedes announced their intention to appeal the dismissal of the protest regarding the handling of the restart following the safety car period. There has since been a lot of criticism of the race director's decision on how to finish the race, with further commentary by Zac Rayson in News.com.au that "he knew the rules". For The Times, Matt Dickinson commented that protests of injustice were coming from a British perspective, and that fans in other parts of the world did not share the belief Masi's calls had been unfair to Hamilton.