How Verstappen and Hamilton’s Imola clash sets the tone for 2021

In Max Verstappen's Formula 1 career to date, he has been cast as the 'pretender', an acknowledged top-line performer without the car to regularly challenge Lewis Hamilton. But that no longer applies in 2021, and the start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the most telling signal yet of what we can expect from their duel this year

Alex Kalinauckas Apr 21, 2021, 10:39 AM

Upd: Apr 21, 2021, 2:02 PM

There was plenty for Formula 1 fans to enjoy in last weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The absent Tifosi willing on Charles Leclerc as he delivered a near faultless weekend. British motorsport fans enjoying Lando Norris and George Russell impressing yet again, with surely all fans erupting in relief when the latter and Valtteri Bottas were able to climb out of the wreckage of their enormous accident and engage in further theatrics in the gravel trap.

There was much for the various partisan fanbases to cheer and jeer – but for the neutral there was surely no better moment than Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton going wheel-to-wheel once again for the lead, this time clashing.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.