SEASON REVIEW: 2021 Formula 1 World Championship – Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team will remember the 2021 season as the one that was stolen from them, at least in the Driver’s Championship. The team’s eighth consecutive Constructors’ Title was overshadowed by the controversial final laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton looked all but certain to clinch his eighth World Championship, only for a Michael Masi intervention to effectively take it away from him.

The fact Mercedes were even in the position to be fighting for both titles come the final round of the championship was miraculous, considering how poorly pre-season testing went for the Silver Arrows. Mercedes endured the 2021 season as the underdog, not as the favourite. Red Bull Racing took the fight to Mercedes and actually had the better package across the season, leaving Team Principal Toto Wolff scratching his head at times.

Despite it all though, the Brackley-based team stuck together and rose to the challenge, with Hamilton almost completing the perfect comeback in the final rounds of the championship. Max Verstappen may have taken one of the titles away from Mercedes but the Constructors’ Crown firmly remains in the Brackley camp. Valtteri Bottas’s season summed up his last couple of years at the team, the Finnish driver on too many occasions simply didn’t deliver when the team needed him most. Bottas has been a valiant member of the Mercedes team though, and leaves to Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN having accomplished many things with the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton ahead of Verstappen at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Credit: LAT Images

The Highs:

Mercedes can still look back on the 2021 season and relish in their highs, with perhaps the biggest of the lot coming at the Brazilian Grand Prix and the comeback drive of dreams from Hamilton. After taking pole on Friday, Hamilton was disqualified from the session due to a rear-wing infringement and forced to the back of the grid for the sprint race, with a further five-place penalty to be taken for the main race on Sunday for an engine change. The Seven-Time World Champion more than rose to the challenge.

Hamilton made up fifteen places in the sprint race, resulting in a tenth-place start for the Grand Prix, which he incredibly won after hunting down Verstappen. It was one of the drives of his career and one which sent a statement to Red Bull, that Hamilton and Mercedes weren’t done yet!

The first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was another big moment for the team in 2021, the unbelievable race at Jeddah threw up more excitement and drama than could have been predicted, including the collision between Hamilton and Verstappen. The race was possibly the greatest of the season and was of course won dramatically by Hamilton, who made it three wins in a row at the time taking him level on points with Verstappen into the final race at Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes experienced many other highs during the season, such as the Portuguese Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix, where for two of the few times during the year, Red Bull had no answer. The British Grand Prix however was a massive moment for the team and Hamilton, who after being awarded a ten-second penalty for his collision with Verstappen at Copse Corner, recovered superbly to take yet another victory at Silverstone with Bottas rounding off the podium.

Hamilton celebrating victory at the British Grand Prix – Credit: Jiri Krenek

The Lows:

Mercedes despite all the positive moments during 2021, did experience some significant lows during the year, none greater than the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton looked for all the world that he was just a handful of laps away from an eighth title after dominating the final race of the season. Few could have predicted the late safety car after Nicholas Latifi crashed coming out of the hotel section of the circuit, none could have predicted the decision from Masi which would follow. Verstappen pitted under the safety car for soft tyres, whilst Hamilton remained out in front on very old hards.

It meant that when Masi decided that only the lapped cars between the Mercedes and Red Bull would be allowed to unlap themselves, the British driver was a sitting duck for the Dutchman, who made the pass on Hamilton on the final lap, breaking Mercedes’ hearts and angering thousands. The Constructors’ Title success remains overshadowed by the event and arguably will forever do so.

The Italian Grand Prix is another which Mercedes will look back on and wonder what could’ve been, with Verstappen and Hamilton colliding once again. Hamilton looked on track for at least a podium at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, with a potential chance of victory. This chance was taken away in horrific circumstances as the title-rivals collision resulted with both cars out of the race, and with Hamilton having a Red Bull on top of him, literally! Hamilton’s lock-up at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ending his hopes of victory, Bottas’s huge crash at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix are more low moments the team experienced in 2021, however the Hungarian Grand Prix was a day the team got so significantly wrong.

One of the craziest pictures of the season came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Hamilton being the only car on the grid for the red flag restart. After the first corner pile-up caused by Bottas, Hamilton was the only driver who opted to restart on Intermediate tyres, the remaining runners all chose to start in the pits on slicks. It was immediately realised by the team they’d made the wrong call, dropping Hamilton to the back of the field on a day where victory should’ve come easily to him. Finishing first instead of third which is where he recovered too, would’ve given him the 2021 title come the end of the season.

Hamilton locking-up at Turn 1 during the restart of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Credit: Jiri Krenek

Qualifying Battle:

Unsurprisingly Hamilton was dominant over Bottas in qualifying, the British driver out-qualified his Finnish team-mate seventeen times in 2021. Bottas only managed to be the lead Mercedes five times in qualifying during the season. Interestingly though it was Bottas who out-performed Hamilton when it came to the sprint qualifying events, on these three occasions during 2021, Bottas finished higher than Hamilton on two occasions.

During 2021, Hamilton claimed six pole positions, Bottas wasn’t too far off the statistic after taking four pole positions during his final Mercedes season. Hamilton’s pole at the Spanish Grand Prix was the one-hundredth of his career.

Hamilton claimed his one-hundredth F1 pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix – Credit: LAT Images

Race Battle:

When it came to Sunday there was no argument as to who was best, Hamilton finished above Bottas eighteen times in 2021, whereas Bottas could only manage to finish ahead of the British driver on four occasions. It’s the same story when it comes to victories, Hamilton claimed an impressive eight race wins, only beaten by Verstappen’s ten. Bottas’s single race win in 2021 came at the Turkish Grand Prix. Hamilton finally achieved his one-hundredth Formula One victory at the thrilling Russian Grand Prix in what was one of the races of the season.

Bottas also had less race fastest laps than Hamilton, the Finnish driver took the races fastest lap at four Grand Prix’s, compared to Hamilton’s six. Neither driver suffered many retirements despite worries during 2021 at the rate of which Mercedes engines where deteriorating, Bottas retired from three Grand Prix’s at Imola, Hungary and Qatar whereas Hamilton’s only retirement came obviously at Monza.

Hamilton overtook Lando Norris in the closing stages of the Russian Grand Prix to claim his 100th F1 victory – Credit: Steve Etherington

What To Expect In 2022?

2022 represents a fresh start for Mercedes, the team are known to have put a lot more time into the development of their 2022 car compared to Red Bull, and have impressively already released footage of their 2022 engine being fired up. After dominating the most recent era of Formula One, the Silver Arrows will be wanting to start the new generation of the sport, the same way they began the hybrid era in 2014, with complete domination. The team are already early-favourites looking ahead to 2022 and will be keen to make it nine consecutive Constructor Championships.

Since the questionable end of the 2021 season, rumours have circulated that Hamilton may even retire from the sport, although these rumours do seem to have been put to bed. Hamilton and the team will enter 2022 fired up after the controversial end of last season, the British driver is more than capable of claiming an unprecedented eighth title and become the out and out greatest of all time.

The team also have the highly anticipated arrival of Mercedes prodigee George Russell, the British driver finally joins Mercedes after a successful season at Williams Racing, and now has the machinery to fully demonstrate his potential. It remains to be seen how quickly Russell can get up to speed in the Mercedes, however his advantage going into 2022 is that everyone will be getting used to brand-new machinery, making it the perfect time to switch to the Brackley based team. Russell will be expected to take the fight to Hamilton but how soon this happens is difficult to predict.

Russell will have to learn to cope with the pressure of having a Seven-Time World Champion alongside him, at the same time though Hamilton will have to rise to the challenge of having the future of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team in the sister car next to him. Will either succumb to the pressure in 2022 and can Hamilton right the wrongs of 2021?

Hamilton celebrating winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after an intense battle with Verstappen – Credit: Jiri Krenek George Russell joins Mercedes in 2022 replacing Valtteri Bottas – Credit: Williams Racing