That all-out war, the same one that led Rosberg to an immediate withdrawal from motorsports that persists to this day, is the one that Valtteri Bottas has not been able or has not had the possibility, depending on the moment, to carry out against Hamilton. After being ‘victim’ of a new team order by Mercedes, the Finn is 69 points behind his teammate, the biggest disadvantage he has had with him in 10 races since they were teammates. Far from the 22 that separated them in 2017, his first season, and the one he finished closest to Hamilton … at 58 points. More than two races away.
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Likewise, what little fight Ferrari was able to bring for the championship in 2017 and 2018 did not subsist until the end with Sebastian Vettel. At the first attempt, the German managed to enjoy a 25-point advantage behind Monaco, led by one point at this point in the season, and left the next round with a 14-point advantage, but a series of incidents and mechanical problems they turned that situation into a 59-point deficit in just five races from which he could no longer recover. In turn, in 2018, Vettel left Silverstone with a seven-point advantage, but his accident at Hockenheim, his incident with Hamilton himself at Monza and his spins at Suzuka and Austin would be the tip to a final deficit of more than 80 points. .
Although the drama has existed, no one outside of Mercedes’ environment has had the opportunity to support him enough to see a marked duel between two factions, something that has not happened in Formula 1 since the end of the fabulous 2012 season. And that is exactly what can happen this year if Red Bull avoids making the mistakes of the Scuderia in the past. But, with the Max Verstappen of 2021 being the most solid sporting threat by quality and machine to the established order, the blood had not yet reached the river between both competitors in terms of hostility.
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And, why are we going to fool ourselves, a good championship fight always has much more incentive and attractiveness when it has more implications than a simple victory over an opponent. When personal motivations, claims, prior history, and even disdain for one another and the other for each other come into play. ‘Rush’ and ‘Senna’ would not have been the two cinematic balls that were if the duels they reflected had not reached such a level of intensity, and perhaps even their stories were not so worth telling, after so long, without that animosity.
For that, and for other derivative factors, is why the incident that both ‘boxers’ had in the first round of the Grand Prix of Great Britain, as well as the quarrels and the higher tone of the subsequent statements, they are good for sports. A sport that, in the throes of audiences as a result of the pandemic and the pull of Netflix, has needed to manufacture more drama than the track offered, and that finally finds the appropriate narrative at the highest part of the ladder. A sport that you have needed for a long time an antagonist, with popularity roles so present like the disparity of opinions they generate.
There is no clear ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and both pilots navigate those fine lines, although the audience watching from their seats is positioned on the side of the applicant for obvious reasons. Of course, none of this justifies that the protagonists of the film are subjected to racial abuse, insults or threats, which are intended to attack for who one is, no matter how much their actions are the ones that light the flame. But passion and emotion, understood in its proper measure, and understanding that there will always be those who overdo it, they are excellent companions for the journey that awaits us.
Unless COVID-19 still has a topspin backhand with which to break the season, there are 13 appointments ahead. Thirteen chapters of a series in which the public would like to reach the Abu Dhabi ‘season finale’ without having eaten the ‘spoiler’ of the identity of the champion early. For now, none of the protagonists seems to have a clear inertia of dominance over the tricks of their rival, and that is, for the moment, the best guarantee that, if there are no new regulation changes in the middle of the season that nobody has requested, the latest second generation sonata of the current turbo era it will have a great and triumphant sound to say goodbye. Something like Bizet’s ‘Carmen’, but at 300 kilometers per hour. Sounds good? Do not miss it.