The 2021 F1 season has certainly lived up to its expectation, with a humdinger of a battle between the old prodigal son and the new aged superstar. Not every season is like this when the championship is on the knife's edge, both Hamilton and Verstappen are providing the F1 fanatics with jaw dropping moments and edge of the seat drama. This year's championship is probably the closest that has been in many years, with the mid season break it's good to take advantage and take a look back on what happened during the season.

Hamilton vs Verstappen

After winning the last four consecutive championships comfortably, Hamilton might be in his toughest championship battle ever with Max Verstappen. This season after 11 races, Hamilton leads the championship with the narrowest margin of 8 points from Max, but that doesn't portray the actual veracity that this rivalry has headed to.

The season began in the most dramatic fashion in Abu Dhabi where Lewis just about overtook Max at the penultimate lap and set down a marker for his championship rivals but fortunately this was just a sign of what this season had in store for us.

In the second race at Imola, Mercedes were much quicker than the Red Bull but a rain hampered race along with exceptional and fearless driving propelled Max to his first victory of the season. Hamilton again started to assert his dominance as he won the next two grand prix in Portugal and Spain and fans started to think that the unprecedented 8th world championship is not very far.

The first major talking point in the season came in Baku when Max was comfortably leading but suddenly crashed out of the race due to tyre failure. Lewis instead of taking advantage of this overcooked the restart and fell behind. The race was eventually won by Sergio Perez and both Lewis and Max did not score a single point.

‘Super Max’ as the fans call him and the Red Bull team had other ideas as he took charge with a streak of three consecutive victories at the French GP and back to back races at Austria to leapfrog Hamilton to take the championship lead.

The rivalry headed towards the boiling point at Silverstone when Lewis crashed into Max at the one of the fastest corners of the calendar, where Max suffered a massive 51g force impact and was subsequently taken to the hospital. Hamilton on the other hand was determined to win his home grand prix and not even a 10 second penalty could stop him from claiming his record equalling 99th victory. The actual drama unfolded after the race as Verstappen deemed Hamilton’s post race celebration “really disrespectful” whereas Lewis responded by saying that he “wasn't aware” Max was taken to the hospital after his crash.

Every generation is built on great rivalries like Hunt vs Lauda, Senna vs Prost, Schumacher vs Hakkinen, Nico Rosberg vs Lewis Hamilton and this rivalry is slowly but steadily edging its way into a F1 classic.

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Lando best of the rest

Although Lewis and Max have been in the league of their own, Lando has been the most consistent driver on the grid. He has had top 5 finishes in 9 out of the 11 races along with 3 podiums to show for his amazing season that he has been having. Lando has single handedly taken the Mclaren team right from the mid-field to third in the championship. The very fact that he is 21 and only in his third season makes the future look bright not only for him but for Mclaren as well. Everyone this season expected his teammate Daniel Riccardo to outperform him seeing that he has had several years of experience but Lando is defying all odds and is sitting third in the championship as result of his consistency. Lando's highlight of this season has been his podium finish at the prestigious Monaco GP where he qualified fifth and finished the race third, he had a slower car compared to the Ferrari’s and the Red Bulls but still managed a famous podium for him as well as the team. Lando is certainly one to keep an eye on when the season starts as there might be a chance for a rare race victory for him and Mclaren.

Bottas on the hot seat

Last year's championship protagonist Valteri Bottas may be enduring his toughest season since he joined Mercedes, although he has got 6 podiums in 11 races Toto Wolff (team principal) would certainly expect more from his second driver. We’re halfway through the season and the rumour mill for next season is already churning, as Mercedes have already locked up Hamilton for 2 more years but haven’t offered Bottas a contract. The reason being is the exceptional driving by the young brit George Russell who has shown tremendous qualifying pace in a below  average William's car. This added pressure of getting replaced next season or even this season is not doing him good, especially when Mercedes are engaged in an intense battle with Red Bull for the constructors championship. His inconsistency is not only down to him but down to the team also as several instances where he was in a good position to score good points but the car reliability failed him. It's going to be an interesting watch in the second half of season mainly for Bottas as he’ll be under pressure to perform and score points for the team. If he ever needed a victory in his career, now is the time for him to show the world what he's capable of.

The resurgences of Ferrari

After enduring a tough season last year, the prancing horses are on the comeback trail this year. This season the Ferrari’s have managed three podiums along with two pole positions, which is quite impressive considering the underpar season they had in 2020. The Ferrari garage took a massive gamble by not renewing the 4 time world champion Sebastain Vettel's contract, in turn they opted to give a long term contract to Charles Leclerc and replace Vettel with the young Spaniard Carlos Sainz to become his new teammate. Till now this gamble has paid off as both Charles and Carlos have accumulated 163 points in the constructors championship which puts them level on points with the Mclaren in third place. The highlight of the season was surely when Charles was a whisker away from winning the British GP but was eventually caught by the resurgent Hamilton who had fresher tyres compared to him. Charles eventually had to settle for second place but the race pace that Ferrari showed was reminiscent of the 2019 car. Mattia Binotto (team principal of Ferrari) has worked tremendously hard to get the prancing horses back to competing and this result made sure that the Ferrari are back indeed. Ferrari could be the dark horses in the second half of the season as they are assured of getting a engine upgrade which will certainly enhance their chance for a victory.

Race of the season till now

There have been quite a few cliff hangers this season but the race of the season till now has been the Hungarian GP. The race began with rain pelting down, making the conditions difficult to drive on as Hamilton and Bottas had locked the front row out after a terrific qualifying session. The race started with Hamilton getting off to the perfect start but the actual commotion began when Bottas crashed into Norris which led to a flurry of accidents.The race was ultimately red flagged with at least five drivers retiring and most importantly, the championship leader Max Verstappen had suffered heavy damage to his car.

In a very peculiar situation, Hamilton was the only one to start the race from the starting grid as the rest opted to pit and change to medium compound tyres because the track was slowly drying up. Esteban Ocon and Vettel took advantage of the miscalculation by the Mercedes team where in the end Hamilton entered the pits and came out last. The race intensified when Lewis put on fresh new tyres with 23 laps remaining and was ominously chasing down the pack to win the race but the former world champion Fernando Alonso defended for his life. The race was won by the young Frenchman which was his maiden F1 victory and certainly proved his doubters wrong who thought that he did not belong at this level.