Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel: Comparing the two Red Bull Champions

Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are drivers that have made a lasting impact on the history of Formula 1, as well as that of the Red Bull Racing team.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021, Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing finally broke through an impenetrable Mercedes fortress built since the introduction of the Turbo-Hybrid Era in Formula-1 in 2014. With Verstappen winning the Drivers' World Championship, the Austrian team now has two young and dynamic drivers as their Drivers' Champions written in the history books.

Ever since Red Bull Racing entered F1 in 2005, they have developed themselves as a force to be reckoned with. While they spent a few early years on the fringes of greatness, their real shining moment came first in 2010, when Sebastian Vettel became the Austrian team's first Drivers' World Champion. The Milton Keynes-based outfit's dominance at the very top of the sport stayed there for three more years, with 2011 and 2013 nearly unchallenged for Vettel and the team.

Since 2014, Red Bull has had to back off a couple of positions in the overall standings. They struggled to consistently challenge Mercedes and Ferrari in the early phases of the Turbo-Hybrid Era starting in 2014. As Max Verstappen grew stronger and quicker than the car underneath him and as Ferrari faded away in their poor performance post-2019, Red Bull often became the key challengers for Mercedes in their almost unchallenged run since 2014.

With Max Verstappen winning the World Championship this season from the jaws of defeat, the question arises over how Verstappen and Vettel fare against each other at the peak of their careers. While Vettel is not in a car that can help him challenge for his fifth title yet, Verstappen is still in a position to return next year to defend his crown.

Apart from being Red Bull Racing's only Drivers' Champions so far, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have a few other key things in common.

Both are young drivers, promoted from Toro Rosso, extremely fast, able to extract the most out of the machine underneath them, and possess an absolutely uncanny ability to not give up under any circumstances.

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Sebastian Vettel 2010 vs. Max Verstappen 2021

The two championship decider races, hosted in Abu Dhabi, gave Red Bull their first and fifth Drivers' Championship in very unparalleled fashion.

While Sebastian Vettel dominated the race from the start, led almost every lap, and then took the checkered flag to win, Max Verstappen's race was far more dramatic.

Dr. Helmut Marko, the principal adviser to the Red Bull team, opined that the 2021 title fight does not bear a comparison to how Vettel overcame the rest of the field in 2010. He said:

"That was a completely different situation. Back then, there were four drivers in the championship fight. In addition to our drivers, there was [Fernando] Alonso and Hamilton."

Hamilton's initial getaway, Red Bull's lack of pace to challenge Mercedes for an on-track pass, the confusion surrounding the strategy to pit under the VSC and Safety Car, and the one-lap race to decide the championship were a few key highlights of the race. Max Verstappen snatching that world championship title from Lewis Hamilton's hands just a few corners before the checkered flag sums up perfectly how hectic and challenging this title battle has been for him.

Even though their race has been significantly different in their respective way, both drivers had to overcome different sets of challenges to win. While Max Verstappen raced Lewis Hamilton in a winner-takes-all battle, Sebastian Vettel was competing against three other title contenders in the final race in 2010.

Going into Abu Dhabi in 2010, Vettel, his then-teammate Mark Webber, and McLaren's then-duo Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were all in title contention in the last race, with Alonso leading the standings.

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Why does Verstappen's 2021 season rank higher than Vettel's 2010?

Even though Sebastian Vettel had to overcome multiple title contenders on the field in 2010, there is a crucial difference between the two title-deciding finals.

Red Bull was the dominant car on the grid that year; no other car was as strong and quick as them. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso's talent kept them in contention for the fight right to the end. Vettel achieved an almost impossible task back in 2010, winning the world championship without leading the drivers' championship standings for even once throughout the season.

In comparison, Mercedes and Red Bull were equally quick and strong throughout 2021. Mercedes have been dominant since 2014, but this time the credit is due to Red Bull engineers and mechanics for giving Max Verstappen a car that could take the title fight head-on.

While Red Bull gave Verstappen the car to win the title, he still had to battle Hamilton, the undisputed champion since 2017, in almost every race. Both Mercedes and Hamilton were performing at their absolute best every weekend, and Red Bull and Verstappen had to work up their whole energy to get to this position.

Even under such fierce competition, Max Verstappen led the standings numerous times in 2021, led almost 50% laps raced this season, never finished outside the Top-2, other than in the Hungarian GP, and finished with a record 18 podium finishes in the year.

In terms of pure dominance over the rest of the field, Max Verstappen was on a whole new level of driving in 2021. He has been driving inch-perfectly almost throughout the year, and it would have been tough to see him lose this championship right in the end.

Irrespective of the controversy surrounding the closing stages of this championship, an argument can be made to say that Max Verstappen deserved the championship win, given his stellar performance throughout the season.

The F1 community has now taken note of Max Verstappen for his achievements made on-track, and to understand, respect, and appreciate him, just like his championship-winning pass on Lewis Hamilton.

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