"We felt like we were being hunted": Red Bull man reflects on the iconic Max Verstappen vs Lewis Hamilton title battle in 2021

Calum Nicholas, Red Bull Senior Power Unit Assembly Technician, claimed that he believed that as a team, they were "being hunted" during the iconic battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 season. The two drivers went head-to-head against each other through the season, in a championship fight that did not let up until the end.

The title race saw many momentum shifts, which ultimately culminated in an epic decider at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Both drivers entered the weekend leveled on points.

While appearing on the High-Performance podcast, the Red Bull mechanic said that he felt like the Austrian team and Verstappen were being "hunted" by Mercedes and Hamilton in the final few races of the year.

Hamilton and Mercedes won the three of the last four races heading into the season with the latter taking the lead in the Constructor's Championship as well. He reflected:

"The back end of 2021, I've often described it like we felt like we were being hunted. There were times in the 21' season like mid-season where we looked like we're going to walk this driver's we're probably going to walk this constructor's as well. Everything's going to be fine.

"Then, we had incidents like Silverstone and then obviously Hungary where we lost a chunk of points in Hungary. Mercedes was just gaining ground, Lewis was gaining ground race on race you think of like Saudi, Brazil, and these races towards the end of the year."

However, the driver's championship went in Max Verstappen's favor in controversial circumstances while Mercedes held onto the Constructor's title for the eighth season in a row.

Red Bull mechanic heaps praise on Max Verstappen's ability in F1

Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas stated that Max Verstappen had "mastered" all the factors involved in racing including having awareness of the situation whilst driving at his peak.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the Red Bull world record holder in pitstops said:

"I think what’s made Max so great now is that he’s mastered all those other little things. You know, like his awareness of what else is going on in a race, like his ability to sort of control a race. He just does, I think he’s so formidable because he just does everything well."

Max Verstappen demonstrated his racecraft and all the other facets of his driving, throughout the 2024 season. For the majority of the season, he did not have the fastest car but still claimed his fourth consecutive driver's championship.

In 2025, the 27-year-old will have the opportunity to win a fifth successive title, becoming only the second driver after Michael Schumacher to achieve this feat.