Who has had more overtakes in the F1 2021 season, Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen?

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have been battling for the 2021 title all season long, with the Dutchman only eight points clear of the Briton.

Hamilton now hopes to win his eighth World Championship, beating the current record of seven, which is tied between the British driver and F1 legend Michael Schumacher. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is a first-time title contender this season in the highly-polished Red Bull RB16B.

The two drivers have been battling neck to neck, with there being no clear favorite throughout the season. While the season has seen its fair share of overtakes from the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, the top two drivers haven't necessarily had the opportunity to join in on the action.

That being said, Lewis Hamilton embarked on a stellar drive at the Brazil Grand Prix, which saw him overtaking nine cars to take P1 at Interlagos. Similarly, Max Verstappen had an action-filled race of his own at the Qatar Grand Prix, where he overtook five cars to come into P2 after starting seventh on the grid due to a late penalty.

As the tally stands, Lewis Hamilton currently has 49 overtakes to his name, while Max Verstappen has a total of 30. This data excludes overtakes done on lap 1 of any Grand Prix. Out of Hamilton's 49 overtakes, a staggering 14 overtakes occurred over the weekend at the Brazil Grand Prix.

The brand-new Crypto.com overtake award has been created to award the driver with the highest number of overtakes. Currently, Fernando Alonso leads the table with 116 overtakes, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen with 115 overtakes each.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen do not feature in this list by a big margin, due to the fact that the two drivers are almost in a 1-2 configuration at the start of any GP.

Lewis Hamilton closing gap on rival Max Verstappen

With back-to-back wins in Brazil and Qatar, the momentum is currently with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes heading into the final two races of the season. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff emphasized that the Hamilton of old had "woken up" after the dramatic weekend at Interlagos.

With the brand new Saudi Arabian Grand Prix just around the corner and the championship coming down to the wire, teams will be looking to capitalize on the practice sessions, as the new conditions might pose unexpected challenges for the whole grid.