Tempers flared during the titanic F1 2021 battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen

Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok has lifted the lid on the off-track war between Red Bull and Mercedes during the F1 2021 title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

The 2021 stands as one of the most dramatic seasons in F1 history as Verstappen and Hamilton battled all the way from Bahrain in March to Abu Dhabi in December.

How Red Bull and Mercedes battled for off-track supremacy in F1 2021

The title protagonists clashed on a number of occasions throughout 2021, with Verstappen taken to hospital for precautionary checks following an infamous collision with Hamilton on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The pair also came to blows at the Italian Grand Prix where Verstappen and Hamilton made contact at the first chicane in a heart-stopping incident, which resulted in the Red Bull mounting the Mercedes.

The title was ultimately settled in highly controversial circumstances at the Abu Dhabi decider as Verstappen clinched his first World Championship with an overtake on Hamilton on the final lap after the FIA race director, Michael Masi, failed to implement the Safety Car rules correctly, effectively setting up a one-lap shootout.

The events of the F1 2021 season still generate much debate to this day, with former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner referring to the Abu Dhabi race as a “s**tshow of biblical proportions” last week.

Chandhok observed the battle between Hamilton and Verstappen unfold from close quarters in his capacity as a Sky F1 television pundit, having joined the broadcaster from rival station Channel 4 at the beginning of 2021.

He’s revealed how forces within the Mercedes and Red Bull camps applied pressure on pundits in an attempt to “sway” the narrative.

Asked during a Reddit Q&A session to identify the most complex issue he has covered, Chandhok said: “I would have to say the 2021 F1 season.

“It was such a rollercoaster and really trying to look at, for example, the big moments, the accident at Silverstone and then obviously the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that year, arguably the most controversial race we’ve had in recent F1 history.

“It was such a difficult race to try and break down.

“And even today there are people who are still upset and emotional when we talk about that race.

“It was clearly a weekend and a season where there was so much pressure from the paddock and you had all these people from within the Red Bull and the Mercedes camps telling you things, trying to get you to sway your opinion.”

The 2021 title protagonists have had contrasting fortunes since that season, with Verstappen storming to three consecutive World Championships after Red Bull emerged as F1’s dominant force under the ground-effect regulations introduced in 2022.

Verstappen currently holds a 52-point lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris with six races remaining of the F1 2024 campaign and could be set to become only the second driver in F1 history – after Sebastian Vettel, who dominated F1 with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 – to win his first four World Championships consecutively.

Hamilton, meanwhile, suffered the longest winless run of his entire career in the aftermath of 2021 as Mercedes struggled to adjust to the ground-effect rules, before ending his 945-day barren streak by claiming an emotional victory at the British Grand Prix in July.

The 39-year-old, who announced earlier this year that he will join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from F1 2025, followed that up weeks later by winning the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, collecting a record-extending 105th career victory.

In July, Verstappen shed more light on the after-effects of his Silverstone 2021 crash, revealing that he struggled with blurred vision for months after his collision with Hamilton at Copse Corner.

Verstappen’s struggles were at the height in the closing laps of the United States Grand Prix in October 2021, when he held off a charging Hamilton to take a pivotal victory by 1.33 seconds as he closed in on his maiden title.

Speaking to Red Bull’s in-house publication the Red Bulletin, Verstappen revealed that he “seriously considered” withdrawing from the race as his concentration suffered at Austin, Texas.

He said: “Since my Silverstone crash, I’ve struggled with visibility problems, especially on undulating circuits or those with lots of advertising boards on the side of the track.

“In this race [Austin 2021], I wasn’t just fighting against Lewis, but also against blurred images.

“It was like driving a speedboat at 300 km/h! I’ve never said this before, but it was so bad for a few laps that I seriously considered turning the car off.

“The only thing that helped was to concentrate on my breathing with Lewis breathing down my neck.

“An important win that I desperately needed in the championship fight.”