Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton

Lore & Background

The 2021 car won the drivers' title with Max Verstappen, marking the team's first World Championship title in 8 years since Sebastian Vettel won the drivers' title and the team won the constructors' title in 2013. The drivers for 2020 were Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon, with Sergio Pérez taking Albon's place for 2021. The RB16 made its debut at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, while the RB16B made its debut at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Reader's Guide

The RB16 featured a narrower nose with two additional inlets, a redesigned barge-board area, smaller side-pod inlets, a large 'cape' element below the nose, raised rear suspension parts, a rear wing with two supporting pillars, and redesigned front multi-link suspension. For 2021, Red Bull used development tokens to change the gearbox casing shape, allowing rearrangement of the rear suspension and increased rear downforce. The Honda RA621H power unit featured a more compact camshaft layout, different valve angle, shorter cylinder bore spacing, and modifications to the turbine and compressor.

Did You Know?

• The RB16B won the drivers' championship in 2021, but Mercedes won the constructors' championship that year.
• The RB16 and RB16B competed in 39 races, winning 13 (success rate of 33.33%).
• Honda became the first Japanese and Asian engine supplier world champions of the turbo-hybrid era.