Unlike past few years, Lewis Hamilton ended up in a situation where he had to drive his heart out to secure a race win. And who better than Max Verstappen to stop the Briton’s ever-ending run of form?

While the flying Dutchman is keen on securing his first world championship title, he does have an obstacle named Lewis in his way who is looking to break the all-time world championship record by securing his 8th title this year.

Amidst such massive goals in mind, former F1 driver, Mika Hakkinen, has suggested that the 2021 season could finally portray a fierce battle between the two in-form drivers. Furthermore, he also feels the battle could be a treat to watch for the fans, considering F1 has lacked the fight at the top for almost a decade.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen duel like Prost-Senna: Hakkinen

As reported by SpeedWeek, Hakkinen said that the Lewis-Max battle could be as great as the unforgettable Alain Prost-Ayrton Senna duel back in the 90s.

“Lewis Hamilton’s victory showed us how fiercely competitive this season will be. Formula 1 fans have dreamed of this for years,” the Finn said. (Translated from German using Google Translate)

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“It was like that with Michael Schumacher. And everyone knows the great duels between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. When the drivers and teams are so close in terms of performance, the races will be really exciting and unforgettable.”

Over the past few years, F1 teams struggled to challenge Mercedes, as the Stuttgart-outfit constantly churned out massive pace difference with some mind-blowing updates and inventions to the cars.

However, this season, with the minor aero-based regulation changes, Mercedes is finally showing signs of weaknesses. And at the same time, things consolidated well at the Red Bull garage, as they made a huge leap in terms of pace, and Honda, too, has delivered a much-pacier power unit in its farewell F1 season.

Mercedes needs to focus on strategy: Hakkinen

Now that Mercedes is no longer the fastest car on the track, Hakkinen feels the Silver Arrows must start focusing on carrying out perfect strategical decisions through the race weekends to keep the championship-winning streak alive.

“Mercedes now has to find an answer to the challenge from Red Bull Racing. Unless you have the fastest car, it is important that you focus on strategy so that you can corner your opponents,” he said. “Mercedes did that on race Sunday. They did the undercut with Lewis at the first pit stop.”

Mercedes‘ garage played a huge role in Lewis‘s race win at Sakhir last weekend. But that’s just one race out of the way with 22 more to go.

But how long can they rely on strategies to keep their title hopes intact? Mercedes need to bring in crucial updates to the W12 and help reduce the pace disadvantage to Red Bull. But will they?

Also Read: Is Lewis Hamilton Afraid of Max Verstappen? – “Knows He Will Be Defeated”