During the race Verstappen was able to fend off attacks from both Mercedes drivers to take the win, taking the lead in the Drivers' Championship by three points. For the , Verstappen was required to start at the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit components. He made his way back up the field, and after taking an early pit stop for intermediate tyres late in the race, he finished second. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified second with Bottas on pole. With the race being run in wet conditions and the drivers on intermediate tyres the whole race, Verstappen finished second behind Bottas, taking the lead in the Drivers' Championship by six points as Hamilton finished fifth. At the United States Grand Prix, Verstappen took pole position in qualifying, edging Hamilton by 0.209 seconds. Verstappen won the race and extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to twelve points as Hamilton finished second with the fastest lap. At the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified third with a gap to pole-sitter Bottas of 0.350 seconds. Verstappen's main opponent Hamilton qualified second. At the race start, Verstappen took the lead from Bottas and Hamilton into turn 1 and won the race, and as a result extended his lead in the championship to 19 points. Verstappen and Hamilton were on equal points in the Drivers' Championship going into the final round, the , with Verstappen leading on countback. Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the final lap to win the race, and his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Verstappen, who had qualified on pole position by nearly four-tenths of a second, had a slow start off the line at the start of the race and dropped to second place. Verstappen was trailing Hamilton by over ten seconds until a late safety car was called in due to a crash at turn 14 involving Williams driver Nicholas Latifi. The withdrawal of the safety car and the resumption of the race following the safety car period was met with controversy. Race director Michael Masi allowed only a certain number of lapped cars through, which after the race brought from the Mercedes team a protest and stated intention to appeal against the race result, arguing that all lapped cars should be allowed through, Red Bull counter argued that this was not specified by the wording of the regulations. The