Which driver won the 2021 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship with a Honda-powered car? Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen won the 2021 Formula One World Drivers’ Championship driving for Red Bull Racing-Honda. He finished the season level on points with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, but Verstappen took the title after winning the dramatic final race in Abu Dhabi.
The championship was the first of Verstappen’s career and made him the first driver from the Netherlands to win the Formula One World Championship. His Red Bull RB16B used Honda’s RA621H power unit, making him Honda-powered Formula One’s first drivers’ champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
The season-long battle included multiple collisions and repeated changes in the points lead. At Abu Dhabi, Verstappen started behind Hamilton but used a late safety-car restart to pass him on the final lap. Mercedes retained the Constructors’ Championship, so the drivers’ and constructors’ titles went to different teams—a rare outcome in the turbo-hybrid era.