Vettel leads as F1 introduces new overtaking award

Formula 1 has introduced a new overtaking award in the midst of this season “to celebrate the bravery exhibited by drivers who make bold moves in pursuit of success” by making the most passes.

The new award -- a sponsor opportunity that will be known as the ‘Crypto.com Overtake Award’ -- will go to the driver who makes the most overtakes throughout the entire 2021 F1 season, with a trophy to be handed out at the end of the year to the winner.

Sebastian Vettel currently leads the way, although F1 offers no data to show how many overtakes he has completed so far and who else is in the frame at this stage of the season. There are also no caveats as to how the award can be won, so the driver qualifying out of position most often and needing to fight their way through in a quicker car will feature more prominently than one who qualifies strongly each week.

While the current standings have yet to be revealed, F1 will provide new broadcast graphics from this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix onwards to show the pecking order and how each overtake affects the award positions.

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Chris Medland

While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.

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