At the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen topped all the practice sessions, and subsequently took a career fourth pole position. This was the first time he achieved back-to-back pole positions. He fought Lewis Hamilton for the race victory, and on lap 53 Verstappen overtook Hamilton, but went off track whilst doing so, resulting in him being instructed by race control to let Hamilton back into the lead and ultimately finishing second behind Hamilton. At the next race, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified third with teammate Sergio Pérez 2nd, marking the first time he was outqualified by a teammate since the 2019 Italian Grand Prix. At the race start, Verstappen was able to pass both Pérez and polesitter Lewis Hamilton to take the lead. He remained in the lead after the first round of pitstops as well as the restart, following the race being suspended on lap 33. Rival Hamilton finished 2nd, reducing his championship lead over Verstappen to 1 point. In the following Portuguese Grand Prix, Verstappen finished second after a long battle with Lewis Hamilton. In the Spanish Grand Prix, the fight between Verstappen and Hamilton continued, with Hamilton employing a faster two-stop strategy versus Verstappen's one-stop race. This gave Hamilton the advantage of faster tyres, allowing him to overtake Verstappen with several laps remaining in the race. Hamilton took the victory, with Verstappen taking 2nd and the fastest lap, increasing Hamilton's championship lead to 14 points.