“His mistakes were never punished”– Former F1 driver on what changed for Lewis Hamilton in 2021

“His mistakes were never punished”– Jan Lammers explains why Lewis Hamilton always looked perfect and had minimal vulnerabilities.

Lewis Hamilton has raced 2 races in 2021 so far, and in none, he had an easy outing; the last race was a horror for him, where he went off track but recovered to get a podium, only to be 20 seconds behind the winner Max Verstappen.

This is highly unlike Hamilton, who for years have been effortlessly winning the races. Former Formula 1 driver Jan Lammers has a reason behind this change.

“Hamilton often makes mistakes. His mistakes were never punished because he drove the best car and always got away with it,” he said to RacingNews365.

“Hamilton is often there when it matters but, certainly at Imola, you saw that everyone was vulnerable due to the circumstances,” added the Dutchman.

Max Verstappen knew what to do.

Verstappen, despite starting from P3, grabbed the early lead in the race, and even after the red flag restart, the Dutchman still managed to recapture his lead, and Lammers is mightily impressed.

“It is a case of the glass half full or empty. If you look closely, it was flawless. He almost made a mistake, but you can also say that he did a fantastic job saving his car!

“If he spun, it would have been a real mistake. So you see, in that situation, a mistake can happen, but that was all part of the weekend. Verstappen got off to a good start, both in response and in execution.

“He had to force his leading position in the first corner combination, but it all looked good. He knew that the lead would be so important and during the restart, he immediately made the difference,” observed Lammers.

Verstappen is only a few points behind Hamilton, and the next few races might indicate how the rest of the season will look.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Read More