“Crisis for Lewis Hamilton”– Damon Hill on latest stiff competition between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in 2021.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are now keeping each other at their toes as Red Bull is clearly faster than 2020, and Mercedes is having issues with the new floor regulations.
Damon Hill, while analysing Hamilton’s performance he claims that the Briton was amidst a crisis and caught off guard with the impactful start from P3.
“It set up a little bit of a crisis for Lewis Hamilton, didn’t it,” said Damon Hill in the F1 Nation podcast talking about that great start by Verstappen.
“Because I think he probably expected to be threatened more by Perez on his right, but it was actually Max who was extremely brave off the line. It looked like he put a wheel right on the edge of the track, but he kept his foot in it.”
Lewis Hamilton should have conceded the corner.
Hill believes that Hamilton should have been more aware of his surroundings and waited for his advantage when he could have had more space to recapture his position.
“I was watching that and thinking ‘, Lewis, no, nooo, not there. I think he should’ve conceded the corner because it was quite clear that Max had the inside line. It was inevitable that Max was going to use all of the track”, said Hill
Hill himself had won twice at Imola in 1995 and 1996, back when Imola was among the most visited tracks of the year. Last year, F1 returned to the calendar after a gap of 16 years.
And it was Hamilton himself who recorded the first victory in the first race at the venue in 16 years. This year, he failed to win here; he made an incredible recovery from P9 to be a podium winner by securing P2.
