“He gets away with it”– Former Red Bull driver feels Lewis Hamilton’s small mistakes reflect he’s under pressure

David Coulthard believes that Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable number of mistakes has shown that he’s under pressure amidst the title fight.

Lewis Hamilton not leading the championship in the last phase of the season is indeed a strange sight. But this is a result of his rivalry with Max Verstappen.

Analysing the competition between the two, former Red Bull driver David Coulthard believes that Lewis Hamilton is under pressure, and his frequent mistakes are proof of it. However, he always gets away with it.

Lewis Hamilton on team radio: “Leave me alone, man.”#TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3c1lwRgstf

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) October 10, 2021

“He has a remarkable amount of little incidents and he gets away with it,” 13-time Grand Prix winner Coulthard told Channel 4. “Whether it was running into the gravel at Imola.”

“Touching the barrier and being able to reverse out, and various others… hitting the pit wall in Russia most recently, where there was minimal damage to the car.

“That is the remarkable thing. You don’t really see him drop the ball massively, [it’s] lots of little incidents, but it shows he’s under pressure.”

Also read: Lewis Hamilton speaks about how his interest in fashion helps him deal with the intensity in the sport

David Coulthard is not alone

Meanwhile, Coulthard is not the only driver who thinks Hamilton is escaping the equivalent punishment for his mistakes. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve holds the same opinion.

According to him, Hamilton has not got enough damages for his mistakes compared to his counterpart Verstappen. Thus, the points after 16 races don’t reflect the current track situation, according to him.

With six races remaining, the difference between the two drivers is only six points, and Hamilton has a chance to level his field with Verstappen in the USA.

But Verstappen could make his comeback in Mexico and Brazil. Thus, the fight will probably go to the middle east, where the last grandstand positions would define the championship result. Meanwhile, Mercedes has managed to have a significant lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ table.

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.

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