Lewis Hamilton reflects on the gap between title contenders and his 2021 title battle with Max Verstappen played out in a controversial ending.
Lewis Hamilton came pretty close to winning his 8th World Championship title in 2021. Until the last few laps of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, the Briton was leading the race
And had this continued, he would’ve been crowned World Champion at the end of the 58-lap race. But a couple of wrong calls taken by then Race Director Michael Masi changed the Briton’s fate.
After Nicholas Latifi’s crash, the safety car came out. Masi allowed the lapped cars between Hamilton and Max Verstappen to unlap the safety car.
Max was 2nd in the grid and needed a win in order to claim the title. He was considerably benefited by the safety car that cut the time between his car and race leader Hamilton’s. And Max had pitted earlier, taking a fresh set of soft tyres.
When the racing resumed, Max easily overtook Hamilton and claimed the race win. He won his maiden title and this left Hamilton devastated.
The controversial ending of the 2021 season is still a hotly debated topic in the F1 community. But Hamilton says he has made peace with it and is focusing on trying to win again. He said, “I think that comes with the lesson that you have to focus on what you can control.”
But Hamilton does believe that racing has evolved in the past few years. But it should always emphasise the strengths and skills of the driver. And had that been the case, he believes his fate in Abu Dhabi would have been different.
He said, “I do watch other sports and I wish that it was just the pure ability that I have that makes all the difference. But there are so many people’s abilities coming together.”
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Lewis Hamilton wants closer racing in F1
Lewis Hamilton has not won a race in 2022 so far. Mercedes had a rough start to the season and had faced problems like a lack of speed and porpoising.
The team have improved since then and has started to contend for P2 in the Driver’s championship. But at the moment, Mercedes are still a bit behind Ferrari’s pace and way behind Red Bull in terms of Performance.
Lewis who struggled with the W13 says there is still more to go. He loves the close racing the 2022 new-generation cars provide. But the Brit wishes if the racing was closer than.
“We would love to be in that battle fighting, and I wish that all the cars were a lot closer and we were all having a much better battle closer to the front. I wish there were only tenths between us all. But that’s not the way our sport is.”
For the first time in his F1 career, Lewis is yet to win a race in a season. But he claims had the team won the title last year, his and the team’s confidence would have helped them grab a win by now.
“Definitely because it’s going to take longer than one year. I think if we had just won last year and then we would win this year, definitely life would be in a different place and you’d be on a different course.”
