Go ahead: anyone who has played or competed in anything seriously knows that losing is not easy to digest, and that there are defeats that make you want the world to blow up.
Even more so if we talk about being Formula 1 world champion and, more specifically, about achieving a historical record beating Michael Schumacher and taking the last ‘safe’ crown before a 2022 in which the deck moves and the cards are distribute again.
That is to say, that message from Hamilton on the radio saying during the last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP that this had been ‘manipulated’ is understandable. It is also that he skipped, still hot, the FIA press conference after the race, as well as the engagement with the media.
However, not going to the FIA gala four days after losing (something that carries a sanction…) and everything that came later, with the hints of withdrawal, the strange movements on their social networks and on general his behavior before the title of Max Verstappen, are unbecoming of someone who is really a legend of this sport.
From a driver who has won everything that could be won in this hybrid era and has been breaking records one after another, greater sportsmanship was expected when it came to fitting second place, and although here nobody is the judge to establish what punishment their ‘ seedlings’, events that occurred during the 2021 season can be analyzed that should invite Lewis Hamilton to reflect, exercise some self-criticism or, at least, assume that throughout a course many decisions favor you and that the world does not conspire against you.
Because yes, the 2021 regulations were designed to stop Mercedes and at other times Verstappen was favored by the stewards , but to speak of ‘robbing’ Hamilton is not wanting to see the full picture.
We insist before entering each case: nobody says that Hamilton was helped, or that Hamilton lost the world championship due to his own mistakes. What is defended, in any case, is that those who claim that the World Cup was unfairly and brazenly taken from the Englishman, will find many arguments against it.
Decisions in F1 2021 and events against the theory that Hamilton was ‘stolen’
1) The world championship started with controversy from the first race, the Bahrain GP , as Verstappen had to return the first position to Hamilton (which ultimately was a victory) due to an overtaking to the limit going off track at turn 4, something that was effectively forbidden, but some other pilot was allowed. In fact, the British had done it repeatedly that same Sunday; correct, the #44 did it riding alone, they are not comparable situations, but Red Bull had a reason for complaint there.
Verstappen was able to leave Sakhir with a +7 at the head of the world championship and yet it was Lewis who left the first round with a seven-point advantage.
2) The second grand prix left one of the moments that should most blush those who believe that Hamilton was harmed this year. At Imola, he made a mistake running second and ended up against the wall, but a Safety Car and a red flag allowed him not only to repair the car, but also to split to finish second. What is striking is that after his exit from the track he was able to reverse gear at the turn 7 run-off and rejoin the track in a dangerous manner, but there was not even an investigation despite the fact that the replays showed that other cars with whom he was driving were passing by. he could easily have crashed.
3) Hamilton questioned the legality of the Red Bull wing at the Spanish GP, and the FIA reacted by establishing new flexibility tests that forced the Austrian team to rethink its design. Yes, the highest body left a certain margin (of two races) until the introduction of the new tests, but it does not take much memory to remember that, in 2020, the Mercedes DAS was declared illegal for the following course but they were allowed to use it throughout the year. Again the flexibility of the wing and the use of the DAS are two cases that should not be compared, but aren’t others who have played since December 12 to launch unfair and exaggerated attacks?
4) The next moment was at the Azerbaijan GP, and it is not a controversial decision that would end up favoring him, but a blunder. Or two. Verstappen had everything to win until he suffered a tire blowout that caused him to retire and left Hamilton with a golden opportunity to give him a good mouthful of points. And what fault does Lewis have there? None, but yes in the number of points he lost later, much higher than the ones he felt were stolen from him in Abu Dhabi. He first lost 18 by not being satisfied with being second behind Sergio Pérez in the jump at the end of the race, and then that became 25 points lost (or not won) with his mistake in the first corner, when he was already the leader.
How many mistakes has Verstappen made this season? Broadly speaking, the one on Saturday in Saudi Arabia will be remembered, but it was in qualifying and in the end, with the pace of each other in the race, it did not cost him any points. Hamilton can be blamed for several ( Monaco, Turkey, the one mentioned in Imola, Baku, the Russian classification …) that were more decisive for the championship. There was also the title.
5) Midway through the season, citing safety concerns, the FIA introduced measures to slow down pitstops, an aspect of racing where Red Bull was absolutely unrivaled. The dominance didn’t change much: Red Bull pitted fastest in seven of the first ten races and in six of the eleven following the introduction of the new pitstop rules. But it was a bump in the road for Verstappen’s team.
6) The already famous accident in Great Britain between the two candidates for the title, and which sent Verstappen to the hospital, has two aspects that could have favored Hamilton: on the one hand, the slight penalty that did not prevent him from winning at all and, on the other hand, another, the red flag that allowed Mercedes to fix the Englishman’s damaged car. Yes, the situation called for that red flag, but come to see ghosts…
7) The last race of the first half of the season, and which allowed Hamilton to go on holiday leading, also has two highlights on this list of Lewis horrors. The first, the accident caused by Bottas and that ruined Verstappen’s race, who could only be ninth with a car with very poor aerodynamics. The other, the blunder with Mercedes that left Hamilton alone on the starting grid, which sent him to the back of the pack and prevented him from winning after spending numerous laps behind Alonso’s Alpine. Bottas’s accident, by the way, would end up penalizing Verstappen later for exceeding the engine changes allowed by the regulations.
8) Curiously, the farce of the ‘no Belgian GP’ is used as evidence by the faithful believers of the theory that Hamilton has been robbed. They defend that the FIA gave Verstappen a victory without even allowing the Briton to fight to take it away, although to imagine and suppose, they also prevented the Dutchman from achieving 25 points, since he was awarded only 12.5. Yes, Hamilton finished third behind Russell and surely would have been, at least, second, but Red Bull was right with the setup and apparently in qualifying, if the race had been held, perhaps those five points that Verstappen took from Hamilton would have been seven …
9) There is little to say about the accident in Italy. Whoever writes this considers that Verstappen was guilty, although the comparison of the sanction to #33 with respect to the one that Hamilton took in Silverstone (and its respective consequences) can generate discord. It was also fair that Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying in Brazil, but… did it really take a whole day to do it? And true, he came back with all the law, but once again set to exaggerate everything, let’s remember that after being disqualified from the classification they had to give him permission to run.
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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
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Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
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Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
10) The FIA sanctioned Verstappen for an offense related to double yellow flags in Qatar qualifying. However, the punishment did not come until shortly before the race (a day later!), which left no room to mount a new engine and penalize. The sentence was curious to say the least: in it, the stewards admitted a certain ’empathy’ for the version of Verstappen and Red Bull and admitted that there were no yellow lights flashing at the time of the infraction or notices on the steering wheel…
11) At the Saudi Arabian GP, the penultimate round of the year, everything happened and nothing left anyone satisfied. In an overtaking to the limit (yet another of many during 2021) Verstappen passed Hamilton, but was asked to return the position. A victory for Max there would have left the title practically doomed, which would have prevented a dream finish in Abu Dhabi, where instead of a +14 for Verstappen, both arrived tied. And, after Verstappen returned the position (questionably, but not illegally), the penalty went to the Dutchman, despite the fact that Hamilton admitted that the crash occurred because he did not want to overtake him so as not to give him the opportunity to use DRS immediately after. .
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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
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Foto de: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
12) And finally, at the memorable Abu Dhabi GP where Hamilton and his crew felt they had been blatantly robbed, there were two other moments in which they were favored by the FIA’s decisions. The first, when he upset Nikita Mazepin in FP3 on Saturday and, although he had been reprimanded seven days earlier for the same thing, this time they didn’t even investigate the action. If he had suffered another reprimand, he would have reached three per season, which would have led to a penalty in the race.
Thus, Hamilton was able to start second and snatch the first position from Verstappen with a great start. However, on that same lap came the second discordant note in favor of the seven-time champion. At the end of the long straight heading into Turn 5, Verstappen hit the brakes and appeared to complete a hard but legal overtake. Hamilton decided to literally go off the track and, through the asphalt loopholes, hold on to first place. At Red Bull they asked for the position to be returned to them, as we had seen other times this year, but Michael Masi decided that it was not necessary.
With all the subsequent mess, that incident was hidden, but that’s where Hamilton started to win the race, with a questionable decision.
No, we do not consider that the FIA prepares the results and distributes sanctions according to its convenience to favor some and harm others, but this 12-point list (which only refers to 2021…) is intended to be a clear response to those who consider and they defend at all costs that they did not let Hamilton win his eighth world championship.
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