Lewis Hamilton has undoubtedly been the best driver in the 2018 Formula 1 season. But four of his victories have practically been gifted to him.
For the second consecutive season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton secured the Formula 1 driver championship with two races remaining on the schedule. After securing his fourth career championship in last year’s Mexican Grand Prix, he secured his fifth career championship in this year’s Mexican Grand Prix.
There is no doubt that the sport’s third ever five-time champion has been the best driver in the field this season. In fact, his 10 victories have made him the first driver in Formula 1 history to win at least 10 races in four or more seasons. Only two other drivers have ever won 10 races in any season, and both of them have only done it twice.
However, what is also undeniable is that a number of the victories that Hamilton has earned so far this season have practically been gifted to him. To be exact, he should have never earned victories in four of the 10 races that he has won so far this season.
In a perfect world, three different drivers not named Hamilton should have won these four races, but Hamilton came along and won each and every one of them. How do these four victories rank against one another as far as how “gift-wrapped” they have been for him?
#4 – Russian Grand Prix
Valtteri Bottas took the pole position for the 53-lap Russian Grand Prix, which was the 16th race of the season, around the 18-turn, 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) Sochi Autodrom road course in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, and he dominated the early stages of it.
On lap 25, he was running in second place ahead of Lewis Hamilton third. Both drivers trailed Max Verstappen, who had not yet made his pit stop after carving through the field from 19th place on the starting grid.
But it was on this lap when Mercedes gave the order to the 29-year-old Finn to let Hamilton, who had still not clinched the 2018 driver championship, pass him. They told him that Hamilton had blisters on his tires and risked being passed by Sebastian Vettel, his championship rival.
Once Verstappen made his pit stop, Hamilton took the lead. It was clear that he and Bottas would finish the race in first and second place and that his blistered tires would not end up affecting anything. As a result, Bottas asked Mercedes on the radio when he and his teammate would be swapping positions back.
He was told that this would not happen and that Hamilton would be the race winner. Hamilton did go on to win the race with Bottas behind him in second place.
Many fans, especially non-Hamilton fans, will argue that this victory should be higher on this list. After all, it was literally handed to the 33-year-old Briton.
But the fact is, whether you like them or not, team orders are a part of Formula 1. Given the championship situation at the time of this race, you could even argue that Hamilton’s victory in it was somewhat if not fully expected.
While Mercedes’ use of team orders in this race ended up not meaning anything as far as the driver championship is concerned, as Hamilton is set to win the championship by far, far more than seven points over Vettel, it doesn’t change the fact that team orders are completely legal and justified. After all, Hamilton had not yet clinched the championship by the time this race took place.
#3 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Heading into lap 49 of the 51-lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix around the 20-turn, 6.003-kilometer (3.73-mile) Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Lewis Hamilton had not yet led a lap of the race, which was the fourth race of the season.
In fact, Hamilton was never really much of a factor in this race at all, and he had not led any laps in any race since he led five laps of the season’s second race, the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory appeared to be set to go to Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who would have inherited the lead of the driver standings had he been able to win the race.
But Bottas ran over debris on the front straightaway as lap 49 began. This debris punctured his right rear tire, and it prevented him from continuing. He ended up being scored in 14th place.
Here is a video of this incident.
When this tire puncture occurred, Hamilton, who had worked his way up to second place after Sebastian Vettel made a way too aggressive attempt to pass Bottas during a restart that resulted in his locking up his tires and losing several positions, cruised by Bottas to take the lead. He proceeded to hp;d off Kimi Raikkonen to secure his first victory of the season and take the lead of the driver standings after leading only the race’s final three laps.
#2 – German Grand Prix
It was hard to not put the German Grand Prix, which was the 11th race of the season, at #1. Lewis Hamilton started this 67-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.842-mile (4.574-kilometer) Hockenheimring in Am Motodrom, Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 14th place after dropping out of qualifying following the first qualifying session with a mechanical failure.
Hamilton entered this race with 65 career Formula 1 victories to his name, and he had never won a race after starting from further back than sixth place on the grid. But that changed in this race, and it changed in dramatic fashion.
On lap 52 of the race, light rain was coming down, but it had been coming down for several laps. Race polesitter Sebastian Vettel appeared to have the race well in hand, as he led second place Valtteri Bottas by more than nine seconds. Kimi Raikkonen trailed Bottas in third while Hamilton had worked his way up to fourth.
But in turn 12, Vettel, who would have taken the lead of the driver standings by winning this race, lost control of his car and crashed into the barriers, bringing out a safety car.
Here is a video of this incident.
Bottas and Raikkonen both took advantage of this safety car period to pit for new tires. That was Hamilton’s plan as well, but he backed out of pitting at the last second, causing him to inherit the lead on old tires.
After the restart, Bottas had a few great chances to pass Hamilton for the lead, but he failed to do so. Shortly after Mercedes saw how close their two drivers were to one another, they ordered Bottas to hold his position, allowing Hamilton to take one of the most improbable victories of his career.
And it wouldn’t have happened had Vettel not crashed with a potential race victory all but locked up.
#1 – Brazilian Grand Prix
By lap 44 of the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix around the 15-turn, 2.677-mile (4.309-kilometer) Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace road course in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Max Verstappen appeared to be well on his way to what would have been his second consecutive victory and his third victory of the season.
Verstappen entered the race, which was the 20th and penultimate race of the season, having just won the Mexican Grand Prix, and he won the Austrian Grand Prix earlier in the season.
A win in the Brazilian Grand Prix would have given Verstappen six career Formula 1 victories at the age of 21 years and 42 days, an age at which no other driver in Formula 1 history had ever earned one victory.
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Verstappen started the race in fifth place and quickly worked his way up to second behind Lewis Hamilton, who started it from the pole position. Hamilton made his pit stop before Verstappen did, allowing Verstappen to take the lead. Several laps later, Verstappen came into the pits. He came out behind Hamilton. Verstappen’s teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, had not yet made his pit stop and led these two drivers.
Right after Ricciardo came into the pits a few laps later, Verstappen passed Hamilton for the lead. He had been running him down at a rapid pace ever since making his pit stop. He immediately began to pull away, and it appeared as though he would win the race quite handily.
Then lap 44 came around.
Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon, who was running in 16th place at the time, attempted to unlap himself on new tires by passing Verstappen in turns one and two, and he made contact with Verstappen’s car, sending both drivers spinning.
Here is a video of this incident.
Hamilton made his way past Verstappen and opened up a lead of over five seconds. Verstappen got back on the track and brought this margin down to under one and a half seconds even with his car having sustained floor damage as a result of his collision with Ocon, but he simply ran out of laps to catch and pass Hamilton, allowing Hamilton to earn yet another unlikely victory.
Which of these four victories that Lewis Hamilton has earned so far in the 2018 Formula 1 season do you believe was the most “gift-wrapped”? Do you agree with these rankings?