Formula 1: 3 recent restarts which Lewis Hamilton botched
By Asher Fair
Lewis Hamilton threw away a golden opportunity in last weekend’s Formula 1 race at Baku City Circuit, but it wasn’t the first time.
Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is known for winning races he shouldn’t win. He is known for capitalizing on opportunities and the misfortune of other drivers.
He is known for being in the right place at the right time, swooping in to pick up wins when other drivers have issues that nobody could have imagined — and that never seem to happen to the sport’s all-time winningest driver (or when they do, it doesn’t ever matter — think Silverstone 2020).
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Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit was poised to give us yet another episode of that. But it did not. One thing that has been Hamilton’s kryptonite has been late race restarts — specifically when he isn’t leading.
Following Sunday’s race, Hamilton has 16 wins in his last 26 starts. Three of those 10 losses came after such restarts.
Including Sunday’s bizarre finish, take a look at three late-race restarts in which Hamilton has cost himself podium finishes, possibly even wins, since November 2019.
Late restarts botched by Lewis Hamilton: No. 1 – Baku 2021
Since we already started talking about it, let’s continue with the most recent incident first. Points leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull was looking to extend his lead in the driver standings, leading the race comfortably with just over five laps remaining. Hamilton was running in third place, a position which would see him drop 11 points further behind Verstappen in the standings.
Then a shocking tire issue caused Verstappen to crash, resulting in a massive points swing in Hamilton’s direction — 29 points, to be exact.
But on the ensuing restart with two laps remaining, he threw it all away. He briefly took the lead from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, but he locked up his brakes going into turn one and sailed into the runoff area. He finished in 15th place and scored no points, though his net gain from the entire scenario was still 11 points over Verstappen.