Formula 1: 5 mistakes that cost Lewis Hamilton the championship

Mistake number 5: Mercedes had one last opportunity…

Nicholas Latifi’s crash and the safety car that followed him have gotten far too much of the attention since Sunday, and perhaps the fairest outcome would have been for Michael Masi to red flag the race and let the championship be decided from a three or four-lap mini-race from a standing start.

Hamilton still would have had his lead, and the drivers would have literally been on equal footing with fresh soft tires, due to the rule that allows for free tire changes during a red flag period.

Race control instead opted to keep the cars circulating behind the safety car, which led to the flash point for the whole weekend: the late change in decision to let the lapped traffic in between the two championship contenders, but not the rest of the lapped cars, clear the safety car before racing was resumed with just one lap remaining.

So we got Verstappen on fresh soft tires flying past Hamilton into turn five and scrambling to defend on cold tires, which brought perhaps the most dramatic 20 seconds in Formula 1 history as the two swapped tire markings through turn nine before Verstappen pulled away for the win.

When Latifi crashed and the safety car had come out, Hamilton was just 11 seconds clear of Verstappen, so he again would have given up the lead by stopping for new tires.

Mercedes could certainly be forgiven for not bringing him initially; had they done so and the race ended under yellow, they might have been driven from the sport by the inevitable scorn.

But once Verstappen came in for fresh soft tires, Mercedes and Hamilton were at the mercy of Masi and the race stewards.

Instead of putting his track position at risk to give him a chance to drive his way to a championship, Mercedes put him in an impossible position, one from which he still almost emerged triumphant.

In placing their trust in that the race would either end behind the safety car or be restarted with a five-car buffer for Verstappen to overcome just to get to the back of Hamilton, Mercedes brought the fatal blow to Hamilton’s hopes and a flood of criticism for all parties involved.

Sir Lewis has long since earned the right to second-guess team leadership, and he often does so openly during races. In this case, every complaint and observation he had about strategy was dead-on correct.

Maybe he needs to be his own team principal; to hear him argue with himself during races would be hilarious. But Mercedes will regardless have to reevaluate their in-race strategy makers, and don’t be surprised if there are a number of new folks in Hamilton’s garage next year and some reassigned ones in George Russell’s.

I just wish Mercedes that would turn their critical gaze and finger-pointing inward and acknowledge that they made several colossal strategic mistakes. Instead, we got a boycott of the awards gala and a childlike threat to take their legendary seven-time champion driver and go home.

I would wager all of my functioning limbs and unborn children that Hamilton will be back to battle Verstappen in the 2022 Formula 1 season, despite rumors of retirement. We can only hope for another down-to-the-wire championship fight; hopefully one with less whining.