#WeStandWithLewisHamilton social media sour grapes
The 2021 Formula 1 season ended in contentious circumstances with a last lap reversal of position to give Max Verstappen his first F1 world drivers championship. And ever since, Lewis Hamilton fans and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been bleating on about how Hamilton was cheated, calling for the head of Formula 1 race director Michael Masi, while Hamilton has been publicly silent on the subject.
On the day of the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony officially crowning the world drivers and constructors champions, Hamilton and Wolff both boycotted the event. Wolff did however put out a statement saying that Hamilton is “disillusioned” and there is a possibility that the Briton would not return to F1 next season, suggesting Hamilton “will never overcome the pain and the distress that was caused on Sunday”.
My take is that this is all bullshit media propaganda from Wolff, to make their feelings about what happened at the final race in Abu Dhabi clear, to enrage the Hamilton fans into what we are seeing on social media with the #WeStandWithLewisHamilton hashtag that has been trending for the last four days.
Mercedes had their initial protest thrown out by the Abu Dhabi race stewards, and despite declaring their intention to lodge an appeal, Mercedes decided to withdraw that appeal a few days later, reportedly at the request of Lewis Hamilton himself, which from what I can see, has not been confirmed.
If Hamilton does not return to F1 because he did not win the title, after half a dozen easy drivers titles during the Hybrid F1 era, that’ll show what a sore loser he is. If he is as great as his fans claim him to be, he’ll come back and fight for that eighth world title, and although I am not a Hamilton fan, I hope that he does come back, as he and Max Verstappen are on a different level to the rest of the current F1 field.
On balance, I think Max deserved to be the 2021 champion more than Lewis, both drivers had brilliant performances throughout the season, but Max had the thick end of the punishment stick. Even at the final race in Abu Dhabi, on lap 1, Lewis went off track, to retain the lead, gaining a clear advantage, the steward’s decision to claim that Hamilton had yielded back the time gained by the end of lap 1 is ludicrous, Max was ahead at turn six, where the Briton went off track, cutting turn seven completely.
Mercedes have to take a good portion of the blame for the WDC loss, they screwed up their strategy, they could have pitted Hamilton for new tires. Mercedes must have known that Red Bull was going to try a hail mary strategy, why did they not immediately pit Hamilton under the safety car? which might have put him behind Verstappen on the track, but with fresh tires to be able to battle for the lead on the restart.
But, no it’s all Michael Masi’s fault, he F1xed the race for the Dutchman to win his maiden world drivers title. And based on the hopelessly partisan comments from so many Hamilton fans on social media throughout the whole season, if the situation were reversed, with Hamilton benefitting from the race director’s decision, it would have been a monumental drive to clinch the world drivers title.
Personally, I am not a fan of any single current driver, I am a fan of motor racing, and for the first season since 2016, there was actual competition for the drivers and constructors championships.
So, a few reasons I believe that Verstappen is a worthy champion, let’s start with Silverstone, where the two drivers came together at Copse, with Verstappen heading into the barrier at high speed. The stewards squarely put the blame on Hamilton, handing him a 10 second time penalty, which given the speed of the Mercedes in the hands of Hamilton, was not a penalty at all, an easy victory for Hamilton.
Another reason, moving forward two weeks to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas took out both Red Bull’s, Verstappen continued, but with a damaged car, could only manage ninth place while Hamilton claimed victory. Even assuming that Verstappen finished in second or third with Hamilton winning in both races, that’s still a net points loss of 28 points, enough for Verstappen to have already won the title by Abu Dhabi, making the events of the final race irrelevant.
Furthermore, if Verstappen had not had a tire blowout while leading in Azerbaijan, he would have gained a further seven to 10 points over Hamilton, as the Briton was running third at the time of the incident. It was only because of Hamilton’s brain fade, forgetting to switch his rear brakes back on after switching them off to heat his tires on the grid for the restart. This mistake caused him to lock up and go down the escape road at turn 1, which stopped Hamilton from scoring 18 points to Verstappen’s zero.
And there’s more, at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton got real lucky, losing a lap recovering from the gravel after he slid off the track all by himself, his teammate, Bottas, and future teammate, George Russell driving a Williams, collided causing a red flag to be thrown, which allowed Hamilton to get back on the lead lap, taking the rolling restart in 8th place, to recover to finish second to Verstappen.
My point is that there were so many pivotal moments throughout the season and on balance, Lewis had more decisions go his way, keeping him in the title race until the very end of the season.
Totally agree with everything you said but you’d better put your tin hat on, incoming whining Ham fanboys. ;)
Don’t worry, I have already retreated to my bunker, honestly, I was not expecting a single like or response agreeing with me!