Hamilton can blame himself: In these races he missed out on the title

In the final round of the last race Lewis Hamilton lost the world title at the expense of Max Verstappen. Where Verstappen had to deal with bad luck several times during the year, Hamilton can mainly blame himself and his team. Here are the moments Hamilton lost the world title.

Emilia-Romagna

Lewis Hamilton grabbed a great pole in Imola, but in the rain Verstappen took the lead in the first corner on Sunday. Hamilton continued to chase in the rain but made a mistake. The Briton was eventually saved by a crash involving Valtteri Bottas and George Russell. This caused a red flag and Hamilton could still come back to P2. Lewis did not lose much ground here.

Monaco

The biggest blow to Hamilton was in Monaco. Where Verstappen finished first or second whenever he did (except in Hungary where he got damaged by a mistake of Bottas), Hamilton missed out. Where Bottas was allowed to start from P3 in the same car behind Max, Hamilton was only on P7. In the streets of Monaco, you know that it is going to be very difficult.

Hamilton had a hard time in the race. Despite the fact that Charles Leclerc would not start from P1 and Bottas retired due to a problem in the pits, Hamilton still finished on P7 as he was overtaken by Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez. With Verstappen winning the race, Hamilton lost eighteen points as he set the fastest lap.

Azerbaijan

Max Verstappen actually suffered the biggest blowout in Azerbaijan, when out of nowhere he suffered a blowout at the front of the race. Hamilton thus looked to be in an ideal position to make a big splash in the standings on the restart from P2. The Briton had a better start than Sergio Perez and looked set to take the lead after turn one.

Hamilton, however, hit a switch on his steering wheel at the start which altered the brake balance. He pressed his brake but went straight on. He, therefore, fell outside the points. He didn't lose any points to Verstappen directly, but he should have been eighteen or even twenty-five points ahead of him.

Austria

Just like in Monaco, Hamilton had a lesser weekend in the second race in Spielberg, the Austrian Grand Prix. After Verstappen's dominating performance in the first weekend, Hamilton was already worried about the second and it showed on the track. He qualified only fourth behind Verstappen, Lando Norris and Sergio Perez.

In the race, things were even worse for Hamilton. While Bottas drove to second place from fifth on the grid and showed what was possible with the Mercedes car, Hamilton finished fourth. After this race he was 32 points behind Verstappen in the standings.

Belgium

Qualifying in the rain is usually to Hamilton's advantage, but at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Hamilton lost points through qualifying. In Belgium, there would never be a race. The race consisted of three laps behind the safety car, so the result of qualifying was decisive for the points distribution.

Due to the fact that the race was not completed, only half points were handed out at the end of the weekend. As a result the damage to Hamilton, who had finished behind George Russell, was less than he bargained for. He lost five points compared to Verstappen.

Conclusion

Where Verstappen lost many points in Azerbaijan and Hungary due to bad luck, Hamilton cannot look back on his season and point to bad luck. At least, until the last race. In Abu Dhabi, Hamilton had a lot of bad luck with several virtual safety cars and even a safety car in the final phase.

Hamilton and Mercedes need to look at their own performance. Hamilton, unlike Verstappen, has had some bad weekends losing points that he could have used at the end of the season.