Here's why Hamilton was able to take over the lead in the World Championship from Verstappen

For the first time in years, we have a real championship battle. Lewis Hamilton has made up a 32 point deficit to Max Verstappen through two bad races and goes into the summer break as the World Championship leader, but how much luck did he have in doing so?

Verstappen recalled in Bahrain

Hamilton is of course an excellent driver, but in 2021 luck seemed to fall his way on a regular basis, making him the leader in the world championship. It all started in Bahrain, where Verstappen and Hamilton met for the first time on the track. When the faster Verstappen tried to overtake the Brit he was reprimanded, because the Dutchman overtook the Mercedes outside the track. His tyres were exhausted and a new attempt never materialised.

Red flag in Imola gave Hamilton new chances

A race later, the drivers found themselves in difficult conditions at Imola. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was won by Verstappen and Hamilton finished second. But that second place could have been a lot worse had Hamilton not had some help from the crash of Valtteri Bottas and George Russell.

Hamilton made a big mistake himself overtaking stragglers and dropped way back in the race as a result. He was a long way behind and unable to overtake any drivers until the huge crash of his teammate and Russell. The red flag was waved and Hamilton's big gap was wiped out, allowing Hamilton to limit the damage and finish second.

Missed opportunity in Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan Hamilton could have taken 25 points from Verstappen, who crashed out on the long straight due to his Pirelli tyres blowing up. The Dutchman crashed out while leading the race with a few laps to go. The red flag hung and with two laps to go the race would restart. Sergio Perez could start from P1 and Hamilton from second.

Immediately in the first corner, Hamilton tried to take over the first place. This failed completely and the Brit shot straight on. As a result, Hamilton was only fifteenth and Perez won the race. Hamilton had an excellent chance to gain a lot of points on Verstappen but ruined it himself.

A small tap with huge consequences at Silverstone

In Britain, Hamilton got away with the penalty he received for the crash with Verstappen. The Dutchman scored a zero result for the second time in 2021. Hamilton got ten seconds penalty that he handed in during his pit stop. The Briton easily made up those ten seconds and leader Charles Leclerc could not keep him behind. 25 points in the pocket for Hamilton.

Assisted by Bottas in Hungary

In Hungary, Hamilton was helped by teammate Bottas. The Finn got it completely wrong at the start of the Grand Prix and drove Lando Norris, Verstappen and Perez off the track. Verstappen was able to continue with a badly damaged car but only scored two points. Hamilton was able to come back to third place after a mistake at the restart which meant he was not on dry weather tyres yet, and after Sebastian Vettel's disqualification he was even able to come second. Again a considerable amount of catching up, this time of eighteen points.