F1 News: Lewis Hamilton robbed of title but major blunder must still haunt him

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton robbed of F1 title but major blunder must still haunt him

It proved hugely costly in the end

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson F1 Editor

Motorsport journalist covering F1 since 2024

Thursday 24 September 2026 09:43

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Let's start this off by making my stance on one thing very clear: Lewis Hamilton was robbed of an historic eighth F1 world championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.

Sure, you can argue that Max Verstappen was a very worthy champion that year, and he certainly shoulders none of the blame for the controversial circumstances in which he won the race and the championship that evening, but that night in Abu Dhabi remains a stain on the sport.

The thing is, though, Hamilton would have won the championship that year regardless of Michael Masi's moment of madness if he had just not made one huge blunder in Baku earlier that season. It must still haunt him to this day.

Hamilton and Verstappen neck and neck ahead of Azerbaijan Grand Prix

If we step into our mental time machine and cast our minds back to 2021, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix marked round six of the F1 calendar that year, but what transpired on the streets of Baku that day went on to have a major implication on the championship.

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Hamilton and Verstappen were neck and neck in the standings ahead of lights out that June afternoon, with just four points separating the two drivers who had won all of the opening races of the season up to that point between them.

Verstappen topped the drivers' championship with 105 points after wins at Imola and Monaco, while Hamilton on 101 after taking victories in Bahrain, Portugal and Spain.

Fast forward to the grand prix that weekend, and despite having been outqualified by Hamilton and his team-mate Sergio Perez on Saturday, Verstappen was well on track to make it three wins apiece between himself and his title rival.

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The Dutchman led the race by more than four seconds ahead of Perez with just five laps remaining, with Hamilton in third, before disaster struck.

Just like Lance Stroll 16 laps earlier, Verstappen suffered a catastrophic tyre failure on lap 46, causing him to crash heavily into the walls on the home straight.

The front of his Red Bull was destroyed as a result; the red flag came out and despite having been just a few laps from victory, Verstappen was out of the race. Advantage Hamilton, or so it seemed.

Max Verstappen was moments from victory in Azerbaijan in 2021 before a tyre failure

Lewis Hamilton's costly Baku blunder

Given how the season had gone up to that point, this felt like a huge opportunity for Hamilton to gain a huge advantage over his rival. A win would have seen him lead the championship by 21 points heading to the next race in France, and while there was still a long way to go at that point, we already knew that early that every point was going to matter.

In the end, it proved to be a massive missed opportunity for the seven-time world champion, who went on to make an uncharacteristic error which cost him a huge haul of points and, you could argue, the title.

When the race restarted, with in-laps and formation laps there were just two laps to go, with Hamilton lining up alongside Perez for what looked like a straight shootout between the pair for the victory.

In hindsight, the alarm bells should have been ringing when Hamilton parked his W12 on the grid with a ton of smoke coming from the brakes, but it didn't stop him from getting a great start off the line and, momentarily, even taking the lead of the race heading into turn one.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen thrilled fans with their F1 2021 title fight

Unfortunately for Hamilton, though, that lead was very, very, very much short-lived. As the Mercedes star slammed his foot on the brakes to complete the overtake, his left front tyre immediately locked up, leaving him unable to make the corner and speeding off down into the run-off area.

Hamilton kept it out of the wall and eventually returned to the track, but did so at the very back of the field, eventually finishing the race in 16th.

At first glance, his turn one error appeared to be a costly one, but lockups can sometimes happen in racing, particularly when you are braking as late as possible to get an overtake completed. However, as it turned out, this was entirely avoidable.

It was later revealed that Hamilton had accidentally activated ‘brake magic’, a button on the back of the Mercedes steering wheel which activated a setting designed to help rapidly heat the front brakes and, consequently, the front tyres before a race start or restart.

Hamilton would later swear he had turned it off, but the setting was activated as he went into turn one, which significantly altered the brake balance of his car and caused his tyres to lock up under braking.

"Just on the restart, I think when Checo moved over towards me, I clicked a switch and it basically switches the brakes off, and I just went straight," Hamilton explained post-race. "I had no idea that I’d even touched it."

Abu Dhabi robbery couldn't have happened without Baku blunder

It was a hugely costly error, and one that must still haunt Hamilton to this day given that had he taken home the points haul he should have done from the race, he would now be an eight-time world champion.

Even if he wasn't able to complete that overtake on Perez into turn one, barring any mistakes, he would have easily secured P2 and added 18 points to his tally, all while his title rival was sat somewhere in the Red Bull motorhome having collected zero.

Fast forward to the Abu Dhabi farce, and Hamilton loses the title to Verstappen by 8 points - the Dutchman finishing the season on 395.5 compared to Hamilton's 387.5. Suddenly, those (at least) 18 points lost because of an accidental flick of a button felt far more consequential.

Max Verstappen went on to win the world championship in Abu Dhabi

Had Hamilton scored those 18 points in Baku, and the rest of the season played out exactly the same as it went on to, with Verstappen having taken the 25 points for the win and the fastest lap point in Abu Dhabi, the Brit would still have won the championship at the Yas Marina Circuit even if he had finished as low as P5.

Furthermore, if Hamilton had gone on to stay ahead of Perez and win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier that year, he would have entered Abu Dhabi 25 points ahead of Verstappen, and even with his rival winning and taking the fastest lap in the season finale, P9 would have been enough for title number eight.

In the end then, while Hamilton's mistake looked costly enough at the time, his Baku blunder went on to have enormous, championship-defining consequences.

While Abu Dhabi was undoubtedly a robbery and frankly, disgraceful, had Hamilton scored the points he should have done in Baku, nobody would have even had the chance to do him dirty come the end of the campaign and deny him that record-breaking eighth title.

Abu Dhabi was a dark day for the Brit and totally out of his control, but that moment in Azerbaijan must still haunt him too.

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Written by

Simmey Hannifin Donaldson - F1 Editor

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Azerbaijan Grand Prix