Lewis Hamilton wins 2019 F1 championship: Nine key moments for the Mercedes man

Lewis Hamilton

The key moments in Lewis Hamilton's 2019 title win

Matthew Scott

Monday 4 November 2019 15:00

Key moments in Lewis Hamilton's 2019 title success part 3

Hungarian GP (Qual: 3rd – Race: 1st)

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Bottas outqualified Hamilton at one of his most successful circuits, but the Finn's miserable race start featured lock-ups in the opening two corners and then front wing damage at the fourth.

However, by this point, Bottas was perhaps not viewed as Hamilton's main challenger for title success, but Verstappen held that distinction after wins in Austria and Germany. The Dutchman was in the lead at the Hungaroring too, having taken his maiden pole position the day before.

After Hamilton could not force his way past the Dutchman, Mercedes switched him onto an aggressive strategy, fitting medium tyres and hoping that Verstappen's would fall apart by the end of the race.

And that is exactly what transpired, Hamilton snatching the win with three laps remaining, stopping Verstappen from overtaking Bottas in the championship and cutting crucial momentum for Red Bull.

Singapore GP (Qual: 2nd – Race: 4th)

Mercedes strategy was far from its sharpest in Singapore as Hamilton gave up places by dim work from the pit-wall, the only question was how many places would it be?

Bottas had the chance to go against the team, but boost his personal ambitions, as Mercedes prepared to pit Hamilton with the Finn lapping significantly faster than him, prompting the team to request that Bottas shave three seconds off his lap time, in order to ensure that Hamilton would filter back into the pack ahead of him, without losing out to both Bottas and Alexander Albon behind.

The Finn obliged, opting against using the chance to eat into his team-mate's lead and perhaps ending his flickering hopes as a result.

United States GP (Qual: 5th – Race: 2nd)

The crowning moment, Hamilton headed to Austin needing to finish just eighth, regardless of what Bottas could muster, although eyebrows were twitched when the Finn took pole and Hamilton was just fifth-fastest on the Saturday at COTA.

But Hamilton was third by the end of lap one and eventually came home in second, behind his team-mate to ensure a double celebration for the Silver Arrows.