“Manipulated” 2021 title claim by Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton once again calls out the 2021 season finale in a recent interview referring it to be “manipulated”.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were involved in a fierce battle last season for the World Title. The duo came in the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi on level points.

Hamilton led most of the race and looked all set to secure his record 8th world title. However, Nicholas Latifi crashed on lap 53 triggering a safety car. This brought the pack close together. Hamilton and Mercedes avoided pitting to keep track position as the team thought the race won’t resume and probably end behind the safety car.

This was because according to the rules all the lapped cars must be allowed to pass for the restart to commence. However, that didnt happen. Only the lapped cars between Verstappen and Hamilton were allowed to unlap themselves.

This controversial decision put Verstappen right at the rear of Hamilton. The race restarted with only 1 lap left. Verstappen was on fresh soft Tyres which made Hamilton a sitting duck for the Dutchman. Verstappen eventually went past Hamilton claiming his maiden world title in arguably the most controversial manner.

Hamilton compares his maiden title win with the 2021 title defeat

Just ahead of the last weekend’s Brazilian GP, Hamilton was talking about his maiden title win.

Lewis Hamilton needed to finish 5th in the final race of the 2008 season in Brazil to win the title. Dramatically, Hamilton overtook Timo Glock on the last lap claiming the 5th spot. Glock was moving slowly as he was struggling with dry Tyres on the wet track.

This helped Hamilton to win his maiden F1 title defeating Ferrari’s Felipe Massa with just 1 point.

Now, Glock, who is now taking interview, asked Hamilton if the 2008 title was similar to his 2021 title defeat, Hamilton replied to this saying:

“No, it was different,” said Hamilton thoughtfully.

“It was different because this one [2008] wasn’t manipulated by anybody. Someone made a decision for that result [in Abu Dhabi] to be the way it was, basically.

“There are similarities between the pain of losing in 2007 [when Hamilton was pipped to the title by Kimi Raikkonen] and the last three laps [in 2008] – I had lost it basically – a similar kind of horrible feeling in your heart and your spirit.”

Lewis Hamilton has similarly called the 2021 title decider to be “manipulated” before too. Just after Max went passed him on the final lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton said this on the team radio:

“This has been manipulated, man!”

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