A dejected Lewis Hamilton referred to as his efficiency within the Canadian Grand Prix one of many worst of his profession.
That was most likely a harsh verdict on his efforts in a race the place he completed three locations increased than he began and might need made his daring early change to slicks repay had he not encountered a sluggish Zhou Guanyu. Hamilton’s qualifying effort was subpar, nonetheless, and shedding a podium end to his teammate with two laps to go was at all times going to depart a bitter style.
Does a efficiency like that actually need to be thought-about one of many low factors of his profession? After 341 grand prix begins, even having received a record-setting 103 of them and stood on the rostrum nearly 200 occasions, there should be the occasional duff drive on the checklist.
There have been a couple of race-ruining slips alongside the best way – equivalent to crashing into Kimi Raikkonen within the pits at Montreal in 2008, colliding along with his group mate firstly at Spain in 2016, or the fluffed restart in Baku three years in the past.
However uncommon have been the events the place his efficiency appeared persistently beneath par. Listed below are 10 occasions Hamilton appeared off his recreation in a grand prix, previous to this season.
2008 Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Worldwide CircuitStarted third, completed thirteenth
Hamilton’s second season in F1 started strongly with victory in Australia, however his pursuit of the championship which had narrowly eluded him as a rookie suffered a setback at spherical three. A wierd collision with Fernando Alonso broke his Hamilton’s entrance wing and despatched him into the pits early.
From there he struggled to get better, spending the race caught behind Giancarlo Fisichella’s Pressure India, although he was capable of go Kazuki Nakajima, who was beginning his fourth race for Williams. Hamilton completed a lap down after title rival Felipe Massa got here previous him with 10 laps to go en path to victory.
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2009 British Grand Prix
SilverstoneStarted 18th, completed sixteenth
Hamilton received his second British Grand Prix in beautiful vogue, taking the chequered flag a minute earlier than anybody else after the heavens opened. The next yr, lumbered with McLaren’s uncompetitive MP4-24, he didn’t determine.
He was eradicated in Q1, slowest of the six Mercedes-powered vehicles and solely faster than Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso. From nineteenth on the grid he by no means rose increased than 14th within the race, two locations increased than he completed.
However higher occasions weren’t distant. McLaren launched a flooring replace which reworked the automotive and two races later Hamilton took his first victory of the season.
2011 Indian Grand Prix
Buddh Worldwide CircuitStarted fifth, completed seventh
Hamilton’s patchy 2011 marketing campaign was arguably his least spectacular at McLaren. However his one-lap tempo shone by means of – within the race earlier than the Indian Grand Prix he claimed a pole place which denied Pink Bull a clear sweep for the season.
He ought to have shared the entrance row of the grid with Sebastian Vettel on the Buddh Worldwide Circuit, however a grid penalty for failing to respect yellow flags left him fifth. In a race dominated by tyre degradation, Hamilton slipped backwards firstly, Massa overtaking him.
The pair appeared to have magnets of their vehicles at occasions that yr, and so they tangled once more right here. Whereas Jenson Button completed eight seconds off the dominant Vettel, Hamilton was only some seconds away from being lapped when the chequered flag dropped.
2012 Korean Grand Prix
Korea Worldwide CircuitStarted third, completed tenth
Though his race was in the end compromised by a dose of misfortune, it was removed from Hamilton’s strongest exhibiting to start with. Alonso mugged him firstly and from there he didn’t seem to have the tempo to run on the entrance.
Having pitted early as his tyres started to go off, Hamilton then ran vast and picked up a bit of Astroturf which aggravated his scenario. He introduced the automotive and a bit of the circuit house within the final points-paying place.
2013 Spanish Grand Prix
Circuit de CatalunyaStarted 2nd, completed thirteenth
In his first yr at Mercedes, the group’s vehicles had a behavior of chewing their tyres. Robust qualifying performances within the first half of the yr had been usually the precursor to poor races.
Spain was probably the most excessive instance of this, and Hamilton suffered noticeably greater than group mate Nico Rosberg. The pair locked out the entrance row of the grid however Hamilton went backwards extra rapidly than his group mate.
“It was an expertise that I don’t actually need to undergo once more,” remarked Hamilton after taking the chequered flag seven locations behind Rosberg, out of the factors.
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2015 Hungarian Grand Prix
HungaroringStarted 1st, completed sixth
Through the peak of Mercedes’ domination of System 1 after the V6 hybrid turbo guidelines had been launched, Hamilton was at occasions accused of permitting his pursuits outdoors the observe to distract him from the competitors. If any race gave credence to that view it was his efficiency on the Hungaroring in 2015 having spent Saturday night time watching Ridley Scott filming The Martian close by.
Having put his automotive on pole place, Hamilton fell to fourth on the first nook, then went off once more additional across the lap and got here again round in tenth place. He later collected a penalty for avoidable contact with Daniel Ricciardo.
Hamilton apologised for his errors and at one level requested his group if he was now final. He wasn’t, ans though sixth place was rather a lot lower than his all-conquering automotive was able to it didn’t cease him clinching a 3rd world title later within the yr.
2016 European Grand Prix
Baku Metropolis CircuitStarted tenth, completed fifth
On F1’s first go to to the Baku Metropolis Circuit, Hamilton was tripped up by the unfamiliar circuit in qualifying and by an odd, short-lived regulation within the race.
Beginning tenth after crashing in Q3, Hamilton made sluggish progress at first, discovering it tougher to go on Baku’s lengthy straights than anticipated. Then his energy unit developed an issue which his race engineer was forbidden to help him with resulting from a recently-introduced rule limiting what data drivers may obtain on the radio.
Hamilton misplaced three to 4 tenths of a second every time round for a dozen laps whereas he fiddled with settings on his steering wheel. Lastly a change of ‘strat’ mode cured the issue, although by that time he was doomed to complete outdoors the rostrum locations. This was a rarity for Mercedes on the time and undoubtedly contributed to Hamilton’s later championship defeat to Rosberg, who skilled an analogous drawback through the race however solved it extra rapidly.
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2019 German Grand Prix
HockenheimringStarted 1st, completed ninth
Within the sort of blended situations the place Hamilton has conjured up nice performances up to now, the 2019 German Grand Prix obtained away from him utterly, and he apologised to group principal Toto Wolff afterwards.
Hamilton slithered off on the remaining two corners and picked up a five-second time penalty as he dived for the pits, failing to observe the proper route as he did. A missed alternative to pit for a recent set of intermediate tyres amplified his issues, and as he fell out of the factors locations Hamilton urged his group to retire his automotive to save lots of the engine mileage.
The group’s determination to depart him out was vindicated regardless that he crossed the road in eleventh place. The Alfa Romeo drivers had been penalised for technical infringements, selling Hamilton to ninth. However it was removed from the consequence Mercedes hoped for once they agreed to sponsor the race and selected to take part in a one-off heritage livery marking 125 years of their participation in motorsport.
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2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
ImolaStarted 14th, completed thirteenth
Hamilton’s podium end within the first race for his or her new W13 drastically flattered the primary automotive the group constructed to the brand new ‘floor impact’ laws. That a lot grew to become clear when Hamilton failed to flee Q1 on the second spherical in Jeddah, although he salvaged some extent on race day.
Imola was a lot worse, nonetheless. Because the group experimented with completely different set-ups in a fruitless bid to remedy their dire porpoising issues, Hamilton managed 14th on the grid and made nearly no progress within the race, whereas new group mate George Russell took a creditable fourth. Over two years later, the group remains to be pulling itself out of this stoop.
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2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas MarinaStarted eleventh, completed ninth
By the tip of 2023 Hamilton no less than knew Mercedes had lastly heeded his name for a drastic change in automotive philosophy for the upcoming season. That appeared to return throughout in a scrappy end-of-season efficiency the place he was over three tenths of a second off Russell in qualifying, and missed the reduce for Q3 because of this.
That was the prelude to a scrappy race within the midfield, spoiled by a tangle with Pierre Gasly and almost compromised once more when he narrowly prevented a collision with Alonso. When the chequered flag fell his group mate was 20 seconds and 6 locations up the highway.
Over to you
Have been these weaker drives than the one Hamilton produced in Canada final week? Is he being too exhausting on his efficiency in Canada? have your say within the feedback.
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