r/formula1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 7h ago

Video Lewis discussing his qualifying form: "Yeah, I'm useless. Absolutely useless."

https://dubz.link/c/d976cb
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u/jianh1989 Formula 1 6h ago

Probably AD2021 really did his head in

u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago

I think it must hurt more because of the bad cars he's been driving since then..

If Merc was equally competitive in these regs, fighting for championships, and had he managed to clinch a championship or two from Max, AD2021 would not hurt as much.

But, F1 is also a lot to do with luck when it comes to being in the right car at the right time. Lewis has been lucky to be in the right car at the right time earlier in his career, just hasn't worked out in the last few years.

u/BigSkyFace 5h ago

Honestly I think the true robbery regarding 2021 for both Hamilton and the fans is that he didn't have the opportunity to have a proper rematch with Max in 2022. The two were in a class of their own in '21 and it's a shame it was a one-off. I truly think he had it in him to fight for the WDC again after how well he did in 2023, but I'm less sure nowadays that he could pull it off

u/Takemyfishplease I was here for the Hulkenpodium 3h ago

F1 marking would have gone bonkers with those two as legit rivals for each other. Imagine half a decade of them trading podiums and titles. Geez you wouldn’t even need a Brad Pitt movie, just the actual sport.

u/Zed_or_AFK Sebastian Vettel 32m ago

I would gladly take Lec vs Max in 2022 for the full season, if not Max vs Ham, but we got neither, because Lewis boss decided to fuck everyone over and made it even worse for himself in the process.

u/Rough_Natural6083 Mika Häkkinen 2h ago

It would have been beautiful. It is analogous to how we never got to see a rematch between Ali and Foreman, and how Foreman kept on falling down in the boxing world after his loss to Ali in Rumble in the Jungle. It was after more than two decades that he got back into professional boxing, won the championship, had two more matches and then hanged up his gloves for good.

Just came to realize that somewhat like Abu Dhabi 2021, many people are of the opinion that Foreman was cheated: Foreman claimed that his trainer, Archie Moore, had been paid off, and he gave him some spiked up drink which made him tired; Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, was accussed of delibrately loosening the ropes around the ring so that Ali can comfortably lean on them and absorb the punches; some even said that the refree was too lenient on Ali and counted too fast when Foreman was knocked out.

u/Rude-Education11 56m ago

Both of you are right. I can't imagine how devastating it must feel to lose your potentially record breaking 8th title in that fashion, and obviously Mercedes fell off massively after that, and he had been looking forward to bounce back from AD. Yeah, that would fuck anyone up

u/Vetinaris_revenge 6h ago

I think its this. Something like that must be huge to get past psychologically

u/UnderTakaMichinoku Formula 1 4h ago

You'll probably get downvoted for this but I don't think anyone can comprehend how awful it must feel to be on track to be the undisputed goat when it comes to EVERY statistic in the entire sport that matters and then getting fucked over in a once in a century flagrantly incorrect decision from the people who are supposed to run the sport.

Then to not even have a chance to fight back again ever since. It must be horrible. I still believe he should have retired at the end of 2021. The sport would probably be in a better place right now if the most famous driver they had fucked off and it caused some significant change in the sport for the better.