Sir Lewis Hamilton cannot claim that he was unlucky over the course of the 2021 season, ex-Formula 1 driver Mario Andretti has insisted.
The seven-time world champion was cruelly denied his record-breaking eighth F1 crown at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, after a controversial Safety Car restart by race director Michael Masi allowed Max Verstappen to overtake him on the final lap of the season.
Hamilton fans have since been calling for Masi to be sacked, with many accusing him of “rigging” the curtain-closer to produce last-minute drama or to aid Verstappen.
While Andretti concedes that Hamilton was unlucky to miss out on the 2021 Drivers’ Championship in the manner he did, the Briton ultimately cannot complain about being unlucky over the course of last season.
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“Lewis cannot really complain very much about bad luck,” Andretti said in an interview with RacingNews365.com.
“Look at what happened at Silverstone, for instance.
“At Silverstone, he knocks out his biggest rival, he had damage to his car, they red-flagged the race, and then he was able to repair the car and still start up front and win the race, with his rival in a hospital.”
And, while Verstappen did get extremely lucky in Abu Dhabi, the Dutchman had more than his fair share of torrid luck last year.
The aforementioned incident in Silverstone, plus a late tyre failure in Baku and getting crashed into by Valtteri Bottas in Hungary, cost him points that would have led to him being crowned champion prior to the season finale.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has previously admitted that his driver was fortunate in the UAE capital, but stressed that he had plenty of bad luck throughout the 2021 season.
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“I think that it was such an epic year,” Horner said in an interview with RacingNews365.com.
“It was probably the most competitive season in Formula One in the last 30 years, and I think, for Red Bull, for Max, for Honda, to come out on top…
“Yes, we got a little bit lucky with the safety car at the end of the race, but so much bad luck [had] gone against us throughout the season.
“These things, I’ve always said, tend to balance themselves out over the course of a season, and I think Max, he led more than 50 per cent of the laps in the year, more than every other driver combined.”
Continuing, Horner noted that Verstappen had more pole positions and race wins than any other driver, and said, “for me he was totally deserving [of his maiden F1 crown].”
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