Sunday’s race made clear that any hope Lewis Hamilton had of winning his eighth Formula One title this year is already up in smoke. The Daily Mail reported on his ongoing frustrations and epic falling from grace on Sunday as follows:
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Lewis Hamilton has given up on his hopes of winning the 2022 Formula One title following one of the worst races of his 16-season career. The seven-time world champion finished 13th at Sunday’s wet-dry Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, a lap behind winner Max Verstappen, and nine places adrift of his team-mate George Russell. …
Verstappen’s win – his second of the season – has breathed new life into this year’s championship battle. The Dutchman moves up to second in the standings, 27 points adrift of Leclerc. But for Hamilton, the sport’s most decorated driver, he is now already 58 points off the pace with his hopes of a record eighth world championship over for this year, and possibly beyond.
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Much was made of the open and notorious way the barons of Formula One conspired with Team Red Bull to rob Hamilton of that record-setting eighth title last year. I decried it in a podcast episode titled, bluntly enough, “Lewis Hamilton Robbed of Formula 1 Glory,” December 19, 2021.
More to the point, though, I advised Hamilton to retire. Because even I could see this writing on the wall, which is why I ended that podcast episode as follows:
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I think the time has come for the 36-year-old Hamilton to retire. The way this season played out was a bad omen. I’m afraid it was now or never for that eighth championship.
Granted, this would mean ending up tied with Schumacher for the most world championships. But add to that Hamilton’s record-setting 103 career wins, and nobody can deny that he’s the greatest of all time. Schumacher is second with 91 wins on the Grand Prix circuit; the aforementioned Vettel is a distant third with 53.
Not to mention that Hamilton has already rewritten the F1 record book in a long list of other categories too, including the most pole positions, most points, most podium finishes, and as the only driver to win a race in every season he competed. So he would be well advised to leave it now to equally brash drivers – like 22-year-old Lando Norris of team McClaren, 23-year-old George Russell of team Williams, and 24 year-old Charles LeClerc of team Ferrari – to humble and tame (the far too often reckless) 24-year-old Max Verstappen of team Red Bull.
As it happens, it would seem no less a person than the queen thinks the time has come for Hamilton to retire too. Because only this explains the palace rushing to crown his career by announcing her intent to officially knight him at Windsor Castle on Wednesday. Which is why I shall end where I started, by citing the episode I published a year ago today, namely “Hamilton Crowned King of Formula 1. So Why Kneel for a Knighthood?”
I cite it because I feel compelled to urge you to listen to that one too. It explains why seeing Hamilton win all those championships, while championing diversity in his sport, filled me with so much pride. But why seeing him kneel to be knighted, not even by the queen, but by her stand in prince Charles, wounded that pride so mortally.
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Of course, only one thing explains Hamilton being so suddenly relegated among the last place finishers. And it compels me to end by channeling Spike Lee’s famous Nike character Mars Blackmon with this observation:
Alas, it had to be the car!
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