LEWIS HAMILTON SHOULD PUBLICLY THANK VETTEL? Part 2

Vettel is a multiple world champion – 4-times champion actually. He was in the race for 5 with his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton. A race season will be marked by a mixture of highs and lows.

There will be unavoidable incidents, which will be tagged as, for example, racing incidents, wrong place at the right time or simply bad luck. Lewis Hamilton, if we do not accept the conspiracy theories, had more than a few slices of bad luck when Rosberg occupied the other side of the garage.

However, what you do not want to be the hallmark of your season is what is referred to, in tennis, as unforced errors. These are errors which are deemed to be as a result of your our doing and not triggered or manufactured by your opponent(s).

VETTEL

In the 2018 F1 season, Vettel masterminded his own industrial revolution! He was exceptionally prolific at manufacturing his downfall. And if you are in a chase for a championship of any form, except failure, dismantling your ability to secure maximum points will definitely serve your competitors interest. And that my friends is a brief assessment of the web that Vettel weaved in 2018.

Do I detect disagreement? Don’t believe me? Let me refresh your memory. China – Vettel was slammed by Verstappen and spun – obviously not his fault – so he was blame free. In Azerbaijan, he overestimated the machine’s braking ability – Lewis won – Vettel – P4.

In France, Vettel drop-kicked Bottas and earned a penalty – Lewis won – he was P5. In Germany, on home soil, his confidence was possibly dampened – he spun while leading – DNF! Lewis won.

FERRARI

In Italy, in Ferrari’s backyard, the two machines sealed the front row. Vettel got greedy and ignored the bigger picture, which allowed a charging Hamilton to conceive a fair, but forceful move – Vettel was caught napping – he spun. An upset, which rendered the Tifosi both dumb and hostile materialised – Lewis won.

In Japan, Vettel discarded caution and foolishly attempted to muscle his way forward – contact made with a reluctant and uncooperative Verstappen. Lewis won – Vettel P6.

But, Vettel was not done. In Texas, Vettel maintained his 2018 norm – a rookie’s judgement – contact again.

LEWIS

Lewis also, as expected, had his moments, but not with the frequency that Vettel maintained. It is my view that the balance in the championship experienced a seismic shift with Vettel’s egg-in-the-face- moment in Germany. He still had the will to fight valiantly, as shown in Hungary – P2 and Belgium – P1, but one could argue that the seed for failure was already sown.

SPA

Belgium was possibly a watershed moment for Lewis. In Belgium, at Spa, the Ferrari was an absolute rocket! Vettel was an ogre and speed was his weapon. Lewis was bewildered, definitely discombobulated and at times, during the post-race interviews, his demeanor was one of a man who was imprisoned in a maze littered with misery and abuse.

He was visibly mortified! Such was the dominance of the Ferrari. The Ferrari was at Speed Week in Bonneville while the Mercedes was parked at Cars and Coffee!

With the machine performing at that insane level – what went wrong?

Do you not see that a thank you is required?

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer