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Two-time Formula 1 champion Mika Häkkinen talks about Lewis Hamilton’s amazing performance at the Qatar Grand Prix.
In his Unibet column Mika Häkkinen gave his comments on Lewis Hamilton’s performance at the Qatar Grand Prix.
“If Formula One was a tennis match I would say that it was ‘advantage Hamilton’ following his dominant wins in Brazil and Qatar,” the Finn wrote
“Although Max Verstappen leads the World Championship by 8 points, Mercedes has responded by giving Lewis Hamilton a car with which he can really fight to defend his title.
“On Sunday Lewis was totally in control following his strong qualifying performance. His Mercedes did not have same straight-line speed advantage he enjoyed in Brazil, when he took a new engine, but through Qatar’s sweeping curves his car had a clear advantage over his Red Bull-Honda rival.”
Häkkinen also noted that Pierre Gasly was asked to move over for Max Verstappen, because AlphaTauri is owned by Red Bull.
“It was interesting to see Pierre Gasly help Max to gain another position. It’s sometimes easy to forget that Red Bull owns two Formula One teams and, with the championship at stake, we should not be surprised that Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri are going to work together when the need arises.”
The Finn also acknowledged that the 2021 title battle is fought on and off the track.
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“In my opinion we are seeing a sporting war between Mercedes and Red Bull. It’s a battle between Lewis and Max, team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, and the 2000 people who work for them.
“We have already seen some tense moments and I know we will see some more.”
Looking ahead at the remaining two races of the season, Häkkinen said we are in for an exciting end of the 2021 title battle.
“We now head to Saudi Arabia for the penultimate Grand Prix of the season. With Max only 8 points in front of Lewis, and Mercedes 5 points ahead of Red Bull in the teams’ championship, both championships could swing either way.
“Max could even win the World Championship in Jeddah if Lewis has a bad result. But on a circuit that seems to favour cars with good straight line speed, and Mercedes planning to use the ‘Brazil engine’ in Lewis’s car, the defending champion will be looking for nothing less than a win.
“If Lewis wins again in Saudi Arabia and sets fastest lap, with Max finishing 2nd – a strong possibility – the two drivers would go to the final round of the World Championship in equal points.
“It would be an extraordinary end to what has been an amazingly close season,” concluded Häkkinen.
