On December 5, 2021, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton He won and arrived in the United Arab Emirates with a strong chance of being champion. However, Max Verstappen He stole the win and the title. From that moment, the Briton did not win again and his performance in the last two World Cups was poor.
With his Mercedes, in 2022 he finished the season in sixth place and in 2023 he did not rise higher than fourth place. It is worth noting that Lewis has always said that his dream is to win the trophy for the eighth time.
“Louis, sorry about that car. “It was still and you don’t deserve one like that” Wolff told him after the 2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. This was repeated in the previous two campaigns except for a slight improvement.
The case of Lewis is not the first time that a Formula 1 champion does not find victories. It has happened in other cases and Sports news examines these cases. Very few were able to turn around a bad campaign to rehabilitate themselves.
More Formula 1 champions with seasons away from the spotlight
You don’t have to go very far back in time to find winners near the bottom. The cases of Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel are recent. The Finn, who retires at the end of 2021, finished his last two campaigns with Alfa Romeo in 16th place (out of 20) when he took a champagne bath with Ferrari in 2007.
Vettel was a four-time winner with Red Bull (2010 to 2013) and in 2020 finished 13th with Ferrari. His last two years at Aston Martin before retirement weren’t much better: he finished 12th in each of them. Asturias, a two-time champion with Renault, finished 17th at McLaren in 2015 and 9th in 2022. This year he rose to fourth place.
Jenson Button, the leader in 2009, had two memorable final seasons: 16th in 2015 and 15th the following year. In none of them did he reach the podium and his best position was sixth. The good times were over, so 2017 said goodbye.
The other seven-time F1 champion, Michael Schumacher, suffered in the twilight of his career. After shining at Ferrari, the German came out of retirement in 2010 and others took his place. In the 2012 campaign with Mercedes he finished 13th, a position he had not achieved since his first campaign (14th in 1991).
Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve are two other former champions who won and then found themselves near the bottom. The Englishman established himself in 1996 at Williams and the following year finished 12th at Arrows. Meanwhile, the Canadian celebrated in 1997 and did not return to compete at the top. He finished 16th in 2003, a year in which he had seven retirements.
No one can deny that Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Pique and Niki Lauda They are big names in Maxima. Each of them also suffered as is currently the case in Hamilton.
The Australian champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966 struggled with his car’s performance in 1961. On his way to the three-time championship with Cooper, he finished 11th. Seven years later, his season would be even more painful: he was 23rd, finishing just one of 11 events.
Hill, winner in 1962 and 1968, left in 1975 after a dismal 1974 in which he was tied for just one point. Something similar was experienced by Fittipaldi, who retired in 1972 and 1974. The Brazilian finished 21st in 1979 and the following year, with four consecutive retirements, he decided to end his career.
Brazilian Pique, a three-time champion in 1981, 1983 and 1987, had a memorable 1982. With Brabham, the team he was champion with the previous year, he finished 11th. Despite the poor result, he remained with the team and celebrated 12 months later.
For his part, Lauda is another example who knew how to recover from a very bad campaign. After crowns in 1975 and 1977, in 1979 he finished 14th. With Brabham he ran 13 Grands Prix that year and crossed the finish line in only two. He would return to Máxima in 1982 and two seasons later celebrate with McLaren.
