Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Was F1 title won by Hamilton or lost by Vettel? Fans have their say

Lewis Hamilton sealed his fourth Formula 1 world drivers' championship at the Mexican Grand Prix to go level with 2017 rival Sebastian Vettel in titles

Vettel led the championship until the Italian Grand Prix, but his Singapore Grand Prix crash and technical problems in Malaysia and Japan put an end to his championship hopes.

Hamilton scored 130 points to Vettel's 57 in the last six grands prix to secure the title two races early but did Vettel throw away the crown, or did Hamilton excel? F1 fans from the Autosport Forum have their say:

Atreiu: Hamilton's form after the summer break has been impeccable. I think he won it even though his car would be all over the place from one race to the next while the Ferrari was fast everywhere.

It's easy to think Vettel threw it away with his mistakes, but Hamilton was a step ahead even on the weekends Vettel did not run into trouble.

Quickshifter: Title race is all about pressure and Vettel did not do enough to put pressure on Hamilton. This title race for me could have gone really close to the wire had Vettel acted pragmatically in Baku, Singapore and Mexico.

Who knows what could have happened in Abu Dhabi if the title was still alive.

Stranger things have happened and you never know lady luck might have been shining on Vettel in Abu Dhabi.

kosmos: I think this title was for Hamilton no matter what but Vettel lost the chance to fight for it until the last race.

Join the Hamilton-Vettel debate on the Autosport Forum

Alfisti: I always felt Mercedes had the underlying pace. They struggled to figure out the car for the first eight races or so but when they got it right they were quicker.

It always felt like Lewis was going to win it.

SenorSjon: We have two races to go. Lewis didn't make silly mistakes like Vettel did. Yes, he had a few races off the pace, but that was nothing compared to ramming a car during a safety car [at Baku] and swerving across the straight without acknowledging there might be other cars there during the [Singapore GP] start.

In my opinion, the dropped ball is with Vettel and Ferrari this year.

lustigson: I believe that Ferrari essentially screwed up on the technical front, while Vettel screwed up on the personal front (i.e. Baku, Singapore).

However, Hamilton and Mercedes have done an excellent job post-summer, too, so I voted for the 'combination'.

Slowersofterdumber: Mercedes and Lewis won it. After the first races they had the edge pretty much everywhere except for a handful of tracks. Only big misfortune could have turned this around.

f1paul: Vettel and Ferrari lost it in my opinion.

If it wasn't for Vettel's mistakes and Ferrari's poor reliability, the championship would have gone down to Abu Dhabi with Vettel likely to be leading.

abc: Difficult to tell, Hamilton had the quicker car more often than not. He made some super Q3 laps, but only when his car was the quickest anyway.

Almost always when Vettel/Ferrari had the car to fight for pole or even slight advantage, Hamilton made mistake (Sochi, Monaco, Austria, Hungary, Mexico, to a degree Spain).

It shows how much is life easier when you have that small extra cushion.

Afaf: The Mercedes was the better car, but it's close enough for the drivers to make the difference.

Jerem: Mercedes and Hamilton were perfect. Neither Vettel nor Ferrari were. End of.

THEWALL: Vettel had an amazing first half of the year, with probably a mixture of flattering the car and Mercedes having a relatively difficult season start.

With time Mercedes improved and/or the drivers learned to deal with the car better and put a lot of pressure on Ferrari and Vettel, causing mistakes from both.

Never easy to break such a dominant spell as Mercedes'.

HeadFirst: Hamilton won it, with the help of a great Mercedes car, power unit and team. Hamilton was almost faultless this year, and took advantage of the opportunities present to him.

This and Mercedes' reliability put tremendous pressure on Ferrari, and ultimately led to mistakes by the team and Vettel.

Although it appears that Vettel simply dropped the ball, it was Lewis who ultimately forced his hand.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Haas wants FIA changes after Grosjean Mexican GP penalty dispute
Next article Aston Martin 'encouraged' by direction of 2021 F1 engine plans

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe