“I’ve never spun in the race before, not that I remember at least,” said a bemused Lewis Hamilton after his United States Grand Prix ended when he pirouetted into the turn 19 gravel trap on his second lap.
“If I have, it can only be once, maybe, before, in all these years.”
Hamilton seldom fails to remind journalists that his recollection of past races is not up to much. So how well has his memory served him this time? Has he really only spun out of F1 races on two occasions?
Remarkably, that is pretty much the case. Inevitably there is a degree of interpretation required with this kind of thing, but Hamilton is pretty much on the money.
Prior to last weekend, Hamilton had only spun out of a race by himself once. This was on the final lap of the 2009 Italian Grand Prix, as he pushed to attack Jenson Button for second place, and he spun into the barrier on the inside between the two Lesmo corners.
There have been many other occasions when Hamilton has retired from a race by his own hand, usually involving collisions with rivals, but this is the only one which might accurately be described as a “spin”. He retired from the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix in a gravel trap, but that was more of a grip-less slither. And he was remarkably fortunate his spin during the European Grand Prix that year did not result in a retirement, as he was recovered from the gravel trap by a crane.
Other occasions when Hamilton has retired from races in his 351-race career either involved collisions with other drivers or technical failures, some of which led to crashes, as when he retired from second place in the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix.
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Hamilton’s retirement meant he failed to score points in a grand prix for the first time in 15 races. However he did pick up points in the sprint race. In another small upside, as Max Verstappen also did not win the grand prix, Hamilton’s success rate has moved back above his rival’s. Hamilton has now won 29.91% of his starts to Verstappen’s 29.90%, reversing the swap which occured five months ago.
He went off at the same spot his team mate George Russell crashed during qualifying. Russell had to start from the pit lane, but his 14-place climb to finish sixth (despite a five-second time penalty) is the most positions any driver has gained in a race this year. The…
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