He’s been a great writer of fairytales, but he is now trapped in his own horror story. So haunted is Lewis Hamilton that he begged to retire from the Qatar Grand Prix.
What is going on with the seven-time world champion?
Is it old age, or that he is fighting against a scorned Mercedes team angry at him for joining Ferrari next season and softly favouring George Russell, their future?
Whatever the reason for the decline – and boss Toto Wolff dismissed peddlers of conspiracy theories as ‘lunatics’ – this was another night of pain and a puncture in Hamilton’s penultimate race as a Silver Arrow.
Afterwards the 39-year-old was calm as he conducted his media interviews, but he looked tired behind the half smiles.
As philosophically as he could muster, he said: ‘Didn’t really go that great but these things happen.’ Yes, more often than they have before in his 18-season career.
Verstappen roared to victory in the Qatar GP as the already-crowned world champion dazzled
Verstappen took the lead in the opening lap and never looked troubled throughout the race
Hamilton finished down and out on another demoralising day for the one-time writer of fairytales
He is seventh in the standings, 24 points behind Russell, who is on the verge of beating his more illustrious team-mate in two of their three seasons together.
It all false-started for Hamilton as ham-fistedly as it was to continue in Doha. He was off the line early, anticipating his moment to launch. He then lifted off the throttle briefly before going again. He plummeted from sixth to ninth in an instant. Then, he was hit by a five-second penalty for his transgression.
He was stuck in treacle all race, won by a productively angry Max Verstappen, making light of his one-place demotion from pole on Saturday night. The newly recrowned world champion was livid, and he’s not a man you want to rile as he demonstrated with typical muscularity at lights out to lead every lap.
We shall get back to the story of the finest driver of the age after returning to the travails of the star performer of the previous half-generation. It is a litany of disappointments that almost makes you want to cover your eyes.
For Hamilton’s lap times were way off those of his team-mate Russell, sometimes by up to a second. The other seven drivers in the top four teams were somehow way faster.
Hamilton’s frustrations grew over the radio. ‘Mid 25s,’ he exclaimed when told of his rivals’ pace. ‘That’s a second faster.’
Exasperation deepened. ‘Is the car broken? Or just…’
When you’re down, you’re down. And Hamilton duly suffered a puncture. Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas caught the wing mirror of Alex Albon’s Williams, which had been lying on the tarmac for some eight laps. (Why on earth was it not cleared away?).
Charles Leclerc (pictured on the right) finished a good runner-up for Ferrari, six seconds off Verstappen and a place ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri
Hamilton suffered a puncture on lap 34 and struggled with a Mercedes car lacking competitive pace
The debris shattered into smithereens. Hamilton apparently ran over shards, or was it a sharp kerb? Nobody was sure last night. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz suffered the same tyre-bursting fate.
Hamilton went into the pits and emerged a lap back. A safety car, prompted by the punctures, and a subsequent virtual safety car that turned into a safety car, allowed him to catch up a bit.
‘The car is messed up, mate,’ complained Hamilton, unrelenting in his misery. He was lying 12th at this stage. The safety car withdrew, and he ceded a place to Bottas and then to RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.
More agony, if you can believe it. Hamilton was handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane with 10 laps to go. It was akin to a week in jail for going 21mph in one of Sadiq Khan’s absurd 20mph zones.
He was now fed up on an industrial level. ‘Retire the car, retire the car,’ he pleaded. Race engineer Peter Bonnington responded: ‘Negative.’
Into Bonnington’s calculation went the fact Hamilton would have been sanctioned in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next week for dodging his penalty. He served it.
Hamilton ended up 12th of 14 finishers, and 52 seconds off Verstappen. Questions over his future competitiveness continue unabated.
As do rumours online of a conspiracy against him. Wolff did not choke at the suggestions but rather laughed.
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell, who was lying third, finished fourth after a botched stop that cost him seven seconds
‘I have never read the comments,’ said the Austrian. ‘I just hear about this nonsense. We can talk at length about the toxic nature of social media, but you hide behind the screen, open an account and make these comments.
‘Who would have the time to comment?
‘We love our fans. They contribute. But other ones believe they have to create some crazy, made-up conspiracies.
‘It doesn’t both me. They are idiots. They have no understanding, and have not put a foot in a racing car, maybe not even in a normal car.
‘Nobody is reading what they write. They are writing it for themselves and a few other lunatics they want to engage with.’
Hamilton’s mood swings from weekend to weekend. You sense he has to gather himself together between races to summon enough energy and positivity to go again.
His release comes after next Sunday’s final Mercedes hurrah. Then it’s to Maranello, and the next set of imponderables.
Putting Hamilton’s plight to one side, it must be pointed out that the stewards were hanging judges. Lando Norris was an even more glaring victim of their lack of clemency than Hamilton. He was issued a 10-second stop-go penalty while lying second for failing to slow under yellow flags.
Hamilton’s mood swings from weekend to weekend. You sense he has to gather himself together between races to summon enough energy and positivity to go again
That sent him to the back – 15 seconds adrift of the tail – until Hamilton served his punishment.
Charles Leclerc finished a good runner-up for Ferrari, six seconds off Verstappen and a place ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. With the other red car of Sainz sixth and Norris 10th, the fight for the constructors’ championships goes down to the wire. McLaren lead Ferrari by 21 points.
It was a poor day for Mercedes. Russell, who was lying third, finished fourth after a botched stop cost him seven seconds. He had started on pole but was passed at the first corner by Verstappen.
Plenty of bad blood went into that move. Verstappen was furious that Russell had – as the Dutchman alleges – campaigned against him in the stewards’ room and cost him the pole he won on track.
The stewards decided Verstappen had driven ‘unnecessarily slowly’ on the racing line two corners before their final flying laps.
The world champion’s go-slow caused Russell to run over the gravel, perhaps damaging his car and costing him time. The Briton qualified second fastest before being bumped up and Verstappen bumped down at 1am local time, three hours after the incident.
When Verstappen won, his race engineer ‘GP’ came over the radio dripping with sarcasm: ‘You did not drive unnecessarily slowly today.’
Which couldn’t be said of every champion of legend.
