Lewis Hamilton’s Appreciative Words Shocked F1’s Young Gun as His Racecraft Indirectly Helped Max Verstappen in 2021

The 2021 Hungarian GP will remain alive in F1 fans’ hearts for a very long time. The chaos that ensued right from the start with a multi-car pileup to the battles till the very end made up for great entertainment. Moreover, it was the race where Esteban Ocon won his maiden F1 GP. However, there were two very significant battles during the race that prevented Lewis Hamilton from taking the top spot. The points lost there turned out to be too costly as the Briton famously lost the championship to Max Verstappen.

The rain before the start of the race in Hungary made the track as smooth as a steel handrail. Hamilton got off to a good start in the lead but behind him, his then-teammate Valtteri Bottas couldn’t find grip and took out two Red Bull drivers. The pileup swallowed more drivers, causing red flags to come out. The restart wasn’t any less thrilling either. Drivers and the teams could not anticipate how much the track had dried up during the break and only realized it during the formation lap.

Resultantly, instead of lining up on the track, they all pitted for slick tires while Hamilton alone started on wet ones. He struggled throughout that one lap for grip and came in for a tire change, only to come out of the pits behind everyone else.

The two battles that prevented Lewis Hamilton from winning the race

Despite falling behind the grid, the race wasn’t over for the Stevenage-born. One by one, he overtook cars in front and put up a phenomenal display. Not many could hold him up for long. Fernando Alonso, however, had different plans. Fernando led his former teammate for a whole ten laps before conceding his position. Watching it all unfold in front of his eyes, Yuki Tsunoda took some notes and incorporated some of Alonso’s tricks of the trade when fighting against Lewis in Turkey.

Hamilton was all praises for the AlphaTauri Japanese driver for the feat, something Yuki only learned about recently. When Tom Clarkson told him about it in a recent episode of Beyond the Grid podcast, Tsunoda said, “Oh really? I didn’t know that. Happy to hear that, definitely, especially from Lewis.”

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Yuki also talked about how the battle between Fernando and Lewis in Hungary left him awestruck. He also talked about how much he reveres the two legends of the game who he’s been following ever since he saw them first as a 7-year-old.

Yuki Tsunoda on observing Hamilton and Alonso and trying to incorporate their styles in his driving

At 41 and 38, Alonso and Hamilton, respectively, are the most experienced drivers on the grid. At 22, on the other hand, Yuki is among the younger bunch. The bunch that looks up to the older lot and has been doing it for quite some time now.

Speaking further in the podcast, Tsunoda told, “Yes, I think it’s good that I’m literally learning a lot of things from those legends which I was watching since I was maybe 7 years old. They were still racing in front of me in the Japanese GP and they are still racing which means they are good drivers, which we all are. I’m driving literally next to them and learn from it really close to be a better driver. So, it’s really good, it’s a really enjoyable moment that I’m learning a lot and kind of show it in the next race.”

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Having signed a multi-year contract with Aston Martin, Fernando is in no mood to stop just yet. Hamilton, many believe, is hanging on only to win that coveted, never-achieved-before 8th world championship. Drivers like Yuki are clearly in for a long haul.