“Hope It Blinds the Others”: Lewis Hamilton Resorts to Dirty Tactics to Beat Max Verstappen & Co.

For 17 years (and counting), Lewis Hamilton has devoted his life to Formula 1. In those 17 years, he jumped ship from McLaren to Mercedes. He’s won 7 World Championships and 103 races. The Brit made records and broke them. He’s fought for a record-breaking eighth world title and lost the chance of that title by the skin of his teeth. But through it all, a few things have stayed the same. His love for Japan, the Japanese GP, and Suzuka. So, as F1 returned to Japan this year, Hamilton unveiled an eye-catching creation that’s part of his race gear. He hopes it gives him an advantage over the driver who snatched his eighth championship (and everyone else).

Unfortunately for the F1 community, Max Verstappen and Hamilton’s rivalry was born and died in the 2021 season. Since then, Red Bull and Mercedes haven’t been on the same level. That’s saying that Mercedes dropped the ball, and Red Bull has done everything needed to take over the sport. Hamilton & Co. has tried their best to match Red Bull but has fallen short every time. Now, Hamilton looks to employ dirty tactics to get the upper hand in Suzuka.

Lewis Hamilton hopes his creation can stop Verstappen & Co.

One of the only elements of their racing gear that F1 drivers have complete creative control over is their helmets. They get to pick the design and the colors and can change them however often they like over a season. Because Suzuka is so special to him, Hamilton unveiled a striking new helmet design. Made in collaboration with renowned Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama, it’s one of the most innovative helmet designs F1 has ever seen. It’s a chrome helmet with the Mercedes logo emblazoned in the middle. As cool as it looks, that’s not the selling point.

The helmet boasts a fluorescent strip running across the center of the visor, allowing the helmet to light up. The seven-time champion revealed the Daft Punk-esque design on Instagram, along with a series of pictures. He wrote, “LIMITLESS ⚙️ Worked with @hajimesorayamaofficial on this helmet and so proud of how it came to life!! Can’t wait for you all to see it on the track ✨” What Hamilton deliberately left out was how he can’t wait for other drivers to see it. On track. While racing.

Read More: “We Have At Least One Bad Day”: Hamilton Shreds Mercedes to Bits as Verstappen Puts 7x Champ to Shame

Qualifying in Suzuka wasn’t the best for Hamilton. Lining up on the grid in P7—six places behind Verstappen—with most of his direct competitors in front of him, he has an uphill battle ahead of him. When asked about his helmet (and how he aims to get through the field), he said, “The helmet is pretty cool. I hope tomorrow maybe it blinds the other guys when I’m racing.” Considering Mercedes’ race pace isn’t too great, that could be his only hope. As much as he’s counting on his helmet, that’s not the only thing that could give Mercedes an advantage over its rivals.

Could the Japanese GP see a repeat of the Singapore GP?

Although it’s implausible that Suzuka will witness a winner other than Verstappen, the battle behind him is what everyone’s looking forward to. In Singapore, Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Lando Norris and Hamilton. In the race’s final stages, it was Sainz and Norris versus the W14s of Hamilton and George Russell. With how the past few races have transpired, it’s clear that Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren will fight each other until the end of the season. With that in mind, Mercedes aims to chase down McLaren on Sunday.

Oscar Piastri qualified in P2, followed by Norris in P3. Considering the W14s are lining up in P7 and P8, a fight might seem unlikely. But the Brackley squad has an advantage. Per a Mercedes personnel, “The cause of optimism is that we have two sets of hards, whilst McLaren has mediums, so we could use that as a trump card.” With Suzuka’s unusually high tire degradation rates this year, the hard tire would be the ideal race tire. In that sense, Mercedes—with its comparable race pace to McLaren—has the upper hand on the Papaya squad.

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How do you think the Japanese GP will play out for Lewis Hamilton?