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Lammers is a little annoyed by Hamilton's attitude: That can't be

Lammers is a little annoyed by Hamilton's attitude: "That can't be"

26-05-2021 20:27
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GPblog.com

Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget in Monaco. He qualified seventh and after a pitstop he was seventh again on the track. The seven times champion was unable to do anything and his frustration was clearly visible when he blamed the team in front of the Ziggo Sport camera. A rather unsporting attitude according to Jan Lammers.

Team sports

Formula 1 is a team sport and Hamilton has said so often. After every race he wins he likes to say thank you to the team on the circuit as well as in the factory. After the weekend in Monaco the team had to blame themselves while the driver was just not that fast. Not entirely fair, says former F1-driver Jan Lammers in conversation with Motorsport.com.

"When things are going well, he thanks everyone at home for their hard work, but I think he could have almost apologised to everyone now. He doesn't think he did anything wrong as a driver, but the team did. That can't be. You win together and you lose together. I would have thought it would be a good thing if he had simply said he didn't get the best out of qualifying. Apart from the first practice sessions, he was slower than Bottas all weekend."

Verstappen is more sporting

Qualifying is more important in Monaco than anywhere else, so it's crucial to be there when you need to be. Hamilton let up at that point and if you're behind, that's down to yourself too, suggests Lammers. It's an admission of weakness to blame the team, which is a rather simplistic approach. The nuance Lammers adds is the timing of Hamilton's pit stop, which was brought in rather early.

Max Verstappen has also regularly been in situations where he lost to Hamilton, but the Dutchman is a lot more sporting about it and that is to his credit. Lammers: "I think Max dealt with the loss more sportingly in the races in which he lost to Lewis." So Hamilton doesn't seem quite used to it when he crosses the finish line trailing, as the Briton could regularly be heard complaining a little over the radio.

In conclusion Lammers says that Hamilton often complains when things don't go his way, but in this case it was all down to him. The seven times champion simply wasn't there when he should have been: during qualifying.