10 times Lewis Hamilton was lucky to win a race

Lewis Hamilton lost the 2024 F1 Belgian GP on the track, but a technical infringement hurt his Mercedes teammate George Russell, disqualifying him from the race. As a result, Lewis won his 105th career race. There's no denying, therefore, that an element of fortune was involved in this result.

Hamilton has achieved a lot in a career that spans close to two decades. He's a seven-time world champion. He has the most pole positions and the most wins in his career.

At the same time, the Mercedes driver has been fortunate to have luck go his way and win a few races because of it. In this feature, we're taking a look at 10 races where luck played a role in Hamilton's win.

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Races where Lewis Hamilton got lucky and won

#1 2010 F1 Turkish GP (Red Bull double DNF)

This was a race that looked destined to be a '1-2' finish for Red Bull, with Hamilton coming home in P3. What happened next, however, was Sebastian Vettel crashing into his teammate and, in turn, just handing the lead to the then-McLaren driver.

Hamilton would have a mini battle with his teammate Jenson Button but come out on top to win the race.

#2 2011 F1 Abu Dhabi GP (Sebastian Vettel's early race puncture)

The 2011 F1 season was all about Sebastian Vettel, and the same looked to be the case in Abu Dhabi. Just like almost every race that year, Vettel had secured pole position and was set to make the most of it from the start.

His charge, however, was stopped by a freak puncture out of nowhere that led to an immediate retirement for the German and paved the path for a Hamilton win.

#3 2017 F1 Singapore GP (3-car pile-up)

It's not often in F1 that the top 3 contenders for the race win are wiped out on the first lap, and the fourth one—with a major car advantage over the rest of the competition—has a free path to the win. This was precisely what happened when Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, and Kimi Raikkonen were involved in a calamitous first-lap collision during the 2017 F1 Singapore GP.

#4 2018 F1 Azerbaijan GP (Vettel's lock-up and Bottas' puncture)

The 2018 F1 Azerbaijan GP saw Hamilton benefit not only from the mistakes but also from the misfortune of the drivers in front of him.

First, it was Vettel trying to pull off an overtake on Valtteri Bottas late in the race, which cost him. In turn, Bottas, who was comfortably leading the race with a handful of laps left, would suffer a puncture, move out of the way of Hamilton, and help him secure a win.

#5 2018 F1 Russian GP (Team orders)

The 2018 F1 Russian GP was a frustrating race for Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes teammate at the time, Bottas. The Finnish driver was in a class of his own all weekend and leading the race comfortably but since Hamilton was battling for the title, Bottas was moved out of the way by the team and the win was given to Hamilton.

#6 2018 F1 Brazilian GP (Verstappen-Ocon collision)

The 2018 F1 Brazilian GP is often remembered as the race where Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon collided on the track as the French driver was trying to unlap himself. Not many remember that this was a race in which the Dutch driver was dominating and had no competition. The crash just paved the way for Hamilton to make his way through the field and win.

#7 2019 F1 Bahrain GP (Charles Leclerc's PU issues)

Charles Leclerc could have won just his second race with Ferrari. The youngster was in marauding form in the 2019 F1 Bahrain GP and was comfortably leading the race.

With just a handful of laps left, the driver would encounter power unit issues and end up losing a win. Hamilton was there to pick up the scraps as he picked up another win.

#8 2019 F1 Russian GP (Vettel's retirement triggers a perfectly-timed VSC)

The 2019 F1 Russian GP was a comedy of errors where Ferrari would first intentionally let Leclerc undercut Sebastian Vettel. Then, Vettel would inexplicably suffer a power unit issue, which would cause a virtual safety car that would help Hamilton pit, then take the lead and win the race comfortably.

#9 2021 F1 British GP (Perfectly timed red flag)

The 2021 F1 British GP is often remembered for 'that' collision between Hamilton and Verstappen, but there's far more to it. As soon as there was a collision, Hamilton suffered terminal damage to the car that, if it wasn't for the immediate red flag, would have forced him to retire from the race.

The fact that Hamilton would go on to win the race and close the gap to Verstappen in the standings shows how critical this was.

#10 2024 F1 Belgian GP (Russell DSQ)

The 2024 F1 Belgian GP is the most recent one where Hamilton got the rub of the green. George Russell beat Hamilton to win the race at Spa using an alternate tire strategy from the latter's.

After the press conference and the podium celebration, Russell's car was found to be 1.5kg underweight, which led to his disqualification. This benefited Hamilton big time as he would go on to pick up win number 105.