10 times Lewis Hamilton was unlucky to lose a race

Lewis Hamilton has been a part of F1 since 2007, making his debut with McLaren. Since then the driver has achieved a lot of success. He's a seven-time world champion and his record is going to take a lot of catching.

He started his career with McLaren and won the title with the team in 2008. Then he moved to Mercedes in 2013 and had a historic run where he achieved 6 more title triumphs. In terms of success, the driver is arguably second-to-none in F1.

Having said that, what if we tell you that Lewis Hamilton could have had even more wins but lost them due to misfortune? In this feature, we're looking at 10 such races that Lewis should have won but lost due to bad luck.

10 times when Lewis Hamilton was UNLUCKY to lose a win

#1 2008 F1 Belgium GP (25-second penalty)

This was one of the surprising verdicts in the eyes of many when Lewis Hamilton was given a 25-second post-race penalty for not giving up enough time after going off track. The driver was in a late-race battle with Kimi Raikkonen for the win. When he went off track at the Bus Stop chicane, he rejoined the track ahead of Raikkonen.

Even though Hamilton gave the position back on the start-finish straight before once again overtaking Raikkonen, it was deemed an undue advantage for the former and hence he was handed a 25-second penalty. The penalty meant that the driver would lose the win, as it would go to Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

#2 2009 F1 European GP (Slow pit stop)

This was one race where Hamilton was let down by his team. The driver had pole position and was in a battle with Rubens Barrichello for the win. A slow pitstop from McLaren helped the Brazilian driver to go through and secure the win, while Hamilton was unable to make up the time he lost in the pits.

#3 2012 F1 Singaporean GP (Gearbox issue)

A race that is often termed as the one where Lewis Hamilton finally gave up on McLaren. The driver was leading the race and managing things perfectly while keeping Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button at bay. It was at this time that all of a sudden the gearbox gave up on Hamilton, and he would retire out of the race.

#4 2012 F1 Abu Dhabi GP (Gearbox)

The 2012 F1 Abu Dhabi GP is often remembered as the race where Kimi Raikkonen said "Leave me alone, I know what to do." Well, there was something else that happened in the race that might have aided the Finnish driver's remark to his race engineer.

This was a race that Lewis Hamilton was dominating comfortably. All of a sudden, his gearbox would once again give up (not the first time that season), and there was Raikkonen to pick up the pieces yet again.

#5 2013 F1 British GP (Tyre blowout)

The 2013 F1 season started with the Pirelli tires causing a lot of headaches for teams across the grid. It also brought a sense of unpredictability to races, not typical of F1.

At the 2013 F1 British GP, Lewis Hamilton was leading the race comfortably, when all of a sudden the driver was the first of multiple cases that suffered from tire delamination/punctures. That would completely compromise Hamilton's race, and in the end, it would be his teammate Nico Rosberg who would pick up the pieces and win the race.

#6 2014 F1 Australian GP (PU problems)

The beginning of the turbo hybrid era was not a fruitful one for Lewis Hamilton. For the very first race of the season, the driver secured a comfortable pole position in the wet weather and was the favorite to win the race.

Unfortunately, things went wrong at the start of the race as a spark plug malfunction led to the driver retiring a few laps from the start. This was one race where the driver was the outright favorite to win in his Mercedes, especially with Nico Rosberg starting the race from P3.

#7 2015 F1 Monaco GP (Bad pitstop)

The 2015 F1 Monaco GP was a race weekend that Lewis Hamilton dominated from the start. It was only an ill-timed virtual safety car pitstop where Mercedes miscalculated where the driver would come out on the track that cost him the win. The driver would eventually finish P3 behind Nico Rosberg, who won the race, and Sebastian Vettel, who finished P2.

#8 2016 F1 Malaysian GP(Power Unit)

The 2016 F1 Malaysian GP saw Lewis Hamilton take control of the championship early as Nico Rosberg struggled to keep up in the race. The driver was leading comfortably and heading for the win when the power unit just gave up on him, leading to an immediate retirement.

#9 2017 F1 Azerbaijan GP (Headrest)

The 2017 F1 Azerbaijan GP was an interesting race where quite a few things were peculiar. It started with Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton banging wheels during a safety car period (more a case of the German ramming his car into the side of the British). Through all of this, Hamilton maintained the lead of the race.

Unfortunately for him, his lead came to a halt when somehow his headrest came loose and forced him to do an extra stop where the team put it back in place. Due to the extra stop, Lewis ended up losing the race to Daniel Ricciardo, who had a memorable win at Baku.

#10 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP (Michael Masi)

For anyone who has followed the sport to a certain extent, the 'AD2021' scandal is something that they would be well versed with. The 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP was a title decider and had Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battle it out for the win.

In the end, it came down to race director Michael Masi's call, where he decided to restart the race on the last lap of the season. The contentious circumstances and the manner in which the whole series of events was executed were not ideal and cost Hamilton not only the win but also an eighth title.