Will Lewis win his 8th World Title in 2021?

Lewis has not faced such a formidable challenge to the Title in the recent past. Can he be a World Champion again in 2021?

Lewis Hamilton is the greatest Formula One driver ever. He made his mark ever since he first arrived at the highest level of Motorsport. Beating the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in his rookie year is no mean feat. He narrowly missed being a World Champion in his rookie year, beaching the car in gravel as he tried to enter the pit lane at the Chinese GP. A rookie winning the World Championship is a crazy thought and Lewis Hamilton almost pulled it off.

2008 World Champion – Lewis Hamilton

Lewis made up for the 2007 mistake with a spectacular win in 2008 as he overtook Glock on the final lap of the last race – Brazilian GP – and snatching the Championship, painfully, from Philipe Massa.

RedBull – Sebastian Vettel era

Then Lewis had to wait in the shadows for a long time before he can get his next one. 2009 was an aberration as Brawn GP stunned the world with their Honda car and venturi tunnels. The next 4 years from 2010 to 2013 were dominated by Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel. The power of Renault engine and the aero of Adrian Newey was simply impossible to beat. While Lewis did manage to win at least one race in these years, McLaren simply did not have a championship winning car.

Frustrated, Lewis took a gamble and jumped to the Mercedes team which was still trying to find its ground in the competitive F1 world. Many pundits sounded the death knell for Lewis’s career but both Lewis and Mercedes proved the critics wrong.

Dawn of Mercedes

2013 was a good year, with Lewis gelling nicely with the new team. However things turned around sharply with the introduction of the V6 turbo-hybrid engine in 2014. Mercedes had invested heavily in the Engine R&D and they were miles ahead of their competitors. Lewis made the most of it and won back to back championships. But it was not a smooth sailing. He had a strong competitor in Nico Rosberg in all these years at Mercedes. Nico snatched the World Championship from Lewis in 2016 and then just quit. His new team-mate Valtteri Bottas was no match compared to Nico and was always the wing-man to Lewis.

Solid challenge from Vettel and Ferrari

However, in 2017 and 2018, Sebastian Vettel posed a formidable challenge at least when the season started. Ferrari had a good engine and arguably a better car than Mercedes. but Lewis kept his cool and kept chipping whereas Seb just crumpled under pressure.

Max Max Super Max

We have a very similar situation right now in 2021. Max Verstappen is in the form of this life. Honda has produced a very good engine, as they are about to make an exit from F1, once again. The Red Bull is package and championship winning. The second driver, Sergio Perez, is also doing quite well, much better than his Mercedes counterpart, Valtteri Bottas. Max is currently leading the championship but not by a big margin.

Can Lewis be a World Champion again?

So it all boils down to who can hold on to their nerves. Lewis has come back from behind many times in the past. He has the requisite experience and the mental attitude to pull it off. Still in Max and Red Bull he has the most formidable opponent in a long time. While Lewis has extended his contract for two more years with Mercedes, he would still be very keen to win it this year too.

2021 season is shaping up nicely. We are in for a great showdown moving forward.