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FORMULA 1
AP PHOTO/GERO BRELOER
“I haven’t gone off the track in a 4-a-ke race, at least as far as I can remember, and if it’s happened it’s only happened once,” Lewis Hamilton said after exiting the Turn 19 sand trap at the Austin circuit in 2nd round of the US GP. But has he really never been in a race with his own driving fault?
Hamilton’s words are more or less true, despite the fact that of course he has retired in many of his 351 total races due to accidents – either caused by himself or another driver – or has gone off the track with mechanical problems over the years. -since 2007- which participates continuously in Formula 1.
But getting out of his own driving error unscathed has only happened once in a race. It happened on the final lap of the 2009 Italian GP, as Lewis pushed for McLaren-Mercedes to attack Brawn’s Jenson Button for 2nd place.
In his push, Hamilton made a driving mistake, lost control of the car and crashed into the inside barrier between the two Lesmo corners. That was the first and only time, until last Sunday in Austin, that he went off the track and retired after a four-a-ke that he did unmolested.
Many may remember his infamous exit into the sand trap at the pit entrance at the 2007 Chinese GP, which cost him that year’s championship, but on this occasion his tires were absolutely dead and their grip was zero.
However, in the same year, his first in Formula 1, he also had another four-a-ke at the European GP which left him stuck in the sand trap, but he returned to the track to continue with the help of the crane that was at the scene. Such a thing was allowed then.
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