A look at Lewis Hamilton’s six F1 seasons with McLaren – Formula 1 Special – Part 2
2010 F1 season
Hamilton was partnered by Jenson Button for this season who had just won his first championship in 2009 when the British driver failed to defend it.
He began the season with a reasonable performance as compared to his performance in the previous season. Bahrain GP marked the first race of the season with Hamilton securing the third place at the end. At the next race in Australia, he finished in sixth
place. During the Malaysian GP, McLaren judged the weather conditions wrongly which left Hamilton with the wrong tyres for wet conditions and he began the race with the 20th place on the grid. However, he progressed immensely during the race as he finished
it with a sixth place.
During the Chinese GP, Hamilton ended the race with a second place right behind Button earning McLaren its first one-two finish since the Italian GP of 2007. He secured the pole position in the Canadian GP which also involved controversy of McLaren being
fined and Hamilton being reprimanded by the race stewards due to insufficient fuel in his car and as he failed to complete his in lap within the required time.
However, Hamilton won the race and finally took the lead for the drivers’ championship. He continued with good results until the end of the race but could not win the title. The title was won by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel who also broke Hamilton’s record
of being the youngest F1 champion.
2011 F1 season
Hamilton began the season with second place in the qualifiers and a second finish in Australian GP. He took his first victory of the season in the Chinese GP and a second victory at the Spanish GP.
He was involved in many racing incidents which earned him punishments by the race stewards. He had told the BBC that he felt victimised as he had been to the stewards in five races out of six. Hamilton was also having a tense relationship with Ferrari’s
Felipe Massa and also involved in some on track incidents with him. Ferrari had asked several times for Hamilton to be punished but he only escaped with warnings. Hamilton also told Massa that his time in F1 was coming to an end so he should grow up.
The 2011 F1 season had also featured the first Indian GP at which Hamilton completed the fastest lap during the qualifying rounds. The British driver also won the Abu Dhabi GP and finished the season with fifth place on the drivers’ grid.
2012 F1 season
This season was filled with many ups and downs for Hamilton. Hamilton displayed good pace during many races but the McLaren car was continuously suffering from reliability problems. Hamilton had to deal with many retirements including times when he had to
retire while he was leading the races. The Korea GP was the most difficult when the car once again suffered from the reliability issues but Hamilton showed immense determination while he fought to score a single point for the team. The car improved by the
end of the season but by that time it was too late for him to contend for the championship and the team also their second place in the constructors’ championship to Ferrari.
There were reports that Hamilton has some unsettlement with the team and soon Hamilton announced to leave but he denied repeatedly having any issues with the team. He expects to return sometime in the future.
The 2013 F1 season will see Hamilton driving for Mercedes AMG and his aims are to improve the struggling performance of the team.
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