Watch: Reactions to crucial Lewis Hamilton mistake during F1 2021 season

On the second restart of the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton had an excellent getaway and looked set to snatch the lead away from Sergio Perez. As soon as he braked for the right-hander at Turn 1, however, his brakes locked up, sending him straight into the run-off area.

Hamilton's hopes of winning the race, after his title rival crashed out, were over. Meanwhile, in the Mercedes garage, team boss Toto Wolff expressed his frustration in typical fashion, banging his hands on the table.

Lewis Hamilton is not known to be prone to making mistakes. Throughout his F1 career, the Briton has made remarkably few mistakes even under the most stressful and difficult conditions.

So on those occasions when he does make that rare mistake, it has potential consequences for the championship. In 2021, Hamilton’s high-profile mistake at Baku potentially cost him the title, much the same way as his mistake in China did in 2007.

Max Verstappen was comfortably leading the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when his left rear tire blew up on lap 46 of 51 causing the Dutchman to careen into the barrier in excess of 200 miles per hour.

The incident brought out a red flag to clean up the debris on the pit straight. All drivers were allowed free tire changes and repairs. Until then, Lewis Hamilton was stuck behind Perez for most of the race. The Briton realized that this was his opportunity to pull a lead in the championship, and advised his team that the championship was “a marathon and not a race”.

On the warm-up lap to the restart, Hamilton engaged his “brake magic” button that moves the brake bias significantly forwards to allow for faster temperature build-up.

Ahead of the restart, Hamilton’s brakes were visibly smoking, and as soon as he braked for Turn 1, his tires locked up. It turns out he had forgotten to disengage the “brake magic”. Not a typical mistake, but a mistake, nevertheless.

Without that mistake, Hamilton could have potentially wrapped up the championship in Saudi Arabia, sealing his eighth world championship title.

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The mistake that cost Lewis Hamilton the title in his rookie season

The 2007 season was one of the most dramatic in F1 history when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso fought with Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen for the title until the final race in Brazil.

While Räikkönen won the title after beating the other two to the win at Brazil, he did so by only one point. Both Hamilton and Alonso finished with 109 points each to Räikkönen's 110. It must be noted here that, before 2010, points were only awarded to the top 6, with the winner getting 10.

If not for a mistake at the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton could have clinched his first F1 title in his rookie season.

After leading the race in unpredictable conditions, Lewis Hamilton was overtaken by Kimi Räikkönen. When the track began to dry out, the former began to suffer from tire wear. McLaren decided to pit Hamilton as he had a comfortable gap behind him to emerge back from the pit in second place.

As Hamilton arrived at the awkwardly shaped pit entry with severely worn wet tires, however, he slid into the gravel trap and couldn’t extricate himself. This ended his chances of finishing on the podium and potentially cost him an F1 world title.

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