Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula 1 heartbreak shows why he coped with the 2021 finale so well

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Lewis Hamilton was one point away from becoming the first and only driver in Formula 1 history to win the drivers’ title in their rookie season.

Instead, a gutting mechanical issue at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix would strip him of the chance to enter the record books.

Hamilton’s 2007 campaign changed the idea of what new drivers could achieve and raised the expectations for those who came after him.

McLaren would return to the top during the following season, after Hamilton came out on top in yet another tense Sao Paulo finish, but this time, on the right side of it.

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Hamilton shared a ‘very suspicious’ trait with Michael Schumacher and has always had his own way of doing things.

When Mercedes waved goodbye to him, Toto Wolff was concerned by Hamilton’s ‘shelf life’, and his performance since then suggests that he might have been right.

READ MORE: Ferrari are now working flat out to fix a ‘concern’ with Lewis Hamilton’s 2026 engine

Lewis Hamilton’s 2007 F1 heartbreak shows how he coped with 2021 so well

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix needs no introduction. It was one of the most controversial moments in the championship’s history. It was one where Hamilton, filled with pride, absorbed his emotions well.

It would have been easy for him to kick off and make headlines, but he didn’t. Instead, he accepted defeat and moved on. Perhaps experiencing disappointment in 2007 helped him 14 years later?

“I went through the season, and obviously, there were small mistakes during the season, which were to be expected,” he told Michael Parkinson. “We went into the last couple of races, yes, I went off in China.

“I didn’t actually blame myself too much for that, [because] I couldn’t see in my mirrors, I couldn’t see the tyres were completely finished. I was tiptoeing around the track.

“It was just one of those things, and then we went into the last race, and I dropped down to seventh at the beginning of the race, but I knew I could get back and still win it. We had the technical problem [in Brazil], that’s racing, and that’s to be expected,” Hamilton continued.

“No, no, if anything, it has made me more determined. But it was one of those races, especially the last one, that I went into it and said, ‘OK, whatever happens here, look at the year, it has been amazing.’ I can’t be disappointed either way.”

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton told the simple reason he would not have won the 2025 F1 title driving for McLaren

Lewis Hamilton admits it took a ‘long time’ to get over Abu Dhabi 2021

Although Hamilton hasn’t had the chance to win a record eighth title since 2021, he hasn’t given up on doing so.

A move to Ferrari hasn’t produced a fairytale ending yet, but there’s still time for him to figure that out over the next 12 months.

Speaking to Sky Sports back in 2024, he mentioned how it took him a ‘long time’ to get over the pain of the 2021 finale.

“Honestly, when I came back in 2022, I thought that I was over it,” he said. “And I know I wasn’t, and it’s taken a long time for sure to heal that kind of feeling.

“And that’s only natural for anyone that has that experience. And I’ve just been continuing to try and work on myself and find that inner peace day by day.”