| The National

When Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 Formula One drivers’ championship with a pass on Timo Glock at the final corner of the final race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, it looked as if it would be the start of an era of domination for the Briton.

It really should have been his second title; he fell short in the final race as a rookie, in 2007. But with two years in the sport, and knowing only title challenges, it looked as if Hamilton would take the baton from Michael Schumacher of being the main player on the F1 grid in the years to come.

It has not panned out that way. The following five years have seen no further titles for Hamilton, 29, old’s way, with only the 2010 season seeing him in contention for the championship at the final race.

While disappointed by that, Hamilton has been able to accept his long wait for a second crown by pointing to the inferior equipment he had at his disposal.

In 2009, the McLaren was no match for the Brawn-GP car of Jenson Button, in the first half of the season, while the past four years have seen the combination of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing prove too good for everyone else.

Hamilton, who has won at least once in every season he has been in F1, could take solace, at least internally, from the fact he was unable to match Vettel because it was not a fair fight.

McLaren, despite their vast resources, failed to supply a consistently quick car for him to compete.

His first season with Mercedes-GP, last year, was in a car that was equal to Red Bull over a single qualifying lap. But this year has been what Hamilton has been waiting for: he has the fastest car again, finally.

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Yet after eight races he is 29 points behind teammate Nico Rosberg, and facing up to a potentially unbearable scenario.

Losing the past five championships could be explained, at least in his mind, but losing to a man who has the same equipment as he does? Unthinkable.

Hamilton has won 17 times since Brazil 2008, and only Vettel has won more in that period, which has helped him maintain the reputation of being the fastest man in the sport.

Yet, he is now more than one race victory behind his teammate. That can be explained by the two retirements that Hamilton has had, compared to none for Rosberg.

In races where both men have finished, Hamilton leads 136-122, but it is his driving in the past two races that has raised concerns.

In both Canada and in Austria he made mistakes in qualifying, normally the domain in which he shines, and hindsight indicates he would have won those races without the errors.

He had been faster than Rosberg in every session in Montreal, but then made a mistake on his final lap in qualifying to leave him second on the grid.

Visibly faster than Rosberg in the race, he was unable to pass, and his terminal brake problem was not helped by having to sit in his teammate’s dirty air for more than 40 laps.

Running wide and then spinning in qualifying in Austria left him ninth on the grid, when again he had looked the fastest man in practice.

Second was a good save, but it really should have been a victory, and the Briton will know it.

The consolation for Hamilton? He still has exceptional raw pace. But his speed margin over Rosberg is so slight he cannot afford to gift his teammate advantages such as qualifying behind him at the past two races, given how tough it is to pass.

In Austria it looked as if he were trying too hard, judging by the late braking at Turn 2 that caused him to rotate 360 degrees.

He should have started on pole, but did not, and despite starting ninth he finished right on Rosberg’s tail. Imagine what he could have done without the qualifying blunders.

Hamilton still has time on his side, 12 races to be precise, but he cannot afford to allow Rosberg’s lead to grow.

Because he finally, unquestionably has the machinery at his disposal to get that second title, failing to be champion when the season ends in Abu Dhabi on November 23 would hurt more than the past five years.

Yes, there has been bad luck on reliability, but that can happen, and Hamilton has hampered his ambitions through his own mistakes.

If he does fall short, he cannot hide behind poor equipment this time. It will be down to him.

gcaygill@thenational.ae

The Mercedes driver tore through the field in Austria to finish second but, with the best car, it seems his own errors are costing him victories, writes Graham Caygill.