Why the British GP Safety Car brought back painful memories for Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton's Safety Car gamble ends in another disappointment.

For almost everyone watching the closing laps of the 2026 British Grand Prix, one memory immediately came rushing back: the dramatic end to the 2021 Formula 1 season behind the Safety Car.

For obvious reasons, the two situations cannot be directly compared in terms of the impact they had on Lewis Hamilton’s career or championship hopes. Even so, the similarities between the two incidents were impossible to ignore.

A late-race accident once again brought out the Safety Car, and it would not have been surprising if the British driver had felt this was an opportunity to finally make peace with the painful memories of the controversial 2021 finale against Max Verstappen. Perhaps he believed things would unfold differently this time.

Lewis Hamilton certainly tried, but in the end, the outcome was remarkably familiar.

Parallels with Abu Dhabi 2021

Back in 2021 at Yas Marina, Lewis Hamilton was leading the race when he chose not to pit, convinced that the Grand Prix would finish behind the Safety Car.

At Silverstone, however, the situation was different. Running in second place and battling his former Mercedes teammate George Russell, Hamilton decided not to repeat what he considered the mistake he had made five years earlier. This time he headed into the pits for a fresh set of Soft tyres, hoping to use the performance advantage if the race restarted for the closing laps.

Mercedes, on the other hand, repeated the strategy it had followed in 2021 by leaving Russell out on used Medium tyres. This time, fortune smiled on Toto Wolff’s team.

Race Control attempted to restart the race for at least one final lap, but the lapped cars were only allowed to overtake the Safety Car on the penultimate lap. As a result, it became impossible to complete the required procedure in time, meaning the Grand Prix could not be restarted before the checkered flag.

A bittersweet ending for Hamilton

This time, although the FIA initially miscalculated the timing because of a software error, the governing body ultimately applied the regulations correctly.

Mercedes secured victory by following essentially the same strategic approach it had used in 2021, while Lewis Hamilton was left to endure another disappointing ending.

The seven-time Formula 1 World Champion simply cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to late-race Safety Car interventions. What might have felt like an opportunity to finally put the events of 2021 behind him instead ended in yet another frustrating chapter.