Hamilton Could Become 'Unbeatable' After Costly Vettel Mistake, Villeneuve Says

Sebastian Vettel’s costly mistake at the German Grand Prix on Sunday could provide Lewis Hamilton with the push he needs to go on and win the 2018 Formula 1 Drivers’ championship, according to former driver Jacques Villeneuve.

The Ferrari driver looked favorite for the win as he led the race for the first 50 laps but a short rain shower made parts of the track damp and the conditions very tricky. Vettel still looked comfortable but on Lap 52 he locked up his rear into turn 12 and went into the barriers and out of the race.

The German’s exit brought out the safety car, and Raikkonen’s decision to pit allowed Hamilton to take the lead, where he remained until the end of the race. It was a brilliant drive from the British racer, who started the race in 14th place.

The four-time world champion labeled it one of the best wins of his career and with it he also took the lead in the 2018 F1 Drivers’ championship. He currently leads Vettel by 17 points — with many saying that the German has most likely thrown away his chance of winning his first title with Ferrari.

Villeneuve believes the momentum Hamilton has gained by winning the German Grand Prix, especially when he was not even in contention for the first half of the race, will give the Briton a massive boost going into the rest of the campaign.

The former Williams driver compared it to last season, when Vettel, who was favorite to win the Singapore Grand Prix, crashed in the opening lap allowing Hamilton, who was again not in contention, to take an unlikely win. The British driver used that momentum to win two out of the next three races and wrap up the championship in Mexico with two races remaining in the season.

“The effect could be similar to Singapore last year," Villeneuve told Motorsport.com. "Lewis completely down, depressed, [thinks] everybody hates him and so on. That was his attitude, even before the race. His comments were completely down.”

"And he's given this, 25 points. This is what happened in Singapore, if I remember well. And from Singapore he was unbeatable. He had this mindset for three or four races that no one could beat him," he said.

"Maybe that's what we will get now. It was costly [for Vettel]. And it may push Lewis into a very positive state of mind,” the 1997 F1 world champion added.

The F1 juggernaut will arrive in Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend and it will be a chance for Vettel to turn his fortunes around and stop Hamilton from further increasing his gap at the top.

The race on Sunday is the 12th of the season and it is the last one before the sport goes into its summer break. The track is expected to favor the Red Bull and Ferrari cars more than Mercedes, but Hamilton will be keen to limit the number of points he loses to his key title rival.