"Max Verstappen's bad luck opened the door for Lewis Hamilton, who did not take advantage of the opportunity but ultimately plunged himself into the ravine. He sinned in greed, at the same time showing his human side," writes the Resto del Carlino. "Yet an Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher would not have made this mistake. Maybe at the beginning of their careers, but not after years and years of racing in Formula 1. As a result Red Bull still emerged as the winner of the Azerbaijani Carnival," the conclusion reads. Hamilton's mistake was also discussed in the Gazzetta dello Sport , who concluded that Verstappen was unlucky while Hamilton only had himself to blame: "Wherever Verstappen did not get any points due to bad luck, Hamilton has to conclude that he left Baku with zero points through his own fault." "The Briton stopped thinking about the championship at the restart and lost valuable points in the battle for the title with Verstappen. Hamilton could have built a nice lead by taking advantage of Verstappen's bad luck, but due to the driver's mistake, Verstappen remains in the lead of the championship and the Dutchman also seems to have a teammate in Sergio Perez who can help him in the battle for the title." "Yet luck is still the big opponent of Verstappen this season, and luck has been Hamilton's ally until now. In Baku, luck was on the side of the Mercedes driver, after he also had luck on his side. during the Grand Prix in Imola," according to the largest Italian sports newspaper. The Corriere dello Sport also couldn't believe that Hamilton squandered such an opportunity in the battle for the world title: "Verstappen KOed and Hamilton throws a gift," reads the headline in the Italian sports newspaper. "The zero points on the plates of the two title candidates show why we were talking about Formula chaos in Baku." "It looked like Hamilton was fighting for the championship with Perez in an all-or-nothing duel during the restart, which of course was not the case. As a result, the Mercedes driver finished with zero points and also saw that Red Bull this year have two strong drivers." "Finally, Verstappen can have confidence in a teammate, because Perez took advantage of Verstappen's retirement. The Mexican did exactly what he has to do, which is take points away from the competition. Something that Valtteri Bottas failed to do; the Finn drove a shocking race, finishing in a Mercedes car behind Alfa Romeo drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi."
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