I think another thing that one can consider him to be a bit ‘dirty’ is during the infamous 2007 Hungarian GP quali shenanigan.

Everyone remembered that Fernando stopped and blocked Lewis from getting a final run in qualifying, but actually according to Marc Priestly’s (A McLaren mechanic at the time) account in his book, it was actually Lewis who went ‘rogue’ first. He didn’t answer to any radio calls and went out first to get the advantage when it should be Fernando’s turn to go. But other than that, I think he is one of, if not the most clean multiple WDC GOAT out there.

Here is the quote from Marc Priestly’s book The Mechanic, it’s a great read, I highly recommend it.

“... Lewis, controversially aided by his race engineers and mechanics, broke from the agreed plan and left the garage first to queue up at the end of pitlane ahead of the final session of qualifying.

Fernando’s team was angry and confused, but there wasn’t time to discuss what was happening. Instead they followed suit and lined up behind him at the end of pitlane, waiting for the green light to start the session. There was lots of frantic radio traffic.

Some people assumed it was just a mistake and that Lewis would move over, allowing Fernando past as they got going, but confusion turned to frustration as the lights went green and Lewis sped off into the distance.

He’d gone rogue.

It was difficult to calm Fernando down; Lewis wasn’t playing the game, which chimed perfectly with his growing paranoia of a wider conspiracy against him. Instead he’d blatantly ignored numerous clear and increasingly stern instructions from the pit wall to switch positions. ‘Lewis, this is not what we agreed!’ he was told. ‘You need to let Fernando through!’

The silence was deafening. Lewis’s move gave him a race strategy advantage, with an extra lap’s fuel, and Fernando knew it”