I think that’s one of the main points people are making about the incident - Max should be aware of putting his car in risky situations given the position he held at the start of that race. It’s something Hamilton has learned and used over the last few years to great effect.
He had far more to lose (and did so) going wheel to wheel racing than Hamilton did.
Fast forward a few years and I reckon he gets out of it and retakes the lead anyway at some point. Or at worst, finishes 2nd.
This is utterly false and a myth Hamilton fans throw around like a folklore. You can not compare this championship battle with Hamiltons most dominant car era in F1 history. This is a evenly matched car championship.
Lewis had the luxury of having a such a dominant car, he could pick his battles and still win the title with a landslide, Max does not have that luxury, which makes the comparison useless. Lewis could let a few cars pass if he wanted
to and play it safe, he was guaranteed the title anwyays. Max can not afford to give Lewis free points by giving him position with 13 races to go with the cars pretty even matched and Merc that has won the development race for 8 straight season. Its not comparable at all.
In Lewis case every time he has been pushed to the limit he has started making mistakes like running into Albon twice and now this incidicent etc. It was Lewis mistake and he was deemed guilty, it was Lewis who was desperate to win the race in the first lap. What if Max is just spun around and no red flag comes out? Lewis retires on the first lap while Max can take points. By going for a banzai move that was not there Lewis took just as much of a risk. Just because he is trailing a few points in the standings does not mean he has nothing to lose, thats also a bizarre argument. If it goes the other way around Lewis would have pretty much lost the title battle.
Regarding re-taking the lead, how could he do that without risk? Overtaking Lewis is never going to be risk free, especially if you have to weigh in that Lewis like in this case can make a mistake and run into Max - with that in mind every battle with Lewis is a risk and should be avoided, it does not work like that. With Mercs pace Bottas might even have caught up to Verstappen had he let Lewis by, and in that case he would have to concede position to Bottas as well as "Bottas has even less to lose".
I will change my mind when Lewis start letting Max pass on a regular basis in a tight championship like this years. They went touching wheels at a start before as Lewis refused to yield.