Lewis Hamilton, a driver who has broken almost every major F1 record, is set to break an unwanted personal record at the Austrian Grand Prix. On a couple of occasions this season, Mercedes have threatened to start turning their tough season around. Their performances at Barcelona and Silverstone have given a glimmer of hope that the Silver Arrows can win a race in 2022. For Hamilton, the British Grand Prix became his best opportunity to take his first win of the season. His strong race pace made him a threat to the leading Ferraris prior to the late Safety Car, but the Briton ultimately had to settle for third after the final dash to the finish line. His result at Silverstone was his eleventh consecutive race without a victory (excluding the F1 Sprints, which aren't classified as official 'rounds' of the F1 Championship). This is Hamilton's longest winless streak in F1, having previously gone 10 races without a win on three occasions. Hamilton had a 10-race winless run from the 2008 Brazilian GP to the 2009 German Grand Prix, in a season which was also hampered by a mostly-uncompetitive car. The other 10-race stints without a victory stretched from Brazil 2012 to Germany 2013, and from Belgium 2013 to Australia 2014.
Record stretches back to junior racing categories
Surprisingly, he also suffered from a 10-race run without a victory in his championship-winning GP2 campaign. Racing for ART, his final 10 races of the season were without victory, although seven podium finishes helped him to the title. His current 11-race streak is the Briton's longest winless run since he raced for Manor Motorsport in his first season in the Formula 3 Euro Series, aged just 19. In that rookie season, he only won race nine (at the Norisring) of the 20-race calendar and completed the remaining eleven races of the season without another victory. He ended the campaign as the highest-placed rookie but behind the older Nico Rosberg. Therefore, if Hamilton is unable to win the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix, then he will be on his longest run (12) in his single-seater racing career without a victory. Despite Mercedes being on by far their worst run in the turbo-hybrid era (2014 onwards), they will have a little way to go before they start troubling their own longest runs without a win. After re-joining the grid in 2010, it took them until the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix to register a victory, meaning their 40-race winless record from Bahrain 2010 to Malaysia 2012 will remain untroubled, until at least round 18 of the 2023 season.
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