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Lewis Hamilton

What is Hamilton's greatest victory for Mercedes?

The team at RacingNews365 make their cases for Lewis Hamilton's greatest grand prix victory for Mercedes.

Hamilton race Silverstone
Special
To news overview © XPBimages

With 84 of them to choose from, you would be spoiled for choice to pick out Lewis Hamilton's greatest victory during his time at Mercedes. 

There are, of course, 10 more races for the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history before Hamilton's move to Ferrari for 2025. 

The seven-time champion recently snapped a 945-day winless streak by winning the British Grand Prix on July 7th, coming after the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP on December 5th. 

He then won in Belgium after team-mate George Russell was disqualified for an underweight car to become the only other driver than Max Verstappen with multiple victories in 2024.

With all that in mind, the RacingNews365 team have come up with their greatest Hamilton win at Mercedes.

Jake Nichol - 2018 Italian Grand Prix

After Nico Rosberg snatched his world championship and then ensured he had the satisfaction of ensuring he could never lose it to Hamilton by retiring, it unlocked something in Hamilton that he could not afford the 'off weekend' where a P2 was turned into a P3 or P4 or even P5 finish. 

He learnt that in 2016, and whilst there were still the odd quiet weekend in 2017 - the Russian GP in particular -, '18-'20 was peak Hamilton. 

2018 is his greatest world championship victory, building a title-winning campaign against a Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari combination that arguably had the better package for most of the year, until it was too late.

Heading to Monza, Ferrari was expected to dominate with its straight-line speed, Vettel having won at Spa, with Mercedes struggled out of the heavy traction zones of La Source and the bus-stop chicane - less than ideal for Monza.

Ferrari fumbled by having Kimi Raikkonen take pole ahead of Vettel with Hamilton third, but rather than telling Raikkonen to move, Ferrari instead told the Finn he was out for 2019 on Sunday morning - cue Raikkonen forgetting to read the team game book over his breakfast.

Vettel was crowded out by his team-mate, allowing Hamilton to barge past, spinning Vettel out of contention and leaving it one vs one against Raikkonen. 

Hamilton stalked Raikkonen, and with some clever Mercedes strategy of using Valtteri Bottas to destroy the tyres of the elder Finn, allowed the soon-to-be five time champion to strike. 

On Lap 45 of 53, it was game, set, race and, arguably championship to Hamilton. A firm 'away win' in Ferrari's backyard. 

I must also give a shout-out to the 2024 British Grand Prix, which was vintage Hamilton throughout as he ended that win-drought.

			© XPBimages
	© XPBimages

Samuel Coop - 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

It might be a controversial pick given how messy this victory was, but there is more nuance to 'greatest win' than mere dominance on track.

Was this Lewis Hamilton's best win? No. But delivering the performance he did at Jeddah in 2021, when the stakes were so high, tells you all ever need to know about the seven-time drivers' champion.

On a weekend in which Max Verstappen looked to have the upper hand over a single lap (who could forget this mega final qualifying effort that tragically ended in the wall) Hamilton had to fight to preserve the title battle against a Red Bull driver hell-bent on using whatever tactics he could get away with using.

It was the race in which fans were exposed to the magnitude of the bargaining between race director Michael Masi and the teams, something that worked against Hamilton in Saudi Arabia and also lay the groundworks for the explosive and ever-controversial season finale a week later. 

The contentious incident heading into the final DRS zone aside, Hamilton went up against an ill-timed red flag and Verstappen taking to the Turn 1 run-off area and blocking the circuit - a move that was quiet clearly over the line and subsequently not adequately punished for.

After another moment at Turn 1, which Verstappen was this time penalised for, came the collision on the back straight, which for the record, I deem the Dutchman to be at fault for.

That left Hamilton to nurse his ailing Mercedes home, although he rather stormed home over the final few laps, to extend the championship fight to Abu Dhabi, which he and Verstappen entered on equal points.

The win in Saudi Arabia was not pretty, he had to grind it out through grit and determination. However, given the magnitude of the victory, in pursuit of an unprecedented eighth drivers' title, it has to be considered amongst Hamilton's greatest wins for Mercedes.

Little did we know, it would be his last for some 31 months and 56 grand prix.

			© Red Bull Contentpool
	© Red Bull Contentpool

Nick Golding - 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

The 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix was at the time (until a few weeks later) one of the most dramatic Grands Prix in F1 history. 

In qualifying, Hamilton appeared to have done everything right to secure pole position and apply further pressure on Max Verstappen in their title fight, only to be disqualified from the session. 

Hamilton was disqualified for a rear-wing infringement, demoting the 39-year-old to the back of the grid and promoting Verstappen to pole. 

Notably, Verstappen received a €50,000 fine for touching Hamilton's rear-wing in parc fermé. Nevertheless, it set up an impossible task for Hamilton in Interlagos. 

Hamilton lined-up at the back for the sprint race knowing that he had a further five-place grid penalty to take for the main Grand Prix, due to taking a new internal combustion engine. 

He got to work in the sprint and managed to recover to fifth, whilst Verstappen finished second behind Hamilton's team-mate at the time Valtteri Bottas. 

As a result, Hamilton started the main race from P10, and still needed a miracle to defeat polesitter Verstappen. With the power of a sparkling new ICE, Hamilton powered through the field and caught Verstappen for the lead of the race. 

However, the duo went off the circuit on Lap 48/71, in what was the Mercedes driver's first attempt at overtaking the Dutchman. 

He tried again several times over the following laps, before finally claiming the race lead on Lap 59. Hamilton went onto win the race and keep his title hopes alive. 

			© Mercedes
	© Mercedes

Let us know what you think Lewis Hamilton's greatest Mercedes win was, out of our writers' picks, by voting in the latest poll by RacingNews365

If you don't think his greatest victory for Mercedes is there, let us know what you think it is in the comments section.

Also interesting:

In the latest episode of the RacingNews365 podcast, Nick, Sam and Ian look back on the first half of the 2024 F1 season. Their favourite moments are discussed, as is Lewis Hamilton's recent return to form. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris' title fight is also assessed.

Rather watch the podcast? Then CLICK HERE!

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