Sixth place in the World Championship, still without wins in the season and with only four podiums after 12 races, all in third position. 2022 has not been an easy year for Lewis Hamilton in F1.
Not because of that, however, he failed to add marks to his impressive resume in the category. This Sunday (24), at the French GP, at the Paul Ricard circuit, the Englishman will reach his 300th race in the biggest championship in world motorsport.
Only five drivers broke the tricentennial barrier in the category: the Finnish Kimi Raikkonen (350), the Spanish Fernando Alonso (345) – still active at the age of 40 -, the Brazilian Rubens Barrichello (323), the German Michael Schumacher (307) and the English Jenson Button (306).
With 11 more races to go until the end of the season, Hamilton will have a chance to finish the year fourth in the rankings with 310 races.
At 37, with seven titles, 103 wins and 103 poles, the Mercedes driver considers his F1 debut, at the 2007 Australian GP, ​​as the most important race of his career – he finished third later. to have started in fourth.
“Reaching your dream is a very surreal experience,” says Lewis Hamilton. “Getting to the first Grand Prix in 2007 after a number of sleepless nights as a family, when we didn’t know if we were going to achieve our dream, but never giving up on being there, is the real highlight.”
That year, he joined Fernando Alonso at McLaren and, in the sixth stage, he got his first victory, at the Canadian GP, ​​where he also took his first pole. He was runner-up in his rookie year.
Despite the series of records he has achieved throughout his career, the seven-time champion usually says he doesn’t pay much attention to numbers. However, there is one writing that may be cause for concern.
None of the five drivers who passed the 300 GPs in F1 managed to win a stage after breaking the tricentennial barrier.
With what Mercedes has presented until the middle of this season, it won’t be easy for Hamilton to break the taboo. The team has shown some progress in recent races, but it still doesn’t have a car capable of fighting with those of Ferrari and Red Bull.
In any case, the Englishman tries to show optimism and says he is not bothered by the fact that he is experiencing his biggest win streak in the category, with 12 races without climbing to the top of the podium. Previously, on three separate occasions, his longest streak without a win was ten races.
“It doesn’t bother me because I’m working to get this win,” he said. “I believe at some point we will be able to compete with these guys. Whether it’s this Sunday or in five races.”
The only driver in history to have won at least one race in all of his seasons in F1, Hamilton crossed first for the last time in the Saudi Arabian GP, ​​the penultimate one of the 2021 season.
In the final race of the Worlds, he led in Abu Dhabi until the last lap, when he was overtaken by Dutchman Max Verstappen, from Red Bull. An error by the race direction in conducting the procedure for the safety car to leave the track allowed the Dutchman to approach and overtake him.
On Thursday (21), for the first time a member of Red Bull admitted the mistake of director Michael Masi, which ended up taking from Hamilton what would be the eighth title of his career and giving Verstappen the opportunity for an unprecedented achievement.
“He erred in not allowing all stragglers to catch the [para a relargada]”, said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “It’s a shame [o erro]as Max’s achievements in the past have been diminished by the events in Abu Dhabi,” he acknowledged.
Despite the exciting dispute with Verstappen and the antagonism he built with the Dutchman, when reflecting on his career before reaching the 300th race, Hamilton defined Fernando Alonso as the biggest rival he had on the tracks.
“I remember the task of being by Fernando’s side when I was 22, I was so young mentally,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure to face a great guy like him, with pure rhythm and skill. I’d say it’s Fernando [o maior adversário]we had some good battles.”
Alonso, who debuted in F1 in 2001, has not challenged Hamilton since leaving Ferrari in 2014. He currently races for Alpine and has made a point of extolling the mark that his former teammate is about to achieve.
“He had talent in 2007 and he still has talent now. With the experience, Lewis has been a great driver, a legend of our sport”, defined the Spaniard.
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