Formula 1 in Silverstone 1000-day deadline is running: Hamilton’s winless misery
Lewis Hamilton has been waiting for a win for a while. Photo
© —/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa
There is no better place for the record world champion to stop this streak. He has already won eight times at Silverstone. Can he still manage a ninth victory in the Mercedes?
Time is running out for Lewis Hamilton. It will soon be 1000 days since he last won in Formula 1. His 104th Grand Prix victory seems to be his hardest. “We will win one more race with him this year,” predicted Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. There are still 13 opportunities this year before Hamilton wears red in 2025 and competes for Ferrari at the age of 40.
There’s no question that the best opportunity to end Hamilton’s longest losing streak in his impressive, record-breaking career comes this Sunday (4 p.m./Sky). Around 77 kilometers by car from Stevenage, where Hamilton was born and grew up, there couldn’t be a better place for the seven-time world champion – and it’s July 7th, too.
“Whenever I saw the British Grand Prix on TV or looked at old videos, I saw the winner with this fabulous golden winner’s trophy,” the Brit once said. It’s time for him to hold it in his hands again and be celebrated by his fans with the Union Jack in his hand.
The first was the most special Silverstone victory
Hamilton has already won eight times in the Home of British Motor Racing. The first time was in 2008. “This will probably always be the most special victory,” he said before attempting to win the race on the Silverstone Circuit for the ninth time. It had been raining that time. He sent the spectators wild with a brilliant maneuver at the start, and when he crossed the finish line he raised both fists from the cockpit.
“I would say that my journey with the fans started here,” said Hamilton 16 years after his debut victory at his home race. He won with a lead of 68 seconds in his McLaren, ahead of German Nick Heidfeld in his Sauber BMW. Of the 20 drivers who took part in this race, only Hamilton and the 42-year-old Spaniard Fernando Alonso are still competing today.
Hamilton achieved his last Silverstone victory to date in 2021. It was the high point of the World Championship duel with Max Verstappen. Shortly after the start, the Dutchman’s Red Bull, not yet a world champion at the time, and the Briton’s Mercedes touched. Verstappen then crashed into the track barrier with immense force and even had to be checked out in hospital; Hamilton drove to victory despite the time penalty.
The incidents caused lasting damage to the already strained relationship between the two rivals. At the end of the season, Verstappen snatched the race victory from Hamilton in the dramatic finale in Abu Dhabi on the last laps, but above all the world championship title. It was the first of now 56 races in a row in which Hamilton was unable to win.
Cheered by fans in thick parka
He celebrated his last victory on December 5, 2021 in Saudi Arabia. In 2022 and 2023, the Mercedes did not work as hoped, this year the Silver Arrows are steadily working their way forward, last Sunday George Russell took advantage of the argument between Verstappen and McLaren driver Lando Norris and won in Spielberg.
“It’s been a long time,” admitted Hamilton, looking back on the many difficult months at Mercedes, as he gave an interview to Sky Sports on the track on Thursday, wrapped up in a thick team parka, while his fans cheered. “We’ve now had George’s victory, I hope there will be a few more this year.” Preferably at the home race in Silverstone, 945 days after Hamilton’s last Grand Prix triumph.
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