Mercedes won’t prioritize Hamilton to keep Abu Dhabi’s F1 win record

Hamilton took one last chance at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to maintain his record of winning a race in every season he has competed since 2007.

Hamilton’s winning streak of 15 consecutive seasons is currently tied with Michael SchumacherThe effort, set between 1992 and 2006, although Schumacher failed to win on his mid-season debut in 1991.

mercedes benz First win of the year in Brazil last weekend george russell Leading the home Hamilton to a 1-2 finish, marking the team’s struggle with Red Bull and ferrari earlier this year.

But team principal Wolff said there were no plans to give Hamilton priority going into the final race, just to keep his winning record alive, noting the seven-time world champion had previously overlooked its importance.

“I don’t think Lewis needs any sort of prioritization, it’s not what he wants,” Wolff said.

“I think he mentioned earlier the record of winning a game every season, it’s not that important to him.

“What’s more, we’re getting the car back to where it can be and we’re working hard to win more races next year and hopefully the title.”

Hamilton has previously said that keeping the record is “not important” to him, and that he is more concerned with making the Mercedes more competitive and learning lessons for 2023.

“I’m not focused on the record, but of course, I’m trying to win this year,” he said in September. “But records don’t really matter to me, just because I don’t really care about records in general.”

Lewis Hamilton congratulates team-mate George Russell on his first F1 victory.

Photography: Steve Etherington/ motorsport pictures

Hamilton recovers from early crash in Brazil to see Max Verstappen Penalty for second, overtakes second-placed Red Bull Sergio Perez For P2.

The Briton was free to race Russell on the final safety car restart, but was never close enough to fight for victory, sending him across the finish line in second.

Hamilton said after the race at Interlagos that it was a “very, very good sign” for Mercedes going into next year, having won a race already working very hard to fix the core issues of the W13 car.

“It’s difficult because we keep trying, trying, trying, and every time something new comes up, we still have the same problems we had before,” Hamilton said.

“So it’s really, really big. We know where our North Star is, we know where we need to put all our efforts this winter.

“I’m so proud of all the incredible hard work of the team. We wouldn’t be here today without them.”