Lewis Hamilton surpasses Max Verstappen streak in latest unwanted F1 record

Lewis Hamilton is currently on the longest winless streak of his Formula 1 career, and his 503rd day without taking victory saw him surpass Max Verstappen’s longest time between wins in the series.

Hamilton’s 103rd and most recent win in Formula 1 came at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix while this past weekend saw the Mercedes driver tick onto 503 days without standing on the top step.

Eagle-eyed Formula 1 statistician ‘F1 Stats Guru’ pointed out this marked 72 weeks between race victories – the same gap Verstappen had between his first and second race wins in Formula 1, from the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix to the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Verstappen had more races in between victories than Hamilton, with 30 between his successes in Barcelona and Sepang, while 26 rounds have come and gone for the seven-time World Champion since he last won to date.

This is already comfortably the longest time Hamilton has faced without victory in his Formula 1 career, with his previous longest wait between wins having been 10 races, which has happened on three separate occasions in the past.

PlanetF1.com recommends

F1 is back! Five big questions as hectic schedule begins in Azerbaijan

The Baku blow for Ferrari which could make them more vulnerable to rivals

F1 pundit suggests only Toto Wolff and FIA can stop Red Bull now

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes hoping to reel in dominant Red Bull

The 2022 season was the first in Hamilton’s entire Formula 1 career in which he had not won a race over the course of a whole year, though he did earn nine podium finishes.

A P2 finish last time out in Australia was a sign of a possible upturn in form after a tough start to the 2023 campaign for Mercedes, with team principal Toto Wolff having also promised significant changes to come to the W14 in the coming rounds as they look to find a way to take the fight to Red Bull, saying the team have worked “flat out” over April.

The four-week gap between races will have come at a good time for Mercedes as they look to extract more performance from their car, as Hamilton admitted he didn’t feel quite right in Australia – despite finishing second behind Verstappen last time out.

“I still feel uncomfortable in the car though,” he said in Melbourne. “I don’t feel connected to it.

“I’m driving as best I can with that disconnect and I’m working as hard as I can to to try and create that connection but I think it’s a long project.

“But still considering we’ve been down on performance, we’re clearly down on end of straight pace compared to the Red Bulls, for us to be up here fighting with Aston this is just amazing at this point in the season, and we just got to keep on fighting.

“A big, big thank you to all the people at the factory who keep pushing. We can close that gap, it’s going to be tough but not impossible.”