Lewis Hamilton’s historic streak of seasons with double-digit wins in Formula One has officially come to an end, as he did not win the 2017 season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, 32, came into the 2017 Formula One season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having won nine of the first 19 races of the season. With a win in Abu Dhabi, he would have recorded the eighth season of double-digit wins in Formula One history, and it would have been his fourth.
Hamilton won 11 races in the 2014 season before winning 10 races in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons, giving him three consecutive seasons during which he recorded a double-digit win total. With a win in Abu Dhabi, he would have been at 10 wins in the 2017 season, thus giving him four straight seasons of double-digit wins.
However, Hamilton was unable to win his 10th race of the 2017 season, thus stopping his streak of consecutive seasons with double-digit wins at three. But while that streak did not get to four, it still stands as a historic streak.
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Aside of Hamilton’s three career seasons of double-digit wins, there have been just four seasons of that type among all other Formula One drivers combined in the history of the sport. Michael Schumacher won 11 races in the 2002 season and 13 races in the 2004 season, and Sebastian Vettel won 11 races in the 2011 season and 13 races in the 2013 season.
Schumacher and Vettel are the only other two drivers in Formula One history to record at least 10 wins in a single season, and they both did it twice. However, they were never able to put together any streaks of double-digit winning seasons.
Meanwhile, Hamilton has won at least 10 races in a single season three times, and he pulled off the historic feat in three straight seasons; no other driver, as referenced above, has ever even been able to pull that off two seasons in a row.
So while Lewis Hamilton was unable to win his 10th race of the 2017 season to give him four seasons in a row with a double-digit win total, his streak of three straight seasons with such a total is truly a historic and may very well be untouchable in itself.
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Will Lewis Hamilton get his win total back to double digits in the 2018 Formula One season, or are his days of winning 10 or more races in a single season over? The 2018 season begins on Sunday, March 25th with the Australian Grand Prix in just under four months.