Lewis Hamilton is one victory away from extending a significant all-time Formula 1 record that he has held since the 2016 season.
With 10 of the 21 races on the 2018 Formula 1 schedule completed, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton had earned just three victories, which was his lowest win total through 10 races in a season since the 2013 season. The 2013 season was his first season driving for Mercedes and the final season before the V6 turbo hybrid era began.
With 11 races remaining on the schedule, the odds of Hamilton reaching 10 victories this season were small. However, he has won six of the last seven races. Now with nine victories so far this season, he is just one win away from securing his 10th victory in 2018, and there are still four races remaining on the schedule.
If Hamilton is able to earn his 10th victory of the 2018 season, he will extend a record that he has held since he earned his 10th victory of the 2016 season in the season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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There have been just seven seasons during which a driver has secured at least 10 victories. Hamilton has been responsible for three of them. He earned 11 victories in the 2014 season before earning 10 victories in the 2015 season and an additional 10 victories in the 2016 season.
The other four seasons during which a driver pulled this off are the 2002 season, the 2004 season, the 2011 season and the 2013 season. In the 2002 season and the 2004 season, Michael Schumacher earned 11 victories and 13 victories, respectively. In the 2011 season and the 2013 season, Sebastian Vettel earned 11 victories and 13 victories, respectively.
This means that if Hamilton wins any one (or more) of the final four races of the 2018 season, he will extend his 10-win season record to four, which would make it twice as high as the second place total shared by Schumacher and Vettel.
Will he pull it off?
The final four races on the 2018 schedule are the United States Grand Prix, the Mexican Grand Prix, the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Hamilton has had success at each of them. In fact, he has combined to win these four races a total of 11 times, so the odds that he will earn his 10th victory of the season at some point are high.
Hamilton is a six-time winner of the United States Grand Prix (five-time winner at the current host track, Circuit of the Americas) and a three-time winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He earned his lone Mexican Grand Prix victory as well as his lone Brazilian Grand Prix victory in the 2016 season.
At this point, it would be shocking if Hamilton did not walk away from the 2018 season with four seasons of at least 10 victories to his name. He is more than capable of pulling it off, and he will likely do so in the very near future.
Will Lewis Hamilton secure his fourth career 10-win Formula 1 season this year? If so, in which race will he do so? The next race on the schedule is the United States Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ABC from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas beginning at 2:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 21. Be sure to tune in to find out if this will be the race in which he pulls it off.