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Formula 1: Mercedes fall one win short of tying consecutive wins record

By Asher Fair

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JUNE 30: Valtteri Bottas driving the (77) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W10 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 30, 2019 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - JUNE 30: Valtteri Bottas driving the (77) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W10 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 30, 2019 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) /
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Mercedes failed to win the Austrian Grand Prix, ending their winning streak at 10 races, one victory shy of tying the all-time Formula 1 record.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport entered the ninth race on the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 schedule, the Austrian Grand Prix, at the Red Bull Ring having won each of the season’s first eight races and each of the last 10 races going back to last season.

Lewis Hamilton won eight of these 10 races, including six of the first eight races of the 2019 season, while Valtteri Bottas won the other two, two races that resulted in Hamilton finishing in second place.

However, neither driver was able to claim the top spot on the podium, with Bottas finishing in third place and Hamilton finishing in fifth after they started in third and fourth, respectively.

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Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen won the race ahead of Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second place, although this result is in question, as Verstappen’s winning pass with three laps remaining in the 71-lap race around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria is under investigation.

Regardless of the outcome of this investigation, Mercedes will not win; a five-second time penalty for Verstappen would drop him from 2.724 seconds ahead of Leclerc to 2.276 behind him. Bottas, meanwhile, finished 18.960 seconds behind Verstappen and 16.236 seconds behind Leclerc.

Mercedes had a chance to tie the all-time Formula 1 consecutive wins record with a victory in this race. This record was set back in the 1988 season when McLaren reeled off 11 consecutive victories to open up the year.

But neither Hamilton nor Bottas had anything for the leaders all race long. Hamilton did lead eight laps, but only because he made his pit stop eight laps after Leclerc made his from the lead. Hamilton ended up needing his front wing changed due to damage his front wing sustained during his first stint.

This pit stop relegated Hamilton to fifth place, although he did advance to fourth when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel made a second pit stop for new tires, but Vettel was able to chase down the 34-year-old Briton and pass him for fourth toward the end of the race.

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At long last, Mercedes’ winning streak is history, and it was not quite long enough to become the longest in Formula 1 history. After the Silver Arrows dominated the start of the 2019 season, are Red Bull Racing and Ferrari in position to challenge them throughout the remainder of the season, or will their dominance resume in the British Grand Prix?

The British Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 14 at Silverstone Circuit in England, United Kingdom, and it is set to be broadcast live on ESPN2 beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET.

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