Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton’s 2019 season is far from over

Lewis Hamilton may have been crowned champion in the antepenultimate race of the 2019 Formula 1 season. But he still has a lot to fight for this year.

For the sixth consecutive Formula 1 season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport won both the constructor championship and the driver championship. It was Lewis Hamilton winning his sixth world championship, which was his fifth in the last six years and his third in a row.

Mercedes clinched both of these championships following the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, which was only the 17th of 21 races on the schedule. In the 19th race of the season, the United States Grand Prix, at Circuit of the Americas, Hamilton clinched the driver title over teammate Valtteri Bottas.

While Hamilton has effectively been on cruise control to win the championship since overtaking Bottas in the driver standings and in the wins category back in mid-May at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix, his 2019 season is still far from over even though he is now officially a six-time champion.

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A case could be made for the remaining two races on the 2019 schedule, the Brazilian Grand Prix at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, as “lame duck” races. But even for Hamilton, that could not be farther from the truth.

He won’t get to tie Michael Schumacher’s all-time wins record (91), podium finishes record (155) or championships record (seven) this year with him having 83 victories, 150 podium finishes and six world titles to his name, but there are several single-season records that are well with the reach of the 34-year-old Briton over the course of the season’s final two races.

There are six significant records on the table that Hamilton can still tie and/or break throughout the remainder of the year.

Hamilton can break the records for most races led in a season, most podium finishes in a season and most points scored in a season. He can also become the first driver to score points in each race in multiple seasons, he can tie the all-time record for consecutive races scoring points, and he can become the second driver to finish every race of the season on the lead lap.

The record for most races led in a season is 18, and Hamilton has led laps in 17 of the season’s first 19 races. Sebastian Vettel set that record en route to winning the championship for the fourth time in his career back in 2013. The 2013 season was a 19-race season, so Vettel’s rate will still be higher than Hamilton’s no matter what happens throughout the rest of the year.

The record for most podium finishes in a season is 17, and Hamilton has recorded 16 podium finishes so far this year. Schumacher set that record in the 17-race 2002 season, so truly “breaking” this record may be considered impossible by some. Vettel tied it with 17 podium finishes in the 19-race 2011 season, and Hamilton tied it in the 19-race 2015 season, the 21-race 2016 season and the 21-race 2018 season.

Hamilton owns the all-time points record for a season having scored 408 points last year, giving him an average of 19.43 points per race. With an average of 20.05 points per race so far this season, Hamilton has scored 381 points through 19 races. If he can score 28 points over the course of the season’s final two races, he can break this record for the second consecutive year.

The current scoring format was introduced ahead of the 2010 season, with the point for the fastest race lap added ahead of the 2019 season.

Naturally, Schumacher scored points in every race back in the 2002 season when he failed to finish off of the podium. He earned 11 victories and recorded an all-time average finish of 1.41 throughout the year.

Hamilton pulled this off back in the 2017 season when his lowest point-scoring effort was his two-point effort with his ninth place finish in the Mexican Grand Prix. He could do it again this year, having recorded a worst finish of ninth (two points) in the German Grand Prix, and if he does pull it off, he would become the first driver to pull it off twice.

The record for most consecutive races scoring points is 33, which Hamilton set from the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix following his retirement from the Malaysian Grand Prix to the 2018 French Grand Prix ahead of his retirement from the Austrian Grand Prix.

The race after last year’s Austrian Grand Prix was the British Grand Prix, and Hamilton hasn’t finished outside of the points since then. His active streak is up to 31 races, meaning he could tie his own record by the end of the year.

Finally, Schumacher’s record-breaking 2002 season is the only season in the history of Formula 1 that featured a driver completing every lap of every race, as Schumacher went 1,090 for 1,090.

Hamilton is 1,136 for 1,136 with 126 laps remaining on the schedule, including 71 around the 15-turn, 2.677-mile (4.308-kilometer) Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace road course in Sao Paulo, Brazil and 55 around the 21-turn, 3.451-mile (5.5544-kilometer) Yas Marina Circuit road course on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

So don’t expect Hamilton to slack off just because he and Mercedes now each own six world championship trophies instead of five. There is still a lot at stake from a historical Formula 1 standpoint over the course of the next few weeks.

How many of these records will Lewis Hamilton tie and/or break throughout the remainder of the 2019 Formula 1 season? The season’s penultimate race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, is set to be broadcast live on ESPN2 from Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil beginning at 12:05 p.m. ET this Sunday, November 17, and the season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, is set to be broadcast live on ESPN2 from Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates beginning at 8:05 a.m. ET on Sunday, December 1.