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Lewis Hamilton will be in the spotlight this weekend as this race will be his 300th race start. The driver will join the exclusive '300-race' club this weekend and become only the sixth driver in the history of the sport to do so.
The Mercedes driver is a 7-time F1 World Champion (in the eyes of many, maybe an 8-time, but that's a debate for some other day). He has more than 100 wins and pole positions. In terms of success, Hamilton trumps every other driver in the history of the sport.
This season, however, success has been scarce for the Briton. The best that he has been able to muster is a third-place finish. At the F1 French GP this weekend, that might change, and Hamilton himself is hoping for things to get better. At the drivers' press conference for the French GP weekend, he had said:
“It’s been really positive to have some consistency come back in, as I was saying earlier, and bit by bit you’re getting a little bit more comfortable in the car. And also with the direction where you set the car up… where you position the car, what the car will accept.”
The Mercedes driver did, however, mention that things are still not completely in control as he alluded to the embarrassing crash in Austria. He said:
“Obviously it bit me in the last race with the crash in qualifying but otherwise, as I said, we’re constantly adding performance, we’re constantly progressing forwards and there’s a lot to come in the next races.”
This weekend, Lewis Hamilton has the opportunity to register his name in the history books once again and become the first driver to win his 300th race. In this feature, let's take a look at why Hamilton and his Mercedes could win the 300th race of his career.
Lewis Hamilton could snatch a win in his 300th race. Here's why!
#1 Track layout
The 2022 F1 challenger from Mercedes has far too many limitations. The car generates far too much drag (Austria), can't ride the kerbs well (Canada), and is a nightmare on bumpy tracks (Baku). There is, however, a track layout where the car works perfectly and everything aligns. Tracks like Barcelona and Silverstone are a good mix of fast-speed sections and have a smooth surface that brings out the best in the Mercedes W13.
Lewis Hamilton's drive from the back of the grid to the front in Barcelona was stunning. So was the race-long battle for a win at Silverstone. The track in Circuit Paul Ricard is smooth, so bouncing won't be an issue. To add to that, the fast-speed sections of the track make it a tailor-made layout for the team where it can compete with both Red Bull and Ferrari.
At both Silverstone and Barcelona, there was a sense of 'what could have been?' for Mercedes. Circuit Paul Ricard might just be the track where Mercedes gets the answer to that question.
#2 Upgrades
What is interesting is that even in Austria, the gap between Mercedes and the frontrunners was not too big. At the end of the race, the gap in the long runs was more or less around 3-4 tenths of a second. According to Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton himself, that kind of gap could soon be overhauled and was a positive sign for the team.
With Austria's track layout not being the best for Mercedes (the car had too much drag) and the possibility of new upgrades helping Mercedes cut down the gap even more, there is a strong possibility that we might be looking at Hamilton fighting it out for the win this weekend.
Especially because if we look at the runs on Friday, while Mercedes does not have the best one-lap performance at Paul Ricard, the race pace is very competitive. If Lewis Hamilton maximizes his qualifying, he will at least qualify in P5 and then get promoted to P4 (because of Carlos Sainz's penalty). Starting the race in P4 surely gives the Mercedes driver a shot at a win, doesn't it?
#3 Weather forecast
The last time F1 went on a track that was hard on the tires and the temperatures made things worse, it was in Barcelona. The Spanish track featured a lot of high-speed sections that increased the load on the tires and then the high temperatures made things even worse.
Tire degradation was a huge issue and while Ferrari struggled to keep life in its tires (take a look at Carlos Sainz's race), Mercedes held on impressively in the hands of Lewis Hamilton.
The conditions in Paul Ricard are going to be similar to Barcelona. The only difference? It's probably going to be hotter. This should bring in a factor of variability to the race that could help Mercedes challenge Ferrari and Red Bull up front.
That was evident during Friday's running as well. Mercedes' long-run pace was comparable and even slightly better than Ferrari's as the Italian squad suffered from tire degradation.
Can Lewis Hamilton challenge for a win in that situation? Well, after looking at the experience of winning over 100 races in his career, it's hard to put this beyond him.
