Ranking Lewis Hamilton's worst losing-streaks  against his teammate

Lewis Hamilton's partnership with George Russell has not had the smoothest of beginnings for the seven-time champion. He is currently looking at a deficit of 23 points against Russell as he struggles to get to grips with the fact that Mercedes might not be able to challenge for the title.

Having said that, Hamilton's barren run of form against his teammate made us wonder if something like that had happened before in the Mercedes driver's career. Hamilton has almost always held an advantage over his teammates throughout his career, so for him to go on a losing streak is rare.

This was why it was interesting to find out what other losing streaks against his teammates had Hamilton gone on in the past and how his current streak against Russell compares with that.

With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the losing streaks Hamilton has gone on in his career and rank them from the shortest to the longest.

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Ranking Lewis Hamilton's worst losing streaks

#5 Fernando Alonso (2007) (Losing streak: 3)

Lewis Hamilton started his career with Fernando Alonso as his teammate at McLaren. Alonso was the reigning two-time world champion but was somewhat rattled by his teammate's speed. As a result, it was almost always neck and neck between the two drivers throughout the season. The hotly contested tussle saw the initiative swing back and forth on both sides.

Alonso, however, was able to string together a winning streak at one point in the season. The streak included beating Hamilton in a head-to-head in Turkey, Italy (where Alonso dominated everyone), and Belgium.

Aftermath: Hamilton bounced back in the fourth race in Japan to win the race in treacherous conditions while Alonso crashed out of the race. Both drivers ended the season level on points.

#4 Jenson Button (2010) (Losing streak: 3)

Jenson Button had made one of the boldest career decisions in F1 history to pick McLaren as his destination to defend his 2009 world title. McLaren was the home of F1 phenom Lewis Hamilton and many pundits had termed the move a career suicide.

Having said so, that wasn't the case at all as Button was a competitive teammate for Hamilton. In their very first year, the Brit went on a 3-race winning streak from the Italian GP to the Japanese GP against Hamilton, which was probably more down to the latter than Button.

Hamilton suffered two early race-ending incidents in Italy and Singapore and was then outperformed by Button in the Japanese GP.

Aftermath: The season was still more or less the one where Hamilton held a clear edge over Button as was reflected in the standings as well.

#3 George Russell (2022) (Losing streak: 4)

Interestingly for George Russell, his current winning streak against Lewis Hamilton already puts him third in the standings. The British driver has not lost to Hamilton since he finished in 4th position behind the latter in the first race of the season. He has beaten him in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Imola, and now Miami.

Aftermath: The aftermath and length of this losing streak is still in progress and it will be interesting to see what truly happens in this teammate rivalry.

#2 Jenson Button (2011) (Losing streak: 5)

As we said earlier, Jenson Button was one of the most capable teammates for Lewis Hamilton during his career. After what was a rather flukish 3-race win streak in 2010, Button was on a roll in 2011 and ended up putting together a vastly impressive 5-race win streak over his compatriot.

In a stretch that began in Belgium in 2011 and continued till Japan, Button was able to put together a 5-race stretch where Hamilton had no answer for him.

Aftermath: The 2011 season saw Button beat Hamilton in the standings. The former finished 2nd in the standings while his teammate was 5th.

#1 Nico Rosberg (2015-16) (Losing streak: 7)

It was slightly surprising to find that Nico Rosberg was able to put together a 7-race stretch where he beat Lewis Hamilton every race weekend. The stretch began at the end of the 2015 season after Hamilton had wrapped up the championship. Rosberg won the last three races of the 2015 championship and then went on a further 4-race win streak in 2016.

Aftermath: While Hamilton was able to mount a comeback in 2016, Rosberg was able to hang in there until the last race of the season and ultimately beat the Briton to the title.