Lewis Hamilton: the top 3 best wins of his F1 career

Lewis Hamilton has 103 wins throughout his legendary career in Formula 1. But what are his best-ever victories? Here are our picks for the Mercedes ace’s top three.

After starting his career at McLaren, Hamilton took a leap of faith and joined Mercedes in 2013. As F1 entered its turbo-hybrid era, the move proved inspired. The Silver Arrows dominated the second half of the 2010s as Hamilton won multiple world titles.

In 2020, he joined Michael Schumacher as the only other driver to have won seven world drivers’ championships.

Of course, to achieve this, you have to win races – which Hamilton has done more than any other driver in the sport. We have narrowed his best victories down to just three for you to reminisce.

#3: 2018 German Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton stole a crucial advantage in the race for the 2018 world championship with one of his best wins at Hockenheim.

After a hydraulic failure during qualifying, the Mercedes driver started in a lowly 14th place on the grid. However, he wasted no time in moving up the field, even gaining a place on the first lap.

By a third of the way through the race, Hamilton was already within the top five thanks to a stretched-out first stint. He had put himself in a great position to challenge for a podium – almost unthinkable after the disappointment in qualifying.

Then the rain came.

The slick conditions caused many a problem for those on track, with multiple spins and incidents. But none of these were more impactful than Sebastian Vettel’s retirement. Whilst leading the race, Vettel went straight on at turn 13 on lap 52, hitting the barriers, and going out of the GP. The Ferrari driver’s incident also brought out the safety car.

This blew the German Grand Prix wide open, as well as giving Hamilton a chance to make ground in the title race.

Following the safety car period – and not pitting, just about – Lewis Hamilton had the lead. He held this until the end to earn an improbable victory at Mercedes’ “home” race.

#2: 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2021 championship was one of the most enthralling title battles in recent memory. At that year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton kept his title chances very much alive with one of his most spectacular wins.

Hamilton’s weekend at Interlagos saw him almost immediately on the back foot. Firstly, he received a grid penalty for an ICE change. Then, after qualifying on pole for the Sprint race, he was demoted to the back of the grid due to an issue with his rear wing.

But this adversity seemed to just spur on the Mercedes star. He rose from last to fifth place during the 24-lap sprint race on Saturday, meaning he started tenth for the following day’s GP.

Almost immediately, Hamilton started his assault on those ahead of him. After the first few corners, the Brit had already worked his way up to eighth place. Just laps later, Hamilton overtook Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari to leap up into the top 5.

Teammate Valtteri Bottas then handed Hamilton P3, but there was nothing gifted about his move on Sergio Perez. He boldly swept around the Mexican at the first turn of the Senna “S” to set off in pursuit of Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton was right with his title rival around the lap 45-mark. The protagonists were locked in a cat-and-mouse battle, Verstappen defending aggressively to try and keep the lead. However, he was powerless to stop the Mercedes ace from finally getting past on lap 59.

Hamilton went on to take the chequered flag after a breathless Brazilian Grand Prix. Throughout a dramatic weekend, he had managed to overtake the entire field.

#1: 2008 British Grand Prix

Unbelievably, Lewis Hamilton produced one of the greatest wins of his F1 career in just his second season. A rain-soaked Silverstone was the setting of a legendary wet weather drive from the Briton in front of his home fans.

A dry qualifying session on Saturday had proved underwhelming for the then-McLaren youngster. Hamilton had put his MP4-23 in fourth for the race, meanwhile, teammate Heikki Kovalainen was on pole.

The weather the following day brought polar opposite conditions, though. The Silverstone circuit was almost a river after an extensive downpour – and this suited Hamilton perfectly.

He leapfrogged Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen in P2 and P3 respectively before the field had even reached the first corner. Following this, Hamilton put pressure on his teammate as they distanced themselves from the pack.

The Brit then delighted the partisan crowd by taking the lead on lap 5. After slipstreaming down the Hangar straight, Hamilton dived down the inside of Kovalainen at Stowe to move into first place.

He was absolutely untouchable from this point.

With conditions still treacherous, many drivers were spinning and struggling in the wet – but not Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren star just kept getting further and further ahead, lapping almost every car on the grid except for two. Even then, Nick Heidfeld (second) and Rubens Barrichello (third) were over a minute behind the Brit.

Eventually, the rain let up and the sun broke through as Hamilton claimed a dominant victory. His talent and focus were put to the ultimate test in the British Grand Prix, and Hamilton produced a brilliant response to claim an amazing victory.

That is why it ranks first in our rundown of all-time wins from Lewis Hamilton.

Featured image credit: Getty

Verified by MonsterInsights