On the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain
Max Verstappen had to let
Lewis Hamilton take the victory. The Englishman is already the most successful
Formula 1 driver to date and as long as he stays active he will keep shattering a lot of records.
300!
One of those records was already broken at the start of the season in Bahrain. Although not less beautiful, this time it was not a personal record but a record for his country. Hamilton's victory was the 300th victory for the United Kingdom in
Formula 1. A record that the team of Mercedes wanted to share with us all too eagerly.
Button
It must be said that in the new decade most of the victories for Great Britain were claimed by car number 44. The last British victor before Lewis? Then we have to go back to Brazil 2012. At the Interlagos circuit, it was
Jenson Button who took the victory. A salient detail: Button also did this in a Mercedes, the
McLaren-Mercedes to be exact. Even more salient detail:
Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position in that race and seemed to have a good shot at a win for a long time. However, on lap 54 he was hit by
Nico Hulkenberg, allowing Button to take victory.
History and Future
The United Kingdom produced eight more world champions in addition to Button and Hamilton, all of whom have a share in the aforementioned 300 wins. These included Mike Hawthorn, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell and father and son Hill. With young talents
George Russell, who according to insiders might take over Hamilton's seat at Mercedes, and
Lando Norris it looks like the 300 victories will certainly not be the last.