Lewis Hamilton’s 8 best Mercedes F1 wins

8. 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix

The 2021 season will go down as surely one of the lowest points of Hamilton’s life. But it started very differently. After a winter of rule changes that seemed, to Mercedes at least, to favour a certain Austrian team, Mercedes arrived for the first race of the year on the back foot.

And so it played out during the race. Max Verstappen had clinched pole by over four-tenths of a second, and pulled a gap on Hamilton at the start. But then the British seven-time champion’s experience told. Firstly, he spent half the race exploring just how far he could push track limits at turn four - much to Verstappen’s chagrin. And then he pulled off a classic bit of Hamilton tyre whispering, running a set of hards from lap 14 until the end.

Verstappen was left to charge up behind Hamilton on much better rubber, only to find himself sent to find out just where those limits were by a Mercedes W12 as he passed Hamilton. After having to give the place back, Hamilton masterfully kept just far enough in front that Verstappen’s tyres went off in dirty air before he could get back in front. It was the perfect setup for a barnstorming year.

7. 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton only won one grand prix during the 2013 season, leading his critics to question the move from McLaren to Mercedes. But he did take five pole positions – the team had already found outright pace, even if the W04 did have an annoying habit of destroying its tyres.

So when Hamilton took his fourth pole of the year, and third in a row, in Hungary, it wasn’t really expected that he and Mercedes would be able to carry that through to a first victory. Really Sebastian Vettel should have won this one, but it was a demonstration of Hamilton’s race craft that led to his first factory Silver Arrows win.

After his first pit stop, the then one-time champion was able to dispatch former team-mate Jenson Button quickly, but Vettel behind him could not. This allowed Hamilton to run off into a big enough lead that Vettel - who eventually damaged his front wing trying to pass Button - could not overcome. In fact the German finished third. An early showcase that Hamilton, who had been much criticised over the preceding years, was still up there with the very best.

6. 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

The race that was nicknamed ‘The Duel in the Desert’ justifies that moniker. And, like the first one on our list, it’s a story of Hamilton keeping his tyres alive and then fending off a car on much faster rubber. In this case it was his team-mate.

This time the challenge came multiple times through the race. First, he needed to get past Nico Rosberg’s sister Mercedes, which he did on lap one. Then he needed to stop the German getting back past, which he did on lap 19 when Rosberg caught up and sent his W05 up the inside to no avail. Finally, there was the famous titanic duel at the end of the race. Set up beautifully by a safety car and showcasing Hamilton’s growing maturity. DRS and much better tyres couldn’t help Rosberg pass his team-mate, as he stamped his mark on a season the pair would go on to dominate.

5. 2018 German Grand Prix

I’ve already written about a couple of the races on this list when we counted through what were Hamilton’s best victories of all back in 2020, but they are worth repeating. Germany 2018 is one. A race that just seemed like it wanted to go wrong at every possible juncture for the home team. But through it all Lewis Hamilton put on one hell of a show.

It’s controversial too. As much as we’ll remember Peter Bonnington for the words “hammer time”, he’s probably just as iconic for shouting “In in in in in in in, STAY OUT” at his driver as Mercedes dithered over what to do when the safety car intervened. Many will say he should have been penalised, but even if that’s true this is still a Hamilton masterclass.

He qualified 14^th after suffering a technical problem, but by the time that many laps had been completed he was fifth. Then a little rain was thrown into the mix. Not a lot, but enough to send Sebastian Vettel - who had led much of the race - into the barriers. This time it was Valtteri Bottas sat behind in another Mercedes on fresh tyres, but after he failed to get past the Finn was told to back off by the team. Might he have won? Maybe. Is it still one of Hamilton’s most masterful drives in changeable conditions? Yes.

4. 2024 British Grand Prix

The comeback one. There can’t have been many a dry eye among the home fans watching, even those who have perhaps not warmed to Hamilton. It had all the hallmarks of a Hamilton great: Overtaking a team-mate, being out on perhaps lesser rubber, and performing in changeable conditions.

As soon as it started to drizzle, you thought that Hamilton had a chance in this one. He showed he wasn’t to be discarded into number two status by overtaking George Russell in the wet, and then kept some soft tyres going long enough to leave Max Verstappen - who had won seven of the last 11 races - unable to charge him down. It would be Hamilton’s ninth victory at the British Grand Prix, and at least the second best of those. He was duly lauded by the crowd and media. No matter how some of the rest of the season went, this showed he still had it.

3. 2019 Monaco Grand Prix

Right place wrong tyres. There’s a theme here. Perhaps it’s just that some of Hamilton’s real finest drives have been masked by the fact that he’s finished a mile ahead of the field. But the drives we really notice seem to come when Hamilton’s back was against the wall.

That was definitely the case around the streets of Monaco in 2019. The day that Mercedes inexplicably decided to stick Hamilton on different tyres to the ones everyone else chose. With 67 laps to go, and the safety car out, all the leaders switched to hard rubber. Hamilton was handed some mediums and told to take them to the end. Possible? Yes. Fast? No.

Hamilton was forced into the tactical drive of his life. Allowing a very fired up Max Verstappen to stay close to him while he charged his battery, and then keeping enough charge to leave him unable to launch an attack into Monaco’s only passing place. Yes, it’s hard to overtake around the Principality, but it’s not impossible, especially when the car in front has dead tyres. But that day, it was. The image no doubt chosen to illustrate this section showcases that beautifully: Verstappen’s only real lunge, resulting in the two making light contact.

2. 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix

Comebacks, comebacks everywhere. Hamilton might as well have started the Sao Paulo race in Brackley given the proliferation of grid penalties he was handed. Total disqualification from sprint qualifying, five more places for the race itself.

In the sprint (which in 2021 set the grid for the grand prix) Hamilton raced from last to sixth in just 24 laps. The next day he repeated his feat, starting tenth and clinching a victory that involved him overtaking Verstappen in another fiery duel in a season full of them. Verstappen was showcasing the qualities that some adore and others despise - a will to win that will see him push the edges of fair racing. At one point sending himself and Hamilton flying wide at Descida do Lago in his desperation to hang onto the lead. It was to no avail, it took three tries but Hamilton was past, and in such form that he left the Red Bull behind to the tune of ten seconds.

1. 2020 Turkish Grand Prix

This will always be my favourite Hamilton drive. Yes, there are ones where he has scythed through the field (Brazil ‘21) or held off other cars (multiple), but here was a drive of such pure class that even Sebastian Vettel wanted to tell Hamilton how good it was straight away. “I told him that it’s very special for us because we can witness history being made today,” said Vettel when asked what they talked about in parc ferme post race.

It was a weird race. All the factors for chaos were there from the start. Istanbul Park had just been resurfaced and the oils in the tarmac were not quite settled. It was a freezing November day and then it rained. With almost zero grip, at times the cars might as well have been driving on ice. And in practice it caught out the, until-then, dominant Mercs. They were ninth and 15^th in first practice, and just about recovered for sixth and ninth in qualifying.

Up front, it was Red Bull and Racing Point dominating. But then, from some seemingly non-existent realm, Hamilton found some speed on ageing tyres. He kept a set of intermediates alive long after they should have been ditched, catching Sergio Perez and strolling off to a half-minute lead. By the end his inters were slicks and Hamilton was a seven-time world champion. It might not have been a barnstorming drive, but it was the truest showcase of sheer driving ability possible.