The challenges Hamilton must overcome to topple Schumacher's greatest F1 record

Lewis Hamilton has got a hungry young team-mate in George Russell, a take-no-prisoners arch-rival in Max Verstappen, and he reckons his Mercedes W13 car is the fourth best on the 2022 Formula 1 grid. But he says he’ll bounce back like never before from the disappointment of his controversial 2021 world championship defeat

Lewis Hamilton is set to match another of Michael Schumacher’s records this weekend. When the lights go out to signal the start in Bahrain, he will begin his 179th grand prix with Mercedes. That will equal the longevity of the partnership that Schumacher forged at Ferrari. But moving ahead of the German by claiming a peerless eighth world title will be far less of a formality.

For starters, the W13’s potential proved hard to unlock during pre-season testing at Barcelona and Sakhir. While team and driver are no strangers to playing down expectations this early, and the Silver Arrow was never bothering the top of the speed traps (suggesting modest engine modes), there’s greater reason than ever to subscribe to the muted expectations. Mercedes, more than most, is struggling with porpoising down the straights and understeer through the corners.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.