Is Lewis Hamilton set to lose the all-time F1 record that he holds?

Can he maintain his F1 win record? 

Hamilton remains the only driver in F1 history to have won at least one race in every season he has completed since making his debut in 2007. 

The seven-time world champion is currently enduring the longest winless streak of his career, having gone 16 races since his last victory at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

Hamilton has failed to win a race so far in 2022 amid Mercedes’ difficult campaign and his record run will come to an end if he is not victorious at one of the remaining seven rounds of the season.  

After starting the year on the backfoot amid the introduction of major new technical regulations, Mercedes have made visible improvements in recent races after their porpoising issues.

Will he beat George Russell? 

After scoring Mercedes’ first podium of the season at the Bahrain opener, Hamilton suffered a run of being out-qualified and outraced by teammate George Russell. 

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff attributed Hamilton’s run of defeats to Russell - that stretched seven races in a row - to set-up “experiments going wrong” on Hamilton’s side of the garage. 

Indeed, it was Hamilton, as the more experienced driver, who carried out the majority of experiments early in the season during Mercedes’ bid to get to the bottom of their porpoising and bouncing issues, and subsequent lack of pace. 

Hamilton found himself 37 points down on Russell after Baku, but a remarkable run of form between Canada and Hungary has enabled the Briton to reduce the gap to just 12. 

At the Dutch Grand Prix, Russell overtook Hamilton and beat him to a podium finish.

Can he go wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen? 

As yet, we have not witnessed a proper wheel-to-wheel skirmish between Hamilton and 2021 title rival Max Verstappen. 

The pair engaged in a fierce and intense battle for the world championship last season but the competitiveness of their respective cars means seeing the world champions sharing the same piece of tarmac has become extremely rare. 

Hamilton and Verstappen found themselves side-by-side for the first time since Abu Dhabi in Canada, when Hamilton managed to stay ahead of Verstappen, who was coming out of the pits, much to the Dutchman’s annoyance. 

“Why didn’t you make sure I [expletive] end up in front?!” Verstappen fumed over the radio. 

But it was not a true fight and Verstappen was quickly ahead in a matter of corners. 

They also met on track again in Austria, where Verstappen made short work of passing Hamilton on fresher rubber.

There was a brief moment when it looked as though Hamilton and Verstappen would go wheel-to-wheel in Hungary, but the action never materialised. 

In Verstappen's home race of Zandvoort, he took advantage of Hamilton's tyre strategy to swiftly overtake his rival immediately after a Safety Car left the track.

If Mercedes keep up their current rate of progress, will we finally be treated to a genuine on-track battle between Hamilton and Verstappen before the year is out? And if they do, will they keep it clean? 

Will he clarify his long-term future?

With Hamilton’s current contract due to expire at the end of 2023, naturally, questions have been raised about his future. 

Hamilton, who will be almost 39 by the end of his existing deal, previously stated he didn’t intend to race into his 40s. However, he offered a hint that his position may have changed after becoming the sixth driver in F1 history to reach 300 races at the French Grand Prix. 

After finishing second at Paul Ricard, Hamilton said he feels he’s got “plenty of fuel in the tank” as he welcomed talk about the prospect of him extending his stint with Mercedes. 

"I'm enjoying what I'm doing, and feel really proud working with this incredible group of people,” said Hamilton. 

"I'm also enjoying working with the sport more than ever. We've got some great people leading the sport, we're having great conversations about the direction we're going in.

"I'm enjoying it more than ever.”

Hamilton added: "Of course I want to get back to winning ways and that's going to take time. I'm sure we'll sit down at some stage and talk about the future.”

Any decision Hamilton makes will likely depend on Mercedes’ competitiveness in 2023, but given their rate of improvement in 2022, and his personal desire to win a record-breaking eighth world title, it would not be a surprise to see him racing into 2024 and beyond.