10
2013 Promising start to a new era
*7.47 average score
Championship position (pts) 4th (189)
Wins 1
Poles 5
Autosport F1 Top 10 position 3rd
Autosport Top 50 position 7th
Number of Autosport 10/10s 2*
Many questioned the wisdom of Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes, but it quickly looked good when Mercedes produced the second-fastest car of 2013 and the ‘other’ silver team fell back.
Hamilton narrowly got the better of new team-mate Nico Rosberg and took five pole positions, but the W04 voraciously devoured rubber. Hamilton was not always on top of tyre management with the soft Pirellis, something that he became a master of in subsequent years, and dramatically lost the British Grand Prix thanks to a tyre blowout.
He didn’t always like the feel of the brakes during his first Mercedes year either, but victory at the Hungaroring in late July and fourth in the drivers’ standings (the same as in his final McLaren year), albeit well behind a rampant Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull, wasn’t a bad start.
HIGHLIGHT Hungarian GP
Against even his own expectations, Hamilton won from pole despite a baking track. The W04 didn’t destroy its tyres as anticipated and Hamilton did the rest, nailing crucial passes when required to score his first win for Mercedes by 10.9 seconds.
9
2022 Fighting to fix the broken Silver Arrow
*7.73 average score
Championship position (pts) (240)
