Lewis Hamilton will be desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix as he bids to end an unwanted F1 record.
The seven-time world champion returns to Spielberg on the cusp of equalling his longest wait for a podium in his first year at Ferrari.
Hamilton is still waiting to score his first Ferrari podium in a main raceGettyThe 40-year-old has not stood on a grand prix podium since his runners-up finish in Las Vegas 12 races ago.
A win in the Chinese Sprint aside, Hamilton has largely struggled in the main Grand Prix for his new team so far in 2025.
Failure to cross the line as one of Austria’s top-three on Sunday will be the 13th successive race without a podium for the Brit.
As such, it would equal his longest run without one, which came between the 2023 Sao Paulo and the 2024 Spanish Grands Prix.
Worryingly for fans, Austria is infamously a track that Hamilton has struggled at even during his pomp with Mercedes.
The F1 icon has taken the chequered flag at the Red Bull ring just once, despite his mastery of the V6 hybrid era in the early 2010s.
By 2018, Hamilton had a major battle on their hands to claim his fifth world title, ironically with Ferrari proving his main rivals.
The then Mercedes driver arrived in Austria that July holding a slender 14-point championship lead over Sebastian Vettel.
Having qualified second behind his Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton seized the lead into turn one.
However, problems arose when the other Mercedes car on the track retired on lap 14 in which was ominous signs to follow.
Hamilton (far left) instantly overtook pole-setter Bottas (far right) to leadF1 YouTubeLewis Hamilton at Austria
2014: Started 9th, Finished 2nd
2015: Started 1st, Finished 2nd
2016: Started 1st, Finished 1st
2017: Started 8th, Finished 4th
2018: Started 2nd, DNF
2019: Started 4th, Finished 5th
2020: Started 5th, Finished 4th
2021: Started 4th, Finished 4th
2022: Started 8th, Finished 3rd
2023: Started 5th, Finished 8th
2024: Started 5th, Finished 4th
A virtual safety car allowed Ferrari and Red Bull to take a cheap pit stop, but Toto Wolff and co. opted against bringing in Hamilton.
Instead, it meant the former McLaren driver lost a huge amount of time when it came to his stop under normal racing conditions later.
A frustrated and confused Hamilton ultimately surrendered the lead to emerge in fourth, with a battle to regain an advantage.
“It is my mistake, just give us what you can,” said James Vowles, the ex-Mercedes chief strategist and now Williams‘ team principal.
“I have thrown away the win today.”
Hamilton went full throttle to close the gap, but disastrously, he overheated his tyres and Mercedes were forced to pit him again.
Hamilton vented his frustrations on the team radio after a major strategy errorF1 YouTube He then suffered a first DNF in over a year as Mercedes saw both cars retireF1 YoutubeHamilton’s misery was compounded with eight laps to go when he was forced to retire – his first DNF since Malaysia in 2016.
“That was a major wake-up call,” said Toto Wolff afterwards.
“This is exactly how motor racing can go it can be very, very cruel, and we had all the cruelty go against us today, and it just got us brutally.”
Vettel reclaimed the championship lead after finishing third, with Hamilton calling it ‘the worst race I can remember for a very, very long time.’
“It is the hardest weekend we have had for a long, long time, we will discuss reliability and the strategy call,” he added.
“We have a lot of strategists, and I don’t know how we can make those errors, but James put his hand up.
“We have lost a lot of points either through bad calls or reliability.”
Fast-forward to 2025, and what team does that remind you of?
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