Hamilton: Verstappen may beat my win record

Lewis Hamilton has said that Max Verstappen could eclipse his record for Formula One Grand Prix wins in the future.

Hamilton is on the verge of signing a contract extension with Mercedes and will have an opportunity to add to his 103 victories at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, but he acknowledges that the 25-year-old Red Bull driver has time on his side.

“He’s got a very long career ahead of him so absolutely,” Hamilton said when asked about Verstappen’s chances of eclipsing his tally of race wins. “Ultimately records are there to be broken.

“We’ve got to work harder to continue to extend it and, at least within the last period of time of my career, I hope we get to have some more close racing.”

Verstappen can deliver Red Bull’s 100th Formula One victory this weekend and draw level with the late Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna with a career haul of 41 wins.

The Dutch double world champion has won five of this season’s seven races, stretching his lead in the drivers standings to 53 points over teammate Sergio Perez, who has won the other two.

With 22 races on this year’s calendar, if Red Bull and Verstappen continue their imperious ways, the Dutchman could already be more than halfway to Hamilton’s record by the end of this season.

Hamilton’s last win was in Saudi Arabia in 2021 and no driver has ever won a grand prix after reaching 300 races.

He will start his 318th grand prix on Sunday on the circuit where he claimed his first win in 2007. While no one is predicting a victory, there are signs that Mercedes, who before Red Bull were Formula One’s supreme outfit, could be returning to form.

Mercedes have managed just a single race win in the last 18 months — George Russell at the Brazil Grand Prix last November.

But not all victories show up in the win column, said Hamilton, pointing to the Spanish Grand Prix in early June where both Mercedes cars finished on the podium.

“We’ve come through a tough patch and are on our way back up,” Hamilton told reporters. “Some of the races it feels like we’ve had wins, it’s just about perspective.

“Of course we’ve not been in first but there have been many wins in the steps we have taken.

“We have that North Star, we know where we need to go.”