Assessing Hamilton’s remarkable decade as a Mercedes F1 driver

Next Monday will be the 10th anniversary of something unfortunate happening to Lewis Hamilton: the Mercedes chapter of his storied Formula 1 career getting off to rather a bad start…

After just 15 laps behind the wheel of the W04 challenger Mercedes had produced for 2013 – Hamilton’s first season with the Brackley-based squad after departing McLaren – he locked up going into Jerez’s Dry Sack hairpin. Hamilton skated across the gravel and went straight into the barriers. He climbed out, the damage relatively minor, but it came just a day after Mercedes had been forced to cut short its running due to an electrical gremlin with Nico Rosberg at the wheel.