Australian GP: Impressive Lewis Hamilton record under serious threat at Albert Park

Lewis Hamilton may see an incredible record of winning every pole at the Australian Grand Prix in the turbo-hybrid era come to an end next weekend.

The Briton has had a stellar time in Australia over the years, with him earning the rather impressive streak of taking pole position at every Grand Prix to have been held there in the turbo-hybrid era.

The run goes from 2014 to 2019, but there’s every chance that Hamilton won’t be able to make it a magnificent seven next week when F1 returns to Albert Park.

Indeed, his Mercedes car is simply not at the field-leading level it was at in the past, with the Red Bull and Ferrari looking far superior as things stand.

The Merc has struggled in particular with porpoising, and it has upset Hamilton’s handling of the car with him only able to qualify P16 last time out in Saudi Arabia, before scoring a solitary point in the race as he finished P10.

The Bahrain Grand Prix was a little better for him as he rose from P5 on the grid to P3 but, even so, that was helped by the double retirement of the Red Bull and, clearly, even if Mercedes bring upgrades to Australia, Hamilton will be going some to take pole in Melbourne.

Hamilton, of course, is used to setting records in F1 rather than seeing them broken but, as with everything, all good things come to an end and it looks as though we could have a different car and driver in P1 in Australia for the first time in the turbo-hybrid era.

Who it is that takes it, though, remains to be seen with the current F1 season providing plenty of drama with the likes of Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez all looking very competitive.