Hamilton hoping to mark 300th F1 race with first win of season

PARIS (AP) — Lewis Hamilton enters his 300th Formula One race at the French Grand Prix this weekend in the uncustomary position of chasing a first win this season.

The seven-time world champion has a record 103 F1 wins and pole positions. The 37-year-old British driver also shares two records with fellow great Michael Schumacher: seven world titles and winning at least one race for 15 straight seasons. Schumacher’s run was from his F1 debut in 1992 until 2006; Hamilton’s since his first season in 2007.

But Hamilton is without a win 12 races into this season. He is inching closer heading into this weekend’s French Grand Prix, after three straight podium finishes since Mercedes ironed out ongoing issues with bouncing.

“It’s been really positive to have some consistency come back in. We’re constantly adding performance, we’re constantly progressing and there’s a lot to come,” Hamilton said. “In the last race (in Austria) we were only a few tenths (of a second) off the lead guys in qualifying.”

Hamilton selected his first F1 win in 2007, his first title in 2008, and winning on his home track at Silverstone as standout memories among many.

“The whole realization of reaching your dream is a very, very surreal experience and it is always going to be your first,” Hamilton said. “The amount of sleepless nights as a family that all of us had had, not knowing whether or not we would actually reach our goal, reach our dream, but never giving up.”

There have been intense rivalries: last season Red Bull star Max Verstappen clinched the title in controversial circumstances at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP. A bitter defeat to Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in 2016 and some tussles with Fernando Alonso in 2007 with McLaren.

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