Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton Makes His 400th F1 Start in Brazil
The São Paulo Grand Prix is Lewis Hamilton's 400th Formula 1 start, at a circuit he has called an honorary home. Only Fernando Alonso has started more Grands Prix.
source: Scuderia Ferrari HPLewis Hamilton lines up for his 400th Formula 1 start at this weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix. He joins Fernando Alonso as only the second driver to reach the mark, and does it in his second season with Ferrari, at a circuit that has followed his whole career.
He arrives in form. Hamilton took pole position in Mexico City last Sunday, the 105th of his career and his first in a Grand Prix for Ferrari, and finished second. He is third in the drivers' championship, two points behind Max Verstappen, with four races left.
"That number is irrelevant"
Hamilton has been characteristically unsentimental about the figure itself. "I never thought that I would be reaching numbers like that," he told reporters in Brazil, before adding: "For me, that number is irrelevant." What he does find meaningful is where it is happening. Reaching the milestone in Brazil, a country where he is hugely popular and where he was made an honorary citizen in 2022, he called symbolic.
Other drivers were readier to mark it. Audi's Nico Hülkenberg, himself one of the most experienced drivers on the grid, praised Hamilton's determination to keep competing at the front after so many seasons.
Nineteen years of Interlagos
Few circuits have shaped a career the way Interlagos has shaped Hamilton's.
- 2007: in his rookie season, Hamilton arrived at the final race leading the championship and lost it by a single point, after a gearbox problem dropped him down the order.
- 2008: a year later, at the same race, he won his first world title on the final lap, passing Timo Glock in the closing corners to take the fifth place he needed.
- 2021: disqualified from Friday qualifying over a rear-wing irregularity, he started the Saturday sprint from last and finished fifth, then took a five-place engine penalty, started Sunday's race tenth, and won. It is still regarded as one of the best drives of his career.
That 2021 race is now George Russell's reference point as he starts this weekend five places down after his own engine change.
source: Scuderia Ferrari HPWhat 400 starts looks like
Hamilton made his debut with McLaren at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix and finished on the podium. Six seasons at McLaren were followed by twelve at Mercedes, where he won six of his seven world titles, and then the move to Ferrari for 2025. Along the way he has collected the sport's records for both wins (106) and pole positions (105).
Only Alonso, who made his debut in 2001, has started more races. Reaching 400 takes more than talent; it takes two decades without a serious break, in a sport that has rarely kept its stars this long.
Arriving in a row
The weekend also comes with tension inside Ferrari. Hamilton believes his first-lap fight with Charles Leclerc in Mexico cost the team a one-two, and team principal Fred Vasseur has called both drivers to talks at Interlagos. That story is here. Ferrari also need a strong result on Sunday to stop Mercedes sealing the constructors' title.
On track, Hamilton was fourth in Friday's first practice, behind Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli and Verstappen. A podium in his 400th race, in front of a crowd that treats him as one of its own, would be a fitting way to mark it.
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