Fastest laps may have been, at times, of limited significance in Formula 1; still, Lewis Hamilton’s quickest race lap in the Singapore Grand Prix marked his 16th consecutive season with the feat, which shouldn’t be understated.
Michael Schumacher was the previous record holder, having achieved fastest laps every year from his first full F1 campaign, in 1992, to his initial retirement at the end of the 2006 season.
Hamilton made his F1 debut the following year, taking a runner-up spot in 2007 and the world title in 2008 with 13 poles and nine wins overall, but just three fastest laps – before he failed to achieve any in 2009, which was a tough season for McLaren. That year, he came closest at the Italian GP, with a 0.063s deficit on Force India’s Adrian Sutil.
Since then, Hamilton has got at least one fastest lap every year. Let’s look at how he did it.
2010 – Five fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4/25
Photo by: Sutton Images
Hamilton is the oft-forgotten title contender of the 2010 season, in which nobody got more fastest laps than him – five, as many as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. In the last year of the pre-Pirelli and pre-DRS era, the McLaren driver prevailed at Shanghai, Barcelona, Spa-Francorchamps, Interlagos – by 0.004s over Alonso – and Yas Marina.
2011 – Three fastest laps
The 2011 season arguably was Hamilton’s worst, as team-mate Jenson Button took the upper hand amid numerous mistakes by his junior. Hamilton still achieved three fastest laps at Barcelona, the Nurburgring and Monza – the latter by 0.020s over Button.
2012 – One fastest lap
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-27
Photo by: Sutton Images
McLaren had a very competitive car in 2012, as shown by the team’s eight poles and seven wins, but Hamilton took just one fastest lap… in the eventful, rain-affected title decider in Brazil – where track conditions were at their best between laps 34 and 39. Hamilton lapped in 1m18.069s, outpacing Button by 0.039s, but retired in a collision with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
2013 – One fastest lap
Hamilton moved to Mercedes for 2013, but the team was yet to become the powerhouse it now is. The Briton won just one race, in Hungary, and set the fastest lap in Italy with a 1m25.849s that was 0.651s faster than anyone else. That was on the antepenultimate lap, when Hamilton overtook former team-mate Button on the main straight, making the most of the slipstream.
2014 – Seven fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W05
Photo by: Sutton Images
Mercedes became all-powerful in the new turbo hybrid era, and so did Hamilton, who took his second world title with seven fastest laps in Malaysia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Japan and Brazil. His margin reached 0.894s at Sepang (he admittedly had a later pitstop for fresh tyres, but so did team-mate Nico Rosberg) and 1.222s at Marina Bay (where he had a much later pitstop than anyone).
2015 – Eight fastest laps
Hamilton’s most prolific season. Mercedes’ supremacy continued, and Hamilton prevailed in Australia, China, Spain, Britain, Italy, Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. He was a whopping 1.002s faster than Rosberg at Suzuka.
2016 – Three fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
A remarkably low number of fastest laps given how dominant Mercedes still was, and it could have been even fewer. Hamilton was 0.066s quicker than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in Monaco, while he enjoyed a 0.080s and 0.0163s advantage over Rosberg in Austria and Belgium respectively.
2017 – Seven fastest laps
Hamilton had a new team-mate in Valtteri Bottas, and Mercedes was now being challenged by Ferrari, but he still took fastest laps in China, Bahrain, Spain, Canada, Austria, Britain – that’s six in nine races – and Singapore. Most of the time, he had very little margin on Vettel or Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
2018 – Three fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1
Photo by: Alessio Morgese / Luca Rossini
Another season with Ferrari as Mercedes’ main opponent, and Hamilton took fastest laps in Germany, Italy and the United States only. That Monza one was extremely tight, with an 0.008s gap to Vettel. At Austin, having pitted some 10 to 15 laps later than his rivals, Hamilton was 0.854s faster than Verstappen.
2019 – Six fastest laps
Mercedes was dominant again as F1 reintroduced a bonus point for the fastest lap. Hamilton prevailed on six occasions – including Monza, where he co-holds the record for most fastest laps at a single track. In that occurrence, his margin was 1.020s compared to Vettel, but that was down to a late pitstop.
However, Hamilton did lose fastest laps to late pitstops by Vettel at Paul Ricard and Verstappen at the Hungaroring.
2020 – Six fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W11 Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT01, Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo Racing C39 and Lance Stroll, Racing Point RP20 at the restart
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Another six fastest laps during that COVID-impacted season, at the Hungaroring, Silverstone, Monza, Mugello, Portimao and Imola – each of those with large margins, between 0.4s and 1.2s.
Hamilton’s dominance was so significant that, leading the Hungarian GP, he had a late pitstop for new tyres, snatching the fastest lap and retaining the win anyway.
In the Italian GP, famously won by Pierre Gasly, Hamilton set 13 times that were good enough to lead the fastest-lap table; however, a stop-go penalty for pitting when the pitlane was closed cost him the victory.
Late pitstops from rivals deprived Hamilton of two fastest laps: Carlos Sainz in the Styrian round and Bottas in Spain.
2021 – Six fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
In his titanic title fight against Verstappen, Hamilton set six fastest laps – as many as the Dutchman – at Imola, Monaco, Spielberg, Zandvoort, Austin and Jeddah. His advantage was always larger than 0.6s, but was sometimes down to a late pitstop.
Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez snatched the fastest lap away from Hamilton with late pitstops in Britain and Brazil, costing him two valuable points in the tight championship race; so did AlphaTauri’s Gasly in Hungary.
2022 – Two fastest laps
Mercedes struggled in the first year of F1’s new ground-effect era. Hamilton still set fastest laps on merit at Silverstone and the Hungaroring, where he finished third and second respectively. That’s two fewer than team-mate George Russell’s four, but Mercedes’ new race driver did however benefit from late pitstops on three occasions.
2023 – Four fastest laps
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Hamilton prevailed on merit in Monaco and Mexico, while making the most of late pitstops in Belgium and Singapore. He finished all four races in the top four.
Canada was another race where Hamilton was competitive, taking third on the podium, but a late pitstop by Perez denied him the fastest lap.
2024 – Two fastest laps
Hamilton set consecutive fastest laps for the first time since 2020, taking honours in Monaco and Canada – though he finished only seventh and fourth on the road – with 0.404s and 0.039 margins on Verstappen and Russell respectively.
He lost a third fastest lap to Lando Norris, who pitted late in Las Vegas, where Mercedes took a one-two with Russell on the top step of the podium.
2025 – One fastest lap
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Shameem Fahath / Motorsport Network
Hamilton set the fastest lap in the Singapore Grand Prix with a 1m33.808s that was 0.765s faster than second-quickest Gasly. The new Ferrari racer set that time right after his lap 46 pitstop for used soft tyres, in a 62-lap race.
This was Hamilton’s 68th fastest lap; Schumacher remains the record holder on 77, with Kimi Raikkonen third on 46.
Hamilton also went quickest in the Shanghai race but was disqualified over a technical breach, so lost the fastest-lap accolade.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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