As F1’s most successful ever driver, there are certain circuits we get to on the calendar where you just think “Lewis Hamilton”. Usually driver’s tracks where he’s won countless times, like Silverstone, the Hungaroring, Barcelona, and you’d have to add the Circuit of the Americas to that list too.
The numbers speak for themselves. Hamilton has won at COTA 5 times, making it his sixth-most successful track despite it only joining the calendar in 2012. 8 of his 9 podiums here came in an incredible stretch from 2014-2022, and he’s never finished lower than 4th when seeing the chequered flag. Despite this, he’s winless at America’s home of F1 since 2017. So how has this curious run come about?
Lewis Hamilton and the United States – a match made in Heaven
It’s important to remember one of Hamilton’s most iconic victories that came in his rookie year, fending off McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso in the final race at Indianapolis – a drive that really put the Brit on the map in the States.
Fast forward 5 years, and the 7-time Champion produced another of his best drives in the inaugural race in Austin, chasing down and passing Sebastian Vettel’s title-chasing Red Bull. This was his final McLaren win in a “what could have been” year with the ultra-unreliable 2012 car. An elated Hamilton donned the cowboy hat in front of an American crowd that F1 had won back following the Indy 2005 debacle.
This preceded a run of 4 consecutive victories for Hamilton, across his period of almost total dominance within the sport. The victories in 2014 and 2017 that bookended this were remarkably similar; Hamilton trailed his direct title rival, Nico Rosberg and Vettel respectively, in the early stages before passing them into Turn 12 and never looking back.
These races were indicative of the Brit taking a commanding grip of these particular title battles late in the season.
Hamilton has also sealed the title twice in Austin, the first of these coming in an iconic wet-dry race in 2015. After unusually struggling in the intermediate conditions, Hamilton pounced on a mistake from teammate Rosberg in the closing stages following a late safety car, sealing the title with victory and sparking the infamous “Capgate” incident between the pair.
Lewis Hamilton's record at COTA
| Year | Team | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Mercedes | 5th | 4th |
| 2014 | Mercedes | 2nd | 1st |
| 2015 | Mercedes | 2nd | 1st |
| 2016 | Mercedes | 1st | 1st |
| 2017 | Mercedes | 1st | 1st |
| 2018 | Mercedes | 1st | 3rd |
| 2019 | Mercedes | 5th | 2nd |
| 2021 | Mercedes | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2022 | Mercedes | 3rd | 2nd |
| 2023 | Mercedes | 3rd | DSQ |
| 2024 | Mercedes | 19th | DNF |
| 2025 | Ferrari | 5th | 4th |
It could've been 9 in a row
Murray Walker once said “If is F1 backwards” (insert Martin Brundle saying “which of course, it isn’t), and there is a hypothetical world where Hamilton could have won 9 times in a row on Austin; bearing in mind 9 victories overall at a single circuit is a record he holds, at Silverstone.
A big part of the reason he hasn’t achieved this is Max Verstappen. Like Hamilton, the Dutchman has never finished lower than 4th when seeing the chequered flag at COTA, and could match his record of 5 wins this weekend. He firstly held of Hamilton for 2nd in a thrilling 2018 race, allowing Kimi Raikkonen to claim his first victory in 113 races.
After finishing 2nd to teammate Valtteri Bottas in 2019 but sealing another Championship, then came 3 years of near misses to Verstappen. The first of these came at their height of their 2021 title battle, the Dutchman just winning out after undercutting the Brit in the pitstops.
The following 2 years almost signified Hamilton’s outstanding ability at COTA, still challenging for victory in the ground effect era where he, and Mercedes, notoriously struggled. He led until the closing stages in 2022, and it was roles reversed the following year where he was chasing down Verstappen’s almost totally dominant Red Bull, although if anything falling just short was probably for the best given his disqualification for excessive plank wear.
A spin in the early stages in 2024 was the only real blot on his copybook as his time with Mercedes came to a painful close. However, even in his worst year of 2025, Hamilton still put in a respectable drive to come home 4th on a weekend Ferrari had looked particularly uncompetitive, albeit 13 seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc on the podium.
Could this be Ferrari's chance?
On paper, Hamilton’s brilliance at COTA, combined with the high-speed corners of Sector 1 and the twisty nature of Sector 3, could make this weekend one of Ferrari’s best chances at victory in the remaining races.
They will, of course, struggle on the long back straight, and go into this race on the backdrop of two strategic clangers in Malaysia and Singapore. The team’s last 1-2, a convincing one at that, came at COTA in 2024; with debates raging about Hamilton’s lack of trust within Ferrari’s operations, can the Scuderia put this behind them and hit the jackpot this weekend?
