Hamilton wants title more than any records

SPIELBERG, Austria — Lewis Hamilton can equal a 45-year-old Formula One record in Austria this weekend but the double world champion says the only thing he really wants is a third title.

The Mercedes driver has now led at least one lap of the last 16 races and Sunday’s race could see him equal the record of 17 successive races led, set by fellow-Briton Jackie Stewart between 1968 and 1970.

“It adds onto all the stuff that I’ve achieved in my life, I’m fortunate that I’ve been working with great people to enable me to even get to those points,” Hamilton told reporters when asked about the satisfaction of reaching milestones.

“But they are not things that I’m like ‘yeah, finally I’ve got it.’

“I just want to win championships. I want to get that next championship. That’s what I’d be excited about... No other record. Doesn’t matter the amount of wins you get, pole positions or fastest laps or amount of finishes on the podium. What matters is winning the world championship.”

Hamilton is already the most successful British driver in terms of poles and race wins, if not championships, with 37 victories and 44 poles to date.

In Canada two weeks ago he surpassed 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell’s British record of laps led. Hamilton now has 2,143 to his credit and ranks fifth in the all-time lists.

The champion has a long way to go to rival Michael Schumacher, whose career statistics of seven championships and 91 wins are expected by many to withstand the test of time even with an increased calendar.

“Michael is a legend and he was in the sport and successful for a long, long time. For me, I don’t know how many years I’ll have at the rate I’m going,” said Hamilton.

“The sport is always changing and you never know when you’re going to have a difficult year.

“Honestly since I’ve been in Formula One I felt like I could compete to win the world championship every year, but some years you have the car and some you don’t,” added the 30-year-old, who won his first title with McLaren.

“I’ve never ever set out to go to that goal,” Hamilton added of Schumacher’s title tally. “I’ve always wanted to emulate [triple champion] Ayrton [Senna], to do the same as he’d done. And that’s what I’m focusing on.”

Meanwhile, McLaren’s Jenson Button will have a 25 place grid penalty — on a grid of only 20 cars — after having a change of power unit ahead of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The penalty, Button’s second in a row after a 15 place drop in Canada, will translate in part into time penalties during the race due to the impossibility of the Briton dropping any further than 20th.

In a farcical turn of events, triggered by regulations that stipulate that drivers must make four engines last the entire season or pay a penalty, Button and team mate Fernando Alonso will theoretically be demoted 45 places between them.

The Spaniard was handed a 20 place penalty on Friday after McLaren changed his engine and two of the five components that make up the troubled Honda V6 turbo hybrid power unit.

Alonso, a double world champion who left Ferrari at the end of 2014, has yet to score a point in seven races this season.

Button had been resigned to penalties when the 2009 champion spoke to reporters after suffering a “massive” power failure in second Friday practice.

“I’m probably going to start at the back,” he said. “And then Sunday, who knows? With penalties, you sort of really need a safety car to bring you back into the game. Hopefully that will be the case and we can race.”

In a further complication for fans struggling to keep up with the engine implications, Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo and Russian Daniil Kvyat also face 10 place grid drops from wherever they qualify.

The situation, at Red Bull’s home circuit, has ratcheted up the criticism of engine partners Renault from the frustrated former champions.