At this stage, it’s clear that only one of the all-time great sporting turnarounds and, by extension, upsets will return Lewis Hamilton the Formula 1 world championship crown this season. And yet 2022 still has the potential to tangibly add more to his motorsport legacy than any one of his seven crowns has in isolation.
With his unmatched tally of 103 grand prix wins, the same number again for pole positions, 186 podiums, tying Michael Schumacher in the title count and many more F1 records long-since secured, it’s unlikely to be his statistical achievements from these 12 months that will bolster his lasting impact on the sport.
Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 after stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.
Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better suited to increased field work.
Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.
His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.
Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield – receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.
He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing is undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.
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