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SPIELBERG, Austria. — Fresh from his “bounce-back” win at the Canadian Grand Prix, defending champion and series leader Lewis Hamilton has a chance to continue his triumphant — and record-breaking — form at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The two-time champion can on Sunday equal a 45-year-old record set by fellow-Briton Jackie Stewart if he leads the 71-laps race to be held at the Red Bull Ring amid the forests and valleys of the Styrian Alps.

Hamilton’s win for Mercedes at Montreal represented the 16th consecutive race that he has led, dating back to last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

One more and he draws level with three-time champion Stewart who reeled off 17 in succession from 1968 to 1971. His Canadian success also enabled him to erase memories of the Mercedes’ team’s Monaco mistake and restore his lead in the championship this year to 17 points ahead of Mercedes team-mate German Nico Rosberg, the pair delivering a 20th one-two finish for the modern ‘Silver Arrows’ team.

Rosberg won the Austrian contest last year, with Hamilton second ahead of the two Williams cars of Finn Valtteri Bottas and Brazilian Felipe Massa. — AFP.