By winning the Turkish Grand Prix held at Istanbul, Turkey on November 15, 2020, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took his tally to 307 points this season. With that, he has an unassailable lead at the top of the drivers’ standings.
This means that Hamilton has won the World Championship title for a seventh time, matching the haul of F1 great Michael Schumacher.
Greatest of all time?
For years, fans and experts alike believed that some of the records that Michael Schumacher held would remain untouched for a long time.
And yet in 2020, Lewis Hamilton has not only matched one of his best records (seven world titles), but has also gone past Schumacher in a number of other records.
This has inevitably led to the greatest of all time debate. While it is always a difficult exercise, Hamilton does have a lot of things going for him already. And with a few more years in the sport, he might well make that debate one sided as well.
Seven world titles
Lewis Hamilton matched Michael Schumacher’s record of winning seven F1 World Championship titles this season. Schumacher won his seven world titles in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. While Schumacher won his first two world titles with Benetton, the remaining five came with Ferrari.
Hamilton notched up his seven world titles in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Hamilton’s first world title in 2008 was with McLaren. Hamilton won his remaining six world titles with Mercedes.
This makes Hamilton the first driver to win six World Championship titles with the same team.
Schumacher vs Hamilton
By racing from 1991-2006 and then again from 2010 2012, Schumacher’s career totally spanned 19 seasons, during which he took part in 306 races. Hamilton, meanwhile, has participated in 14 seasons starting from 2007 so far, taking part in 264 races.
In 306 races, Schumacher started a race in the front row (two cars will be there in the front row of the grid at the start of a race) 116 times, including 68 from pole position. Hamilton has started 157 of his 264 races so far in the front row, and has taken the pole position 97 times.
Schumacher finished on the podium (top three places) 155 times during his career, which includes 91 races wins. Hamilton already has 163 podiums and 94 race victories. Hamilton went past Schumacher’s record number of podium finishes and race wins in the 2020 season.
Schumacher, however, still holds the record for having the highest total of fastest laps. He set the fastest lap 77 times in his 306 races. Hamilton is second in the list for now having set the fastest lap in a race 53 times.
Picture Credit : Google