Like it or not, Lewis Hamilton is amongst the greats of Formula One.
For those of you who believe otherwise, the facts and figures below will show you why he must be considered a great of the sport.
• Hamilton equalled the great Michael Schumacher’s tally of seven world championships after claiming victory at Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix.
• The Briton also became the outright holder of most race victories this season, claiming his 94th win, three more than former Ferrari and Mercedes driver Schumacher.
• Hamilton has managed his 94 wins from just 264 starts compared to Schumacher who has 91 wins from a total of 306 starts.
• The seven-time world champion holds the record for most consecutive starts having not missed a race since the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. That’s 58 more than his former teammate Nico Rosberg and the gap looks as though it will only continue to rise.
• He has driven 154 times for his current team Mercedes, second only to Schumacher who started 179 times for Ferrari. Schumacher managed this feat over ten years (1996-2006) compared to the current world champion, who has only been with his current team for the past seven years (2013-2020).
• Hamilton has the highest win percentage of any other F1 driver in history with 35.61%, comfortably ahead of his nearest rival, Schumacher on 29.55%.
• He has the second most wins in a single season with 11 wins each during his 2014, 2018 and 2019 championship triumphs.
• The former McLaren driver has the highest number of wins in a first championship season, with 4 victories on his way to finishing runner up to Kimi Raikkonen in that season’s standings.
• The man born in Stevenage also has the most wins at an individual track, with eight wins in Hungary.
• He has won at a record 29 different circuits.
• Hamilton has the most pole positions, managing to claim pole 97 times, 29 more than his nearest challenger, Schumacher.
Overall, whatever your opinion of him may be, Lewis Hamilton has proven himself to be one of the all-time greats of Formula One.
