Hamilton on par with his pioneer – Formula 1 –

Not so long ago it was inconceivable. Then it became more of a problem, now it is a fact. And soon the Brit will have the solo record. “Almost surreal,” Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff said at the Nürburgring on Sunday.

“A historic day,” Daimler boss Ola Källenius said in praise of his star driver and spoke of “pure goose bumps” during the scene between Hamilton and Mick Schumacher when the young man presented the 35-year-old with a helmet from his father Michael from last season. . “Congratulations, it’s from all of us,” said Mick, who knocked loudly on the door of Formula 1. His father has not appeared in public since his serious ski accident in 2013.

“Thank you very much, it is a great honor,” said Hamilton at the race track closest to Schumacher’s hometown of Kerpen. “After watching his dominance for so long, I don’t think anyone, and especially me, has ever imagined being around Michael for his records,” she said of her thoughts on that memorable moment.

The record of 91 victories was, so to speak, provided with the seal of approval for eternity when Schumacher finally left the Formula 1 stage. That was eight years ago when the decision was made in the control center of the Mercedes factory team. of not extending cooperation with the German and hiring Hamilton as his successor.

When he left, Schumacher was alone at the top of most statistical categories. Frenchman Alain Prost was number two with 51 wins, while Hamilton had won 21 Grands Prix at the time. For the Briton, after the 2012 season, the association with McLaren and his adoptive father, Ron Dennis, ended after 15 years.

What Hamilton couldn’t have known at the time: By switching to Mercedes, he laid the foundation for a career that he couldn’t have imagined in his wildest thoughts. “What Michael has achieved is unique. It cannot be my goal to achieve it,” he once said.

It’s fortunate that Schumacher was at the base of Hamilton Heights and, so to speak, paved the way for the man who would one day break his records. The seven-time world champion has played his part in the development work that Hamilton and the technicians, thanks to constant optimization under the leadership of the Austrian tandem Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff, have developed to a mastery unmatched in Formula 1. Only the Schumacher era at Ferrari at the beginning of this millennium can compare to that.

With his success in the 11th World Championship race, Hamilton was once again approaching his seventh World Championship win and Schumacher’s next record. “Who would have thought this would ever be resolved,” Wolff said first of the 91-win milestone. “On the other hand, the records are to be broken, and someday someone will break Lewis’ record who can be in kindergarten today.”