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(Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton equaled Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 Formula One victories on Sunday with a victory at the Eifel Grand Prix that catapulted the Mercedes driver to a seventh world championship.
As the Briton triumphed at the Nuerburgring, the German circuit where the great Ferrari Schumacher won five times, his teammate Valtteri Bottas took a major blow to his title hopes with a first retirement of the season.
Hamilton, who is celebrating his seventh win of the season, is now 69 points clear of the Finn, which equates to nearly three race wins, with six rounds remaining.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished second and took a bonus point by taking advantage of Hamilton’s fastest lap right at the end, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo third for Renault on his first podium since 2018 when he was at Red Bull.
It was also Renault’s first as a manufacturer since its return in 2016.
Schumacher’s son Mick, the Formula 2 leader who could compete against Hamilton next season, gifted the Briton with one of his father’s red helmets from his second spell in F1 with Mercedes.
“Congratulations and this is on behalf of all of us. A great achievement, really,” said Mick, whose father suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident in 2013 and has not been seen in public since.
“Thank you very much, it’s a great honor,” Hamilton said before taking the podium at the circuit closest to Schumacher’s childhood home in Kerpen. “I don’t even know what to say.
“When you grow up watching someone, you generally idolize them, you know, really just in terms of the quality of the driver they are, but what they are capable of continuously, year after year and race after race and week after week.” . the British.
“Seeing his dominance for so long, I don’t think anyone and especially I wouldn’t imagine that he would be anywhere near Michael in terms of records. So it’s an incredible honor and it will take some getting used to.”
Hamilton said he only realized the importance of what he had done when he entered the pitlane after taking the checkered flag.
UNHAPPY BOTTAS
Bottas had started from pole, with Hamilton second on the grid and concerned about his steering wheel, and came out ahead in the first few corners after a wheel-to-wheel battle with his teammate.
The Finn opened the door, however, on lap 13 when it opened at turn one and damaged his tires with Hamilton trailing and advancing into turn two.
Bottas then reported a loss of power during a virtual car safety period five laps later and was removed by the team in the pits.
“Bad luck. What can I say?” Said the Finn on Sky Sports television.
The safety car was deployed late in the race when McLaren’s Lando Norris started with the engine smoking and both Hamilton and Verstappen insisted on radio complaining about the slowness and cold tires.
Hamilton handled the restart smoothly and from then on it was just a matter of managing the final laps until the historic final.
Mexican Sergio Pérez was fourth for Racing Point with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz fifth and Pierre Gasly sixth for AlphaTauri.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished seventh and Nico Hulkenberg moved from last on the grid to eighth as a substitute at Racing Point for Canadian Lance Stroll.
Romain Grosjean scored his first points of the season with ninth for Haas and Italian Antonio Giovinazzi was tenth for Alfa Romeo.
His teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion with a record 323 starts in Formula One, was twelfth.
(Information by Alan Baldwin, edited by Gareth Jones and Christian Radnedge)
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