From record to record: Lewis Hamilton, (soon to be) the most successful F1 driver of all time – Sport

Now the Brit has left Michael Schumacher behind in terms of GP victories. The seventh world title should follow shortly.

When Michael Schumacher finally retired from Formula 1 racing in 2012, his records seemed destined to last forever – the German held 7 world titles and 91 GP victories in 19 seasons.

One of the records has been history since Sunday: Lewis Hamilton achieved his 92nd victory at the Portuguese GP, and the 35-year-old Brit should set Schumacher’s title record this season. He is 77 points ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas five races before the end of the season.

27 years of motorsport experience

Lewis Hamilton has been racing since he was 8 years old, now 27 years old, initially in karts. When he was 13 years old, then-McLaren co-owner Ron Dennis accepted him into the youth program. In 2001, at the age of 16, he raced against Schumacher for the first time when he drifted to the World Cup.

Hamilton rose to the premier class through Formula Renault, Formula 3 and GP2. On March 18, 2007, at the age of 22, he made his racing debut in a McLaren and finished third directly on the podium. His first victory came three months later in Montreal. He missed the world title that year in the dramatic Interlagos final by just one point. He made up for it the following year.

Dominance after a four-year drought

This was followed by a bear market for McLaren. Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel dominated Formula 1 for four seasons. Hamilton moved to the official Mercedes team in 2013, and with the turbo V6 engine came racing team dominance.

Mercedes has always won the constructors’ championship since 2014, with one exception (Nico Rosberg 2016), always with Lewis Hamilton as world champion. The Briton scored 71 of his 92 victories with Mercedes. This should continue next season, although he still has no contract for 2021. He “plans to be here next year,” said Hamilton in Portimão.