The records and results that Michael Schumacher achieved, and what Lewis Hamilton is still achieving in Formula 1 are truly amazing.
They have each won seven drivers’ world championships. Their combined total is more than that of the next three drivers in the record books: Juan Manuel Fangio (5), Alain Prost (4) and Sebastian Vettel (4).
In recent years, Hamilton has broken many of the records set by Schumacher that most people believed would never be surpassed.
Hamilton is still adding to his numbers and as a result, the stats in this story are current through the end of May.
Schumacher started from pole 68 times. Hamilton has 100 poles. Schumacher won 91 grands prix. Hamilton has 98 wins. Add in second and third places, and Schumacher was on the podium 155 times. Hamilton now has 166 podium finishes.
On lap 42 of this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton completed his 5,112th lap in the lead of a world championship F-1 race. That beat Schumacher’s record of 5,111 laps led. Hamilton has since added to that total.
The records set by Schumacher and Hamilton are truly epic. But they also must be put into context. When Schumacher was racing, there were usually about 16 races a season. Hamilton now competes in more than 20 races a year.
When the legendary Juan Manual Fangio was competing in the 1950s, there were eight or nine races a year. Fangio won 24 of his 51 races — a winning percentage of 47.0. Alberto Ascari had 13 wins in 32 starts — 40.6 percent.
Schumacher won 91 of his 307 races — a winning percentage of 29.6. Hamilton has won 98 of his 271 races — a winning percentage of 36.1.
Other drivers such as Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Stirling Moss and Ayrton Senna won about 25 percent of their races.
Schumacher’s numbers are skewed by his comeback. After 11 seasons with Ferrari, he retired at the end of 2006. He returned in 2010 and spent three years with Mercedes. He might have lost a touch of his natural speed, but the Mercedes wasn’t very competitive. In 58 races, Schumacher had no poles and no wins. He had only one front row start and only one podium finish — a third place. Take those 58 races out of the equation and Schumacher’s 91 wins in 249 starts, give him an average of 36.5 percent.
Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 and scored one win. It was only in 2014 that the Mercedes became fast — Hamilton had 11 victories and his second world championship. There is no doubt that if Mercedes had provided Schumacher with a better car he would have won more races.
Schumacher and fellow German driver Sebastian Vettel hold the record for the most wins in a season — 13. Those two drivers, along with Hamilton, are also second in the record books with 11 wins in a season.
POLES
It was a magnificent feat that Hamilton earned his 100th F-1 pole in Spain earlier this season. But all records must be put into perspective.
The king of poles was Juan Manuel Fangio who won 29 poles in his 51 starts — 56.9 percent.
Second is Jim Clark with 33 poles in his 73 races — 45.2 percent.
Next is Alberto Ascari: 14 poles in 32 starts — 43.8 percent.
The legendary Ayrton Senna is fourth with 65 in his 162 races — 40.1 percent.
Hamilton is a mere fifth with his 100 in 271 races — 36.9 percent.
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