hami-schu

Hamilton takes 19th win in two years, needs 19 more to equal Schumacher

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix stats and facts

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Michael Schumacher has been Formula 1’s most successful driver in terms of race victories since 2001, when he broke Alain Prost’s former record of 51 wins.

However, as noted here 12 months ago, since the V6 hybrid turbo era began Lewis Hamilton has been winning races at a rate which suggested he could reach Schumacher’s tally sometime in 2020.

Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix was Hamilton’s 19th victory of the last two seasons, with one race still to run this year. He signed a two-year extension on his Mercedes contract earlier this year, and if he adds another 19 wins during that time he will draw level with Schumacher’s 91.

Hamilton has surpassed his championship rival Sebastian Vettel as the driver most likely to inherit Schumacher’s mantle. Hamilton is now closer to Schumacher’s total wins tally than Vettel is to Hamilton’s:

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Hamilton began the weekend by clinching Mercedes’ 100th pole position. The next team they should catch is Lotus (107), while Williams (128), McLaren (155) and Ferrari (219) also lie ahead of them. He did so with the fastest ever lap of the Interlagos circuit, over a second quicker than last year’s pole position time.

Mercedes, Interlagos, 2018
Mercedes extended their championship run
Mercedes won the constructors’ championship for the fifth time and completed a five consecutive sweep of both titles. It was the first time since 2011 that the constructors’ title was won after the drivers’. Mercedes matched Ferrari’s record for 2000-2004, though they need one more constructors’ title next year to beat their Italian rivals’ record of six in a row.

The fastest lap award increasingly looks like the consolation prize for the driver who isn’t able to make his tyres last and has to make an extra pit stop. For the second race in a row it went to Valtteri Bottas. That was the 10th of his career and it puts him level with three world champions: Mario Andretti, Graham Hill and John Surtees.

A furious Max Verstappen may have missed out on victory after tangling with Esteban Ocon, but he did finish on the podium for the fourth race in a row, which is the longest streak of his career to date. It was him 10th podium finish of the year to team mate Daniel Ricciardo’s two.

Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium. He has been on the rostrum 12 times this year, more than any driver bar Hamilton.

Finally, if Hamilton finishes on the podium in the season finale he will set a new record for most points scored in a season, beating Vettel’s 2013 tally of 397. Of course this record is heavily dependent on the points system (a win was worth no more than 10 points as recently as 2009) and the length of the calendar (2016 was the only other year which featured 21 rounds).

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Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Brazilian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “Hamilton takes 19th win in two years, needs 19 more to equal Schumacher”

  1. It was [Verstappen’s] 10th podium finish of the year to team mate Daniel Ricciardo’s two.

    I knew Ricciardo had a bad run of luck, but that is an eye-opening stat.

    Kimi Raikkonen […] has been on the rostrum 12 times this year, more than any driver bar Hamilton.

    That is again a surprise, that he’s been consistently on the podium (even if Vettel’s highs netted him 25 points).

    1. Looking back at the season, Raikonnen had 3 DNFs, 2 more retirements than Vettel. On two of those occasions Vettel won and took 50 points out of Raikonnen. Not to mention that Vettel did received optimum strategies with a negative impact on Raikonnens. I’m no Raikonnen fan boy, but it shows how well Raikonnen has done against Vettel this season.

      1. @YR09 – Agree. I said this a few days ago on a different story, but will repeat here. RAI has been pretty solid this year.

        1. Raikkonen has more points than Vettel in the last 10 races (VET had more in first 10 and more overall).

        2. None of RAI’s 3 DNFs were his fault. Bahrain was pit issue, Spain was engine failure, and Belgium was getting hit in first corner. Giving him the absolute minimum reasonable points for those 3 issues (3rd in BAH, because that’s where he pitted from, and 4th in Spain and Belgium), would put him on 290, only 12pts adrift of VET. And the WCC would still be open.

        3. I know that taking away one driver’s issues and shoehorning in hypothetical results is not how it works. Doing so in isolation makes no sense most of the time. I’m not trying to compare RAI to any other team really, only his teammate. VET’s DNF was his fault. RAI’s were not. And attempting to balance that for this season shows that the two Ferrari drivers were basically in a dead heat. Without Ferrari’s preference, VET might even be behind. That is their prerogative, no debate, but VET has not produced this year.

  2. Mercedes being just 55 poles shy of McLaren is a real eye opener. Before 2014 they had only 17, now they reached the century. Talk about dominance!

    1. It’s a combination of dominance and increasing season lengths. As Mercedes have been nigh on unchallenged since 2014 and the seasons are now so long, they can improve these statistics at an astonishing rate.

      1. @geemac – Agreed. This is where GOAT discussions run into issues. The points systems are difficult to compare over time, the season length skews advantages, etc. Hamilton will go down as one of, if not the, greatest of all time. But without the FIA’s push for reliability and seasons that are 5 races longer than they used to be, it would be a while longer before 91 race wins was under threat.

        1. and seasons that are 5 races longer than they used to be

          Make that 11.
          And Clark is STILL unmatched for Grand Chelems. Now THATs podracing!

  3. I see Max and Better putting up very stiff competition next season. The next 2 championships and next 20 victories are going to be very difficult. The Mercedes had shown it’s weakness. It is too peaky aerodynamically.
    Red Bull have the best down force to drag ratio optimised towards down force than drag. Ferrari seemed to be second but optimised towards speed. Mercedes appear to rely too much on their wings for downforce. Hence so so nudged performance or lackluster performance when the air pressure is lower.
    Mercedes got lucky this year. Red Bull can easily win 5 races in 2019, same with Ferrari. Strategy mistakes will be Mercedes’undoing

    1. Brilliant analysis and predictions. Not sure why they need to actually race next year. Just follow your comments and flip a coin to decide the championship between Max or Seb. Save much time, effort and money.

  4. . . . though they need one more constructors’ title next year to beat their Italian rivals’ record of six in a row.

    Surely another WCC for MB next year will equal the Ferrari score of six in a row . . . or have I misunderstood?

  5. 10th race in a row that the driver who topped Q2 has failed to take pole.

    Fascinating trivia

  6. 19 race wins over the next two seasons would almost certainly put Hamilton equal with Schumacher in championships as well.

  7. There’s a mistake regarding the constructors championship records: Mercedes need to win the constructors title next year to equal Ferrari’s record – Ferrari won six consecutive constructors championships from 1999 to 2004; Mercedes have just won their fifth in a row. Though they have equalled Ferrari’s record of winning both championships for the fifth year consecutively.

    1. There’s no mistake, that’s all covered in the article.

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