Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

Mercedes’ return to dominance makes Schumacher’s wins record realistic for Hamilton

2019 Spanish Grand Prix stats and facts

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After two years where Ferrari were consistently close rivals, Mercedes are dominating Formula 1 again.

Last weekend their relative lap time advantage over the rest of the field was larger than it had been in any race since the 2016 British Grand Prix.

They converted it into their fifth consecutive one-two finish, increasing a record they broke at the previous round for most one-twos at the start of a season. No team has ever scored more than five consecutive one-twos in any stage of a season (Ferrari had six in 1952 if you discount the Indianapolis 500), so Mercedes could set a new record at the Monaco Grand Prix. They are also well on the way towards breaking their 2015 record for most one-twos in a season, when they scored 12 in 19 races.

As a result they have still only dropped three points (all fastest lap bonuses) from a potential 220 so far this season. They already have more points (217) than Ferrari and Red Bull combined (208).

Lewis Hamilton added his third win of the season, putting him on a career total of 76. He is now 15 behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91. There are 16 races remaining this year, so he is likely to close that gap further, and as predicted previously he is still on course to reach the record in 2020.

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*Year to date

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, Circuit de Catalunya, 2003
Schumacher won the Spanish GP six times
This was Hamilton’s third consecutive win in the Spanish Grand Prix. He now has four wins in this race, more than any driver besides Schumacher, who won it six times.

Hamilton also took the fastest lap for the 42nd time in his career, and the first time he has claimed a bonus point for doing so. He also led every lap of the race for the 16th time in his career. Only Ayrton Senna has more lights-to-flag wins, with 19.

But Valtteri Bottas prevented his team mate from achieving a ‘grand slam’ by taking his third pole position of the season.

Carlos Sainz Jnr sustained his streak of never failing to score points in his home grand prix. Team mate Lando Norris posted the first official retirement of his career by colliding with Lance Stroll, his 2016 predecessor as European Formula Three champion.

It wasn’t a good race for Alfa Romeo either. They failed to score for the first time since returning to F1, as Kimi Raikkonen’s run of points finishes for the team also came to an end. Antonio Giovinazzi is still yet to score his first points.

Catalunya’s last race?

Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Circuit de Catalunya, 1991
Mansell and Senna battled in Catalunya’ first grand prix
The Spanish Grand Prix has been held at the Circuit de Catalunya every year since the track was built in 1991. However it doesn’t have a contract to appear on the 2020 F1 calendar, and yesterday’s race may have been its last for the foreseeable future.

With no alternative venue emerging as a candidate to hold the race, F1 faces losing one of its most enduring races. This was the 49th edition of the Spanish Grand Prix in the 70-year history of the world championship. F1 first raced on the streets of Pedralbes in the west of Barcelona in 1951, and visited Jarama, Montjuich and Jerez before arriving at its current venue.

The country has also held the European Grand Prix on five occasions on a street circuit in Valencia. Having held two grands prix as recently as 2012, Spain may have none next year, and it’s hard not to see a connection to the absence of two-times world champion Fernando Alonso from the grid.

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Review the year so far in statistics here:

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

2019 Spanish 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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107 comments on “Mercedes’ return to dominance makes Schumacher’s wins record realistic for Hamilton”

  1. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    13th May 2019, 11:40

    It is the 5th race in a row that the top 5 are the same drivers – fairly sure that never happened before.

    In fact the top 5 have a near perfect score except the 1 point for FLAP in China that Gasly collected. Also shocking is that 5 races in Lewis has more points than all drivers outside the top 5 combined.

    1. @jelle-van-der-meer Is the second stat really so surprising? Given that a win is 25 points, and 6th-10th earns 21 points. So even Bottas has barely just missed out on it by 1 point.

  2. Jesper (@jesperfey13)
    13th May 2019, 11:50

    If Hamilton stays at Mercedes he’ll even have the chance to get to 100 victories, with their continuing dominance. If he faces the challenge to make Ferarri champion again and succeeds, that would make him one of the all time greats for sure.. but considering his age he might finish on a high once he passed Schumacher’s mighty record.

    1. @jesperfey13

      I think he is safely one of the all-time greats as it is. Anything else is the icing on the cake now.

      1. Gotta be in everyone’s top 5 already. If not top 3.

        1. @hugh11

          Except he’s not as good as Moss in inferior cars let alone Senna and Alonso (who beat him several times in the underpowered and under budget 2008 Renault plus the inferior Ferrari)

          1. 2008… you mean when Hamilton won his championship? Oh yeah… of course Alonso beat him…

            I presume you also believe Alonso won in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018? Maybe Alonso even won this race in Spain yesterday? Fantastic guy, this Alonso. You should talk about him more.

          2. Hey Big Joke!

            I remember Alonso beating Hamilton in 2008 … Singapore was it? Interesting tactics.

          3. Big Joe, it could also be mentioned that one of those victories you are citing was the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where his victory came about because of Piquet Jr’s deliberate crash in the race – I would have thought that many would have wanted to steer clear of citing a race won through major cheating by the rest of Alonso’s team.

          4. Hamilton is by far a better driver than Alonso ever was.
            And comparisons with the likes of Moss and Fangio are beyond impossible.
            All we could do is speculate about “recent times” and LH is the best of his era, but probably not on the same league as Senna, Schumacher, Prost.

          5. @liko41

            Hamilton is by far a better driver than Alonso ever was.

            Did your mum tell you that?
            He only looked good against Alonso in 2007. 2008 Alonso showed him up. As he did in the slower Ferrrari.

            As for Singapore. Hamilton’s overly obsessive fans forget there was second safety car bunching Lewis up for a 2nd chance, Alonso pulled away with a car 80HP down on power.

          6. Logic told me that. And not only to me, but to every common sense person.
            I dearly suggest you NOT to dare mentioning my mum again.

          7. Big Joe, are you seriously trying to claim that the 2008 Renault V8 had an 80bhp deficit to every other engine manufacturer?

            If so, then I am afraid that you are deeply mistaken – that is more than a factor of five out (the Renault V8 was never as underpowered as you seem to think it was and as outfits like Red Bull liked to claim). I have to say that making such exaggerated claims really does undermine the credibility of your statements.

      2. @paulguitar

        What has he done in inferior cars? How come he couldnt make McLaren great again? despite equalling Alonso for the first and last time in 2007.
        He wont do any better at Ferrari than the current drivers.

        1. @ Big Joe

          He doesn’t tend to drive ‘inferior cars’. You see, as the best driver, the top teams want to employ him.

          He’s been an exceptional talent since Cadet Karts.

          Your whole F1 life seems to be around running Hamilton down and giving him no credit for anything. Until you attempt to grow up, I can’t see any point in engaging with you.

          1. Hamilton was at McLaren, and as soon as he left they started struggling.

            Either Hamilton was one of the contributing factors to McLaren’s greatness, or McLaren were already struggling and Hamilton did wonders in a poor car.

          2. @minnis

            Hamilton destroyed McLaren from 2007. They should have built the team around Button. But credit to Dennis for not bottling giving us great team mate battles like the current team bosses do.
            Lewis’s fans always go back to 2007 to prove how ‘great’ he is, yet there’s not much to talk about until he joined Mercedes.
            Perhaps when super fans and superior adults like @paulguitar stop harping on about 2007 and ‘beating Alonso’ we can take them more seriously.

          3. Oh, I don’t know. I quite enjoy seeing joe and others frothing at the mouth as Lewis keeps racking up the records and making them eat their premature words. Life wouldnt be quite as pleasant without such caricatures.
            At the end of the day they can think what they like. Its not going to change those numbers. As you were Joe, as you were.

          4. In 2012 he scored a massive victory in the USA with a car nowhere close to the RBR, it is still the best drive of his life.
            He was in contention for WC until last race in 2010 with only the 3rd best car of the grid. Without his wheel failure in Barcelona with less than 2 laps to go, he would have win the title that year.
            Some of his recent victories were too easily won. But he did wonders with average cars in the past

          5. Oh yes, Hamilton absolutely intentionally destroyed the team he was driving for.

            And Lewis fans go back to 2007 because in his debut season he beat your precious Alonso in the same car. Because he had a better debut season than all of the other contenders for greatest driver.

            Besides, Hamilton fans dont just mention that. How about the fact that he’s won races in every single season that he’s raced in, something no other driver in history has ever done before?

            Man, his success must be killing you inside.

          6. Oh, I don’t know. I quite enjoy seeing joe and others frothing at the mouth as Lewis keeps racking up the records and making them eat their premature words. Life wouldnt be quite as pleasant without such caricatures.
            At the end of the day they can think what they like. Its not going to change those numbers. As you were Joe, as you were.

            Fantastically well said.

          7. I am probably one of the few that really likes Hamilton and Alonso, but you can’t blame Mclaren being destroyed on Hamilton. That was all Ron Dennis’s mismanagement of the situation at the time.

        2. Well, we could start with him winning the driver’s championship while *not* in the constructor’s championship car.

          He’s won a race (and a pole position) every single season of his F1 career. In fact, you’ve got to back to 2001 to find a racing series in which he didn’t win a race.

          He nearly (and arguably, aside from the team’s mistake in China, should have) won his rookie year– while racing against the current (and two time) F1 champion.

          I know you’re one of those who refuses to admit Hamilton’s any good, for what reason, I don’t know, but neither Senna or Alonso won the WDC without being in the WCC winning car. Schumacher only did it in 1994– the rest of the time, he had the dominant car under him.

          1. grat, in fact, it is actually extremely rare for a driver to win the WDC in a car that wasn’t also the WCC winning car.

            If you go back from 1958, which was the inaugural WCC title, to today, the number of drivers who won the WDC whilst not being at the WCC winning team are as follows.
            1958: Hawthorn (drove for Ferrari (2nd in WCC), Vanwall won WCC)
            1973: Stewart (drove for Tyrrell (2nd in WCC), Lotus won WCC)
            1976: Hunt (drove for McLaren (2nd in WCC), Ferrari won WCC)
            1981: Piquet Sr (drove for Brabham (2nd in WCC), Williams won WCC)
            1982: Keke Rosberg (drove for Williams (4th in WCC), Ferrari won WCC)
            1983: Piquet Sr (drove for Brabham (3rd in WCC), Ferrari won WCC)
            1986: Prost (drove for McLaren (2nd in WCC), Williams won WCC)
            1994: Schumacher (drove for Benetton (2nd in WCC), Williams won WCC)
            1999: Hakkinen (drove for McLaren (2nd in WCC), Ferrari won WCC)
            2008: Hamilton (drove for McLaren (2nd in WCC), Ferrari won WCC)

            As you can see, out of a total of 60 seasons, only in 10 seasons did the driver who won the WDC come from the team that did not win the WCC.

            Now, out of those cases, it could be pointed out that Vanwall’s title in 1958 is partially because of the dropped points system – if all results counted, Ferrari and Vanwall would have been tied on 57 points, indicating they were more evenly matched than the raw data might suggest.

            In 1973, Tyrrell was only a point behind Lotus going into the final race – the tragic circumstances around Cevert’s fatal accident and the withdrawal by Tyrrell and Stewart afterwards handed the title to Lotus.

            In 1976, whilst Hunt drove well, Lauda had been dominating the season before his accident at the Nurburgring – without that accident, Lauda would have walked that season.

            In 1981, Brabham deliberately sacrificed the WCC in order to maximise their chances in the WDC by deliberately picking a weak team mate – Hector Rebaque – to partner Piquet. Williams was being torn apart by internal fighting, and Reutemann was deeply hated by many within Williams – to the point where Williams openly preferred to see Piquet Sr win the title instead of Reutemann.

            1982 was a famously strange season, and one where it was only because of Villeneuve’s death and Pironi being crippled that Ferrari lost the WDC – many felt that Keke’s victory was mostly down to luck. Furthermore, that season was something of a mess given that a lot of teams were outright cheating that season, including Williams (which ran quite a few races with an underweight car that season).

            For 1983, you could argue that it was more of a case of Patrese failing to finish most races, as the BT52 was a quick – and illegal – car.

            In 1986, that owed a lot to the fact that Williams’s drivers were busier fighting each other than they were Prost, not to mention that Keke Rosberg had a pretty poor season.

            1994, frankly, is a season that could be debated by itself at length over what went on, and in many ways what exactly both sides were up to is open to debate.

            In 1999, there is the open question of how well Schumacher might have done if he hadn’t broken his leg at Silverstone – he was closer to Hakkinen than Irvine was at the time.

            In 2008, I guess there is the question of whether Heikki could have done better, although overall the perception was that the F2008 was probably the better car over the season.

            Overall, quite a few of the seasons where a driver from a team that seemed inferior in the WCC won the title owed a lot to freakish events happening during that season. In at least three seasons – 1973, 1976 and 1982 – either the team or the driver lost out on their respective titles due to a driver either having a fatal accident or being severely incapacitated. There would be a number of people arguing that the 1994 and 1999 seasons were also impacted by drivers being killed or severely injured, at which point driver injury or fatalities account for half of the championships on that list.

            In a number of other cases, particularly that of Brabham, you often had a team deliberately sacrifice the WCC by putting a weak driver against their leading driver, ensuring that they would not take points away from their WDC challenging driver.

            As you note, the idea of a driver “transcending” their car and winning a WDC is something that is pretty rare – and, in several cases, the WDC was in a car that probably wasn’t really that far behind the WCC winning car to begin with.

      3. Too easily beaten by teammates to be considering among the all time greats.
        That’s why I do hope Schumacher’s record will stay untouched.
        MS was undoubtedly on a different level.

        1. @liko41

          MS was absolutely not on a different level. he had little to no competition from teammates, unlike Hamilton, and what’s more, he regularly behaved totally unacceptably on the track.

          Hamilton’s achievements are all the greater and stand above Schumacher’s on that basis.

          1. Not at all.
            Schumacher was paired with quite good drivers all his career (Piquet, Patrese, Brundle, Herbert, Irvine, Barrichello, Massa) and did regularly beat them, in both qualis and races.
            Despite the rhetoric, he only was helped by barrichello once, maybe twice in five years, returning the favour immediately after (Nurburgring and Hungary 2002 were paybacks for Austria, just saying).
            Schumacher has NEVER ever been beaten (or smashed) by a teammate on a consistent basis like Hamilton has. Button, Rosberg and Bottas all enjoyed a glory they would have never had in Michael’s era.

            And I’m not even talking about on track behaviour,because you are clearly just speculating on two (TWO) episodes in a 20 year career, without even considering the background story.

          2. @liko41

            The idea that Hamilton has been beaten by a teammate on a consistent basis is just absurd. Button beat him one year. Rosberg another.

            And if you want to talk about on track behaviour, then sure – Schumacher is in a league of his own on that one, and not in a good way.

          3. @liko41, well, there is a debate about how well some of those team mates really could have performed when they were paired with Schumacher.

            In the case of Piquet Sr, Schumacher was only paired against Piquet Sr when he was at the end of his career (Piquet Sr was 39 when Schumacher joined Benetton). It also has to be noted that Piquet Sr has since stated that, ever since he crashed in the 1987 season, he’d been hiding the fact that he was partially disabled in that crash (suffering a permanent reduction in his ability to perceive depth) and spent an extended period of time suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

            In the case of Brundle and Herbert, it is worth remembering that both of those drivers were also partially disabled in career-changing accidents during their junior careers – both of them are still living with the aftermath of major leg injuries and both of them almost had to have their left feet amputated due to the damage they sustained, meaning neither of them could ever properly master left foot braking.

            In the case of Patrese, there were those who thought that he was a fairly average driver in terms of skill and that his performances had peaked quite a few years earlier. Indeed, there were those who suggested that he might well have even helped cost Williams their chance of the 1990 WDC and WCC, as there were several who suggested that the Williams FW13B was probably the best car on the grid in 1990 and blamed both Boutsen and Patrese for doing a poor job (and Patrese was the one who scored the least out of those two).

            Equally, there are other drivers whom Schumacher beat where it’s questionable whether the victory was that great. After all, JJ Lehto, whom Schumacher was originally paired up with at Benetton, broke his neck during pre-season testing, with the resultant surgery causing major damage to his neck muscles and to his nervous system – he wasn’t fit to drive that season, and indeed it was part of the reason for his retirement at the end of that season.

    2. There is no telling. Only current downside is his resurgent teammate V.B.. 100 is within reach in next 4 years?

      F1 will change a lot in 2021, 2022. By then Hamilton will be close to 8th title and 92nd win?

      Unless offcoarse Bottas does his thing.

      1. @liko41

        Two incidents? Come on! I am not going to tally them up for you but if you have been following the sport you will well know that it is rather more than that.

        Rosberg put Schumacher in his place for all of the three years they were teammates and only beat Lewis over a full season due to car issues for Lewis, and then he promptly retired rather than heave to go through it all again….

        Those who worked with both Senna and Hamilton absolutely put Lewis in the same class as Senna. Paddy Lowe, for example. Of couse, some people know better from their armchairs though!

        1. ROsberg, I told you once again, barely outscored a much paler version of Schumacher.
          Paired with the real MS, he wouldn’t have scored half of the successes he enjoyed with Hamilton.

          1. And Hamilton was plainly a lot better than Rosberg overall, even though Nico managed to squeak a title.

            To me, Hamilton is on the same level as Senna and Schumacher, but without the dirty tricks. I would only consider Fangio and Clark to possibly be even greater.

  3. Finally, they said it! Wow, no more Ferrari’s pace? Or Monaco is a whole different track bla bla bla?

    1. Ferrari are going to struggle alot there all slow corners and no high speed advantage…

      But they are still the favorites.

    2. But also you have to admit they were clearly faster this time around. Bahrain and China you could argueu Ferrari should have done better.

  4. Looks like I and others are going to have to walk back our takes on Ferrari having the faster car from earlier in the season

    While it’s right they have a straight line advantage, such is the quality of Mercedes chassis that it doesn’t matter

    This is always my issue with rule changes, teams begin converging, then all their work is undone by fundamentally different car philosophy requirements. And which team has always nailed those since 2009?

    1. While it’s right they have a straight line advantage, such is the quality of Mercedes chassis that it doesn’t matter

      @philipgb I think Mercedes are reaping the benefits of asserting their engine dominance earlier in this hybrid era. It’s given them far more time and resources over more recent years to focus on optimising chassis. Conversely Ferrari, playing catch-up ever since 2013, have finally brought their engine up to a competing standard with Mercedes (in terms of output, at least) but seemingly at a cost to other areas of development.

      1. @ninjenius

        2017 and 2018 they at least matched Mercedes on the chassis front. This year they seemed to stretch ahead on the power unit she I don’t think it’s that which has put them back behind on chassis

        I think they went radical on concept and either they haven’t fully understood it yet or it is fundamentally flawed

        The problem is these rules aren’t in place for long, and the dice get rolled again, which Mercedes tend benefit from

        1. There was an article on the BBC early in the season about aero concepts, and the gist of it was that while Ferrari had an easier to manage aero concept (the outboard-taper front wing), and Mercedes would have more difficulty setting up the car for a race, Mercedes would have a wider window of setup to work with.

          So while the Ferrari is easier to set up than the Mercedes, it doesn’t appear to have the range of set up options the Mercedes has.

          That would explain Ferrari showing up fast on Friday, but by qualifying, Mercedes has their car dialed in.

      2. If the situations were reversed, Merc would be working like crazy to dial the car in and in the mean time picking up wins here and there. Such as that one they threw away a few weeks ago. Ferrari on the other hand just seem to panic and make the situation worse. They always have except when they had Frenchman running the team and were doing design in England which coincides with their most successful period. Ferrari are now in the middle of another 20 year championship dry spell.

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      13th May 2019, 18:56

      @philipgb Ferrari hasn’t gotten slower. They are still in the same place compared to Red Bull. It’s Mercedes ho made a leap forward with their new upgrade.

      Or perhaps just the weather/temperature suited the tyres. Haas made a similar leap.

      Ferrari is seems to be losing most time in slow corners. That’s more suspension related rather than aero.

  5. If the race does not return to this circuit I will not miss it at all. The circuit itself is isolated and micky mousy and the facilities at the track are dire. I went in 2014 and you couldn’t use a debit card there and there were two ATM vans with a queue of over an hour to get cash. Hired thugs were taking people’s drinks at the entrance and since then the circuit has become ‘dry’ and you can’t even buy an 11 Euro beer like you used to be able to do.

    Good riddance, I would say.

    1. DAllein (@)
      13th May 2019, 12:09

      I totally disagree.

      This year cards were accepted even at Icecream-stalls.
      Proper food places were few, but snacks were in good supply.

      Alcohol was being confiscated – great! We don’t need drunks all over the place.

      1. DAllein (@)
        13th May 2019, 12:11

        And I don’t understand you “isolated” claim.
        20 minutes direct line from the center of Barcelona – super convenient.
        And outside area has been full of open air “markets” – really nice.

      2. @dallein

        That’s great that they take cards now, it was pretty shocking in 2014 to have to queue for cash.
        As to the alcohol, most grown-ups are capable of having a beer in the sun or maybe a nice glass of red wine without turning into a ‘drunk’.

        Perhaps the transport has improved since 2014…for me was a 2hour trek each way, door to door, from my hotel when I did this race. Granted, we were located a little bit south of the city center, but it was a long trek on trains followed by a long walk to get to the circuit. I will never go to that race again, but fair enough if I did I could get a better-placed hotel.

        1. Got agree with Paul. I went in 08 and 15 and its all the things Paul said it is. The walk from Montmelo train station to the track is a ball ache. The trains to Montmelo are massively overcrowded. I had the same experience of queuing for cash points as vebdors would only accept cash (may have changed now).The track is a bit meh and making a sporting venue DRY?? I mean c’mon! I enjoy having a few beers whilst watching the F1. I do not paint myself black when doing so and yet I am the one encouraged to stay away this circuit. Speaks volumes to Spain’s place on calendar to me.

  6. “return” to dominance …
    Maybe last year Ferrari had a somewhat capable car but it botched its championship operationally (with the help of its drivers too).
    Honestly since 2014 I never felt Mercedes ‘lost’ its dominance. We are just witnessing the most sensational performance ever put by a team on the long run. It can be tiresome though, let’s hope for a 2021 shake.

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      13th May 2019, 19:00

      @spoutnik Vettel blundered away any chance he had in 2017 and 2018 though. Especially 2018 was incredible. 7 races where he blew masses of points by crashing or racking up dumb penalties.

      Motorsport-total calculated that Vettel could have won in 2018 with 54 points ahead. If he hadn’t made all those dumb mistakes. He wouldn’t have had to drive any faster. Just not crash etc.

  7. Chris (@chrisgalaz)
    13th May 2019, 12:51

    If 2018 was for Mercedes what 2003 was for Ferrari, this year both the team and Hamilton will be untouchable… Hopefully next year we’ll have a new champion!!!

  8. At what point have Ferrari ever regained their Brawn era performance?
    Fernando Alonso’s two biggest mistakes were blowing the whistle on Mercedes’ cheating and thinking Ferrari would continue to dominate without Brawn and Todt at the helm. Although his performances at Ferrari in usually the 3rd best team giving him the 6th best car will go down as legend. Especially beating Lewis in the faster McLaren, who was poor challenging Vettel.

    1. That’s right Joe. Let it all out son

      1. @Dean

        Poor retort pal. I seem to be the only one here who wasn’t trying to promote ‘Ferrari have the fastest car’ rubbish.
        Order of the day here this season and last, has been to blame Vettel for Ferrari’s woes. Suck it up son you were wrong.

        1. @Big Joe

          Dude, you have to let stuff go. Carrying hatred around and nay saying about someone only damages yourself not the object of your fury (Lewis in this case).

        2. Literally everyone on this site knows that the Merc is quicker than the Ferrari, and Merc are just spewing nonsense when trying to claim conversely. Just stop, relax, and calm down. This is actually beginning to upset your mental state and that’s a very unhealthy situation to be in. Take a step back, take off the rose tinted glasses, and let it go.

        3. Thing is, even Vettel said this past weekend that they had the fastest car at the end of winter testing.

          What has happened since is that Ferrari’s front wing concept has proven to have less scope for development, and the Pirelli’s have turned out to be even more sensitive than prior years.

          Having said all that, Ferrari were quickest at 2 of the 5 races to date. Will they be able to ride the curbs well in Canada? That’s the next race with a lot of straights.

          Lastly, Fernando’s biggest mistake was letting a quick rookie get to him. He missed the Michelins in 2007, and while he was getting beat for performance by Hamilton, it could have been just down to that year. Instead his paranoid nature got the better of him, and pushed him back to a receding Renault team. Same thing happened in 2014, even when he had Kimi easily covered. Both were backward moves.

          To ultimately win you need to expose yourself to the possibility of defeat. Alonso was never willing to do that.

  9. Hamilton’s fastest lap also moves him up to third on the all-time list. He’s now 1 ahead of Prost, 4 behind Raikkonen, but still 35 behind Schumacher.

    1. Martin Brundle was saying in his commentary that this is a stat where Hamilton lags a little behind all of his others and it shows the way he approaches a race weekend. @andrews02

      His approach these days seems to be very much focussed on the whole season. I think that now there is a point awarded for the fastest lap we may start to see more of them from him since that will help with the title fight.

      1. That comment was exactly what made me look up where he actually stood.

        But I agree, especially since 2016 at least, he’s been driving with getting the car to the end of the season in mind. I still think he’ll go for the fastest lap if the opportunity presents itself but focus more on bringing wins home.

    2. @andrews02

      At least Schumacher put up a good fight until Ferrari became dominant. Hamilton’s McLaren days may as well not exist after 2007 and the pigs ear 2008 championship where Massa was driver of the season.
      Trophy hunting in dominant cars is a different greatness to putting up a fight in inferior cars.

      1. The great thing about your comments is knowing the angst you must go through by not being able to express what really rankles.

      2. The only “big” thing in you seems to be your hatred towards Hamilton.
        Grow up, dude.
        You are making a fool of yourself

  10. @hugh11

    Gotta be in everyone’s top 5 already. If not top 3.

    Very brave statement.
    I’d say Top 10 mostly for his qualifying.
    He won 1 fortunate title in 7 years at a top team with the best engine.
    Worst ever title defence in 2009 out driven by younger Vettel.
    His driving was very controversial at times at McLaren.
    Outdriven by Alonso in the inferior Ferrari.
    Regularly beaten by Button and Rosberg and outscored by them both over a season.

    And seems to struggle against slower cars at altitude races.

    1. Yes, he’s a terrible driver at altitude, anything about 100 metres or so above sea level and he has no chance NO CHANCE.

      And, he DESTROYED MCLAREN. Yes, DESTROYED.

      Actually, it is a wonder Hamilton has ever been employed in F1, or even F3, or touring cars. He’s really just totally hopeless.

      I am sure that soon the F1 team managers will wise up and see it the way Big Joe sees it, and save all those millions they have been unnecessarily paying him.

      1. Yes, he’s a terrible driver at altitude, anything about 100 metres or so above sea level and he has no chance NO CHANCE.

        And, he DESTROYED MCLAREN. Yes, DESTROYED.

        Actually, it is a wonder Hamilton has ever been employed in F1, or even F3, or touring cars. He’s really just totally hopeless.

        I am sure that soon the F1 team managers will wise up and see it the way Big Joe sees it, and save all those millions they have been unnecessarily paying him.

        For the internet archive, the above is what ‘truth hurts’ looks like, from some one who ‘didn’t want to engage’

        1 title in 7 years at top team
        worst ever title defence
        worst pole – win ratio
        beaten to 2 x titles by two average team mates

        but according to super fans here, Lewis is better than all but two of the following:
        Moss, Clark, Hill, Fangio, Senna, Lauda, Prost, Alonso, Schumacher

        1. Hamiltons pole-win conversion rate is by no means the worst, of drivers with 5 or more poles he sits 6th. The order is Ascari, Alonso, Button, Schumacher, Vettel and Hamilton. In terms of the absolute number of races won from pole, Hamilton has won 47 compared to Alonsos 14 and Schumachers 40. And if we look at the percentage of races not started from pole that they have won then Hamilton has won 19.3%, Alonso has won 6.2%, Schumacher has won 21.3% and Vettel has won 12.4%. So wow Alonso has the WORST non pole – win ratio, that must mean hes really bad when hes not out front. No it doesn’t, it just shows that at the end of the day statistics are just a bit of fun and don’t show the full story.

          Equally, focusing on those same 7 years Alonso won 0 titles with at least 5 of those years in a top team. Shocking. But wait, if we just look at the two years before Alonso has won 2 titles in 9 years. Well that reads a lot better. And if we look at the following 5 years then suddenly Hamilton won 5 titles in 12 seasons. Wow, so they’re both pretty good after all.

          I’m going to assume that part of your dislike of Hamilton comes from the fact that he is currently dominating the sport and you think its down to the machinery rather than his own ability. Well, fair enough, many people leveraged similar complaints during Schumacher and Vettels dominant periods. Without having the two drivers in the same car its impossible to make a direct comparison, and that becomes even more blurred for drivers of different eras. When I discuss F1 hypothetically with my brother his favourite refraint is ‘what is f1 backwards?.. if’.
          Like it or not, Hamilton is going to be considered by many f1 fans to be the greatest driver of this generation, and one of the best of all time. If this annoys you, its probably a good idea to sit out the next couple of seasons, as it doesn’t look like the situation is changing any time soon.

          I’d also like to point out that Alonso’s 2007 title defence consisted of being beaten by a rookie and finishing 3rd in the best car in the field.

        2. isaac (@invincibleisaac)
          13th May 2019, 15:34

          “He won 1 fortunate title in 7 years at a top team with the best engine.” I think that is pretty harsh.
          2007 – Missed out on the title by 1 point in his rookie year. McLaren was the best car, but various issues cost him points throughout the season:
          – Being told to pit earlier than planned in the Monaco GP which hindered his chances of jumping Alonso
          – Puncture in Germany qualifying, leaving him 10th on the grid. This then meant that he got tangled up with the BMW’s on lap 1 and got a puncture.
          – Puncture in the Turkish GP which dropped him from 3rd to 5th.
          – Gearbox glitch in the Brazilian GP which put him back to 18th
          But admittedly, he lost the championship that year through his own mistake in China, and Raikkonen had more reliability issues in the Ferrari.
          2008 – Won the world championship. Yes he got lucky with Massa’s issues in Hungary and Singapore, but Massa also made mistakes in Malaysia and Silverstone which, in hindsight, cost him. Hamilton made several mistakes in 2008 but the penalty in Spa was far too harsh. In the end, luck and reliability is part of racing.
          2009 – The McLaren was hardly a car capable of winning the championship that year. They developed the car better throughout the season and Hamilton picked up some wins and pole positions, but it was by no means a match for the Brawn at the start of the season.
          2010 – The McLaren was not as fast as the Red Bull, but it was more reliable. Hamilton arguably lost the title by:
          – Spain tyre failre put him out of the race from 2nd place, with only 3 laps to go
          – Engine/gearbox issues in Hungary and Japan
          – Racing contact with Massa (Monza) and Webber (Singapore) which he should have avoided.
          2011 – The Red Bull was comfortably the fastest car. In fairness, this was probably Hamilton’s worst season and a serious of incidents and struggling with the high degredation tyres meant he was outscored by Button.
          2012 – The McLaren was the 2nd fastest car, bettered again by Red Bull. This time poor pitstops and reliability haltered his title hopes:
          – Slow pitstops in; Malaysia, Bahrain and Valencia
          – Mechanical failures whilst leading in Singapore and Abu Dahbi
          2013 – The Red Bull was again comfrotably the fastest (like in 2011). The Mercedes was very fast over 1 lap, but had poor race pace and struggled with tyre issues – Hamilton was never really in the championship hunt.

          Every f1 driver, great or good, has some weaknesses. For Hamilton poor starts cost him the championship in 2016 as well as poor reliability. But there is no doubt over his impressive qualifying and racing ability with 84 poles and 76 wins. Yes he has been treated to the best car over recent years, but looking at Senna and especially Schumacher they all had dominant mechinary. I think the statistics will speak for themselves.

        3. Kudos for going to the effort of posting that, and nicely summarised. @invincibleisaac

          You’re wasting your time on Joe though. He has a pathological Hamilton hatred and it’s not going to change.

        4. For the internet archive, the above is what ‘truth hurts’ looks like, from some one who ‘didn’t want to engage’

          You’re declaring your own statements (mostly opinions, some flat-out incorrect as pointed out by @breesegp) as being the “truth” and yet questioning other’s ability to properly engage in debate?

        5. @paulguitar I don’t know. What I saw on the podium yesterday was absolutely despicable: Lewis picked up an elderly gentleman in what I can only assume was an attempt to shake the change out of pockets. Obviously being such a terrible driver and an awful human being to boot, this is the only way he can think of to find cash to pay Mercedes for his drive.

        6. @paulguitar

          How is me stating he won 1 lucky title in 7 years ‘anti’?
          I’ve not mentioned his character unlike Hamilton fans talk about any driver who gets close or beats him.
          Calm down love

        7. Neverelectric
          15th May 2019, 2:01

          1 title in 7 years at top team

          Not like he was the only driver at that team though, was it? How many titles did Jenson win at McLaren in his EIGYT years with the team?
          Hahaha

    2. He won 1 fortunate title in 7 years at a top team with the best engine.

      Given that 5 of those years (2009-13) were seasons where downforce was king, having the best engine didn’t exactly account for much.

      I highly recommend googling the term “confirmation bias”, it’s a good read.

    3. RP (@slotopen)
      13th May 2019, 17:49

      I’ve watched F1 for many years. These stats confirm what is visible on track – Hamilton is an amazing driver. He is clearly a better racer than Vettel, winning most of their closest fight while Vettel loses his cool . He is as fast as Verstappen but stays out of trouble. He has made better career choices than Alonso, and appears to work better with his teams.

      I don’t get it, the stats and appearances agree, Hamilton is really special. Why fight this so aggressively?

      1. @slotopen

        better career choices than Alonso, and appears to work better with his teams.

        He made the same career choice as Alonso at McLaren and went down hill along with his team when Alonso left. A 6 year dry spell where he blatantly didnt work better than Alonso or Vettel and was regularly beaten by Button.
        He’s improved his starts this year though.

        1. How was it the same career choice?! He didn’t blackmail the team … that’s why they kept him, and not Alonso.

          He won in 2008 .. that’s some dry spell! Alonso won twice early on, then a guy with the initials LH came into F1 and he never won again.

          Remove all wins in WCC cars between 2008-13, and you get:

          HAM 18
          ALO 13
          BUT 8
          VET 4
          ROS 3
          WEB 2

          There’s a reason why Mercedes came for Hamilton, and not Alonso, in 2012. Or why they told him “no thanks” in 2014 when he tried to engineer a move to them.

          Alonso’s career is the textbook case of how not to act as a driver in the world of F1. Not that “don’t blackmail your team” isn’t already common sense for most. Just not Fernando.

  11. Grrrrr, froth, froth, froth. Hehehe

  12. doesn’t have a contract to appear on the 2020 F1 calendar, and yesterday’s race may have been its last for the foreseeable future.

    No mention of the awful crowd turn out and the increasing number of empty seats at most circuits. This has been a taboo subject for many years now.

    1. @Big Joe

      Dude, you have to let stuff go. Carrying hatred around and nay saying about someone only damages yourself not the object of your fury (Lewis in this case).

      1. @rushfan

        I’ve not said anything bad about Lewis.
        Unless ‘1 lucky title in 7 years’ is like speaking ill of the dead or something?
        Perhaps Hamilton fans can calm down and dig out that stats that show Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Fangio, Clark, Lauda had such poor periods in top teams.
        What’s Lewis on at the moment, 2 wins from last 9 poles? In the best car and team to boot.

        1. On and on again with nonsense.
          Joe, one thing we all must give props to you for, is your persistence.

        2. @Big Joe

          I’ve read your latest posts and it’s clear you seek to denigrate LH at every opportunity. you’re making up your own facts (Button didn’t have a dominant car for the whole of 2009 etc..). My point is Joe that you are causing damage to yourself and not anyone else. My advice is only post about the driver you like, that way they’ll all be positive and constructive (constructive criticism is different) and you can live a healthier and happier life.

          1. @rushfan

            To be fair Joe does create a great deal of entertainment and amusement amongst more clued-up readers.

            Every village has one…:)

          2. @paulguitar

            This is true!

            p.s. I am also a guitar player. Rock on :)

        3. How do you get the 2 wins from last 9 poles stat?

          His last 9 poles:

          AUS19, ABU18, BRA18, USA18, JPN18, SIN18, BEL18, HUN18, GBR18

          He won 5 of those (ABU, BRA, JPN, SIN, HUN).

          Hamilton wrecked Alonso’s F1 career trajectory. There’s no two ways about it. Alonso is a great driver, but he’s not a racer’s racer. You can’t ask your team to run your teammate out of fuel, and still pretend to be a consummate racer.

  13. There are 15 races remaining this year…

    *16 @keithcollantine

    1. Only Ayrton Senna has more lights-to-flag wins, with 16.

      *19 (sorry!) XD

      1. F1oSaurus (@)
        13th May 2019, 19:10

        @ninjenius Maybe he only counted the ones where he was in the lead for the whole race (ie not behind another car after a pit stop)?

  14. could some one plz tell me which driver ever won a championship in an inferior non championship winning car???!!! plzzz. im soooo tyd of that excuse. lewis being the best driver drives in the best car as wud any other very gud driver be in avery gud car….

    1. From the 2000s onward no one, every champion had the fastest car.
      If Alonso won 2010 and 2012 he would have done it.

      lewis being the best driver drives in the best car as wud any other very gud driver be in avery gud car….

      THIS… the drivers now are at such a high level of skill where the team is the main deciding factor. The engineers are the true stars of the sport tbh

    2. Hamilton 2008

    3. F1oSaurus (@)
      13th May 2019, 19:31

      I would agree with Philip on Hamilton in 2008. Not just did Ferrari have the better cam but hey also had the aid of Alan Donnely. The sole steward (who turned out to be a consultant working for Ferrari) who ruled without fail against Hamilton.

      Another example would be Button in 2009. He had the best car in the first few races sure, but Red Bull was not that far behind. Red Bull actually locked out front row in China (race 3). After the first 7 races Brawn was on average more like the third best car.

      What kept Button alive was the amount of points that Vettel was cost ing himself. The first race Vettel crashed already race into Kubica, then he spun off again the next race in Malaysia. In Spain he started from P2 and slipped down the order to P5 and then again crashed out in Monaco.

      So yes Button won 6 out of the first 7 races, but and Vettel should have been much closer behind instead of crashing away 3 races and then he did it again in Hungary. 4 races down the drain due to his by now signature point wasters.

      Also 2018 would be a good example. Ferrari had the better car, but the huge amount of points that Vettel wasted made it possible for a consistent driver like Hamilton to take the title anyway.

      1. Also 2018 would be a good example. Ferrari had the better car, but the huge amount of points that Vettel wasted made it possible for a consistent driver like Hamilton to take the title anyway.

        Mercedes were the best team in 2018. You cant blame Vettel for Ferrari’s mistakes and Lewis wasnt that consistant (For example being outraced by Verstappen in a slower Red Bull 3 times. ) Unless you mean his consistant bad patch he has every season contributing to a 6 year dry spell and being beaten regularly by 3 average team mates.
        Or his current run of only 2 wins from 9 poles. Nice guy though.

        1. If you’re going to use statistics to support your arguments you’ve got to at least be accurate. His last nine poles are Britain 18, Hungary 18, Belgium 18, Singapore 18, Japan 18, USA 18, Brazil 18, Abu Dhabi 18, and Australia 19. Of those 9 races he has won 5. Also, you seem really obsessed with the pole conversion rate. Would you rate him more highly if he wasn’t good at qualifying and won all of his races from further back? It’s a weird metric to judge someone on.

          1. @breesegp

            He’s not in “everybody’s top 5” “probably top 3” though, is he?
            With statements like that on this webpage, you’ve got to look at why he must be better than Senna, Alonso, Schumacher, Moss, Prost, Lauda, Hill, Clark, Fangio.
            Hamilton super-fans make these statements then go into meltdown when you point out his blatant flaws and below-par periods. That, Senna, Alonso and Schumacher never had just for starters. Lewis had 6 years of it, 7 if you agreee he didnt excell in 2008.

          2. I agree that he’s not in everybody’s top 5, because that’s entirely subjective. I also agree that he has flaws as a driver and during the 2008-2012 seasons, as you have mentioned, these flaws came to the fore more often. He shouldn’t be immune to criticism, and his success of the last 5 years doesn’t alter the fact that he has had some bad periods, most notably the majority of the 2011 season. Equally though, it’s wrong to just pull figures out of thin air and use them to support your argument, this undermines your credibility and spreads misinformation. There is enough fake news in the world as it is.

        2. “on and on again with rubbish.
          Yawn.

    4. Got back to like 1987 and have given up, all cars seemed to be the best based on the stats. 1999 probably the closest, as I’d say Mika Hakkinen is a far superior driver than Irvine, but only won by 2 points, but again based on stats, it looks like the McLaren was actually quicker, but he had more retirements, so I dunno.
      2008 and 2009 are kind of good examples, 2008 I’d say the Ferrari and McLaren were quite equal, and of course 2009 the Brawn was much the best for the first 7 races (except China), but beyond that was 3rd or 4th usually.
      A few times people have come close in more uncompetitive cars, most notably Alonso dragging that Ferrari up in 2010 and 2012.

    5. Button didnt have a dominant car the whole of 2009.
      Alonso didnt have the fastest car in 2005.
      Alonso only had the fastest car half of 2006.

      1. The Renault was the BEST car in 2005, hands down. It was quick and reliable. The McLaren was quick, and often quicker, but nowhere quick enough to overcome its reliability deficit. Kimi didn’t finish 3x, and took many grid penalties for engine changes, etc. Alonso had one DNF, the one where he smacked the wall while leading all alone in Canada.

      2. The Renault was the best car in 2005, hands down. It was quick and reliable. The McLaren was quick, but not reliable. Silly to pretend otherwise.

  15. ColdFly (@)
    13th May 2019, 17:35

    10th consecutive race Verstappen has outscored at least one Scuderia Ferrari car.

  16. 5th time Hamilton has set fastest lap in Barcelona – same as Monza.

    First time since Brazil 2010 that Kubica has started higher than his team-mate. Perez and Verstappen are the only drivers to have started every 2019 race ahead of their team-mates.

    Hamilton keeps alive his record of at least 1 fastest lap every year since 2010 (although Vettel will reclaim the longest active streak if he manages one this year). Also the 13th consecutive year in which at least 1 British driver has set a fastest lap.

  17. @minnis

    Besides, Hamilton fans dont just mention that. How about the fact that he’s won races in every single season that he’s raced in, something no other driver in history has ever done before?

    You counting ther season when Nico beat him 2-1 in the same car.

    Man, his success must be killing you inside.

    Err no. I took exception to 2 posters claiming he was “in everybody’s top 3′ and got called a “hater” and taken out of context for pointing out he isn’t. He had 6 years in a top team without a title and almost made a hash of the 1 title he did win with them. He’s a top 10 driver with off-periods every single season and beaten by slower cars in most.

  18. If drivers could also count in the constructors championship, Hamilton would currently be 3rd (with Bottas 4th) and closing in on Ferrari in 2nd.

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