NURBURG: Even Lewis Hamilton once saw Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins as unbeatable. Now he’s matched it.
Lewis Hamilton equalled Schumacher’s all-time record on Sunday with an Eifel Grand Prix victory that catapulted the Mercedes driver closer to a seventh world championship.
While the Briton triumphed at the Nuerburgring, the German circuit where Ferrari great Schumacher won five times, team-mate Valtteri Bottas suffered a huge hit to his title hopes with a first retirement of the season.
Hamilton, celebrating his seventh win of the season, is now 69 points clear of the Finn in the standings with six rounds remaining.
Red Bull’s Max Versteppen finished second, and took a bonus point for fastest lap, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo third for Renault in his first podium since 2018 when he was at Red Bull.
Schumacher’s son Mick, the Formula Two leader who could be racing against Hamilton next season, presented the Briton with one of his father’s red helmets from his second stint 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 2013 skiing accident and has not been seen in public since.
“Thank you so much, it’s such an honour,” said Hamilton before stepping up onto the podium at the circuit closest to Schumacher’s boyhood home in Kerpen. “I don’t even know what to say.
“When you grow up watching someone you generally idolise them, you know, really just in terms of the quality of the driver they are but what they are able to continuously do, year on year and race on race and week on week.”
“Seeing his dominance for so long, I don’t think anyone and especially me didn’t imagine I’d be anywhere near Michael in terms of records. So it’s an incredible honour and it’s going to take some time to get used to it.”
Hamilton said he only realised the significance of what he had done when he came into the pitlane after taking the chequered flag.
Hamilton started faster than Bottas and had the inside line into the hairpin bend at turn one. He forced Bottas wide over a runoff area, but the Finn held on to take the lead back from Hamilton on the inside of the second corner.
Hamilton took the lead back on lap 13 when Bottas braked late and ran wide. The Finn’s race was soon over when he complained of having no power and stopped in the pits with what the team said was a problem with his hybrid power unit.
Lando Norris was running third and chasing a podium finish for McLaren before his car started losing power. He eventually pulled over with a fire inside the car’s right side pod, bringing out the safety car. Verstappen was slow to react at the restart and rather than threatening Hamilton, he nearly lost second to Ricciardo.
Sergio Perez took fourth for Racing Point, ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz in fifth and Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri.
It was another long race for Ferrari in a troubled season for the Italian team. Charles Leclerc started fourth but lacked the pace to hold the position and finished seventh while Sebastian Vettel trailed in 11th after a spin.
A day after getting the call to drive for Racing Point as a late replacement for the unwell Lance Stroll, Nico Hlkenberg stormed through the field from last on the grid to take eighth. Romain Grosjean was ninth for Haas and Antonio Giovinazzi took the final point in 10th for Alfa Romeo.
Another record fell as Kimi Raikkonen started his 323rd race, beating the mark set by Rubens Barrichello from 1993 through 2011. Raikkonen placed 12th after he picked up a time penalty for colliding with George Russell and sending the Williams driver into a spin. Russell retired with a puncture soon after. Raikkonen’s car threw up gravel shortly after the start, sending stones flying at Grosjean’s car behind him. Grosjean said he’d been struck in the hand and wondered if he had a broken finger.
In another incident on a frantic day, Alex Albon collided with Daniil Kvyat at Turn 14, tearing the front wing off the Russian’s car. Albon was given a five-second penalty, but did not serve it – instead retiring with hydraulic problems.
It was the first F1 race since 2013 at the Nuerburgring in Germany and was named the Eifel Grand Prix after a nearby mountain range. The next race is October 25 in Portugal.
