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Formula One: Michael Schumacher vs. Lewis Hamilton comparison

By Asher Fair

SHANGHAI, CHINA - APRIL 18: Michael Schumacher (red helmet) of Germany and Mercedes GP and Lewis Hamilton (yellow helmet) of Great Britain and McLaren Mercedes fight for position as they drive during the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit on April 18, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
SHANGHAI, CHINA - APRIL 18: Michael Schumacher (red helmet) of Germany and Mercedes GP and Lewis Hamilton (yellow helmet) of Great Britain and McLaren Mercedes fight for position as they drive during the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit on April 18, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /
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Lewis Hamilton is making it harder and harder every weekend to decide who the greatest Formula One driver of all-time is. Here is a comparison of him and Michael Schumacher.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, 32, is on his way to winning his fourth career Formula One championship this season and third in the last four years. He currently holds a 59-point lead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel with just four races to go, meaning Vettel can only get up to 100 more points this season.

Hamilton’s recent dominance and the fact that he is making himself known all across the Formula One record books has caused him to receive

And on a side note, for those of you who may be new to Formula One, the driver in the teal and silver car in front in the featured image of this article is actually Michael Schumacher despite the fact that that car looks similar to the one currently driven by Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton is in the red and silver car behind him.

All statistics used in this chart were gathered from Racing Reference.

Michael SchumacherLewis Hamilton
Starts306204
Wins9161
Win %29.74%29.90%
Podium finishes155115
Podium finish %50.65%56.37%
Poles6871
Pole %22.22%34.80%
Full-time seasons1710*
Championships73
Championship %41.18%30.00%*
10-win seasons23
10-win season %11.76%30.00%*
Highest season win total1311
Laps1682411447
Laps led50653455
Laps led %30.11%30.18%

*=does not include the 2017 season

Italics denote a lead in a particular category.

More from Formula One

As the chart suggests, Lewis Hamilton is certainly performing at the level that an all-time great performs at. However, he definitely has some work left to do yet if he ever intends to pass Michael Schumacher as Formula One’s best driver ever. He certainly can pull it off, as he is still only 32 years old, while Schumacher was 35 when he won his final championship back in 2004 and 37 when he won his final race back in 2006.

Many of the categories in which Hamilton trails Schumacher, however, he only trails Schumacher and nobody else. For instance, he is 2nd on the all-time list in career wins, career podium finishes and career laps led, trailing only Schumacher in each of those three categories. So he has definitely earned his spot in the debate as to who the greatest Formula One driver of all-time is.

Next: Looking back at Lewis Hamilton's record-setting accomplishment

The 2017 Formula One season resumes next Sunday, October 22nd, 2017 with the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Can Lewis Hamilton add to his impressive resume with his fifth win at the track in six years, his ninth win of the season and 62nd career victory? Tune in to NBC at 3:00 PM ET next Sunday to find out.

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