Formula 1: One stat shows how dominant Lewis Hamilton has been
By Asher Fair
Lewis Hamilton already has as many pole positions in the 2020 Formula 1 season as he did throughout all of his dominant 2019 campaign.
It goes without saying that Mercedes have been the dominant team since the start of the 2020 Formula 1 season back in early July — really since the start of the 2014 season when the V6 turbo hybrid era began. That hasn’t changed and doesn’t look like it will at any point in the near future.
For all intents and purposes, the 2020 world championships have already been decided, with Mercedes set to win their seventh consecutive title, which would be an all-time record streak, and Lewis Hamilton set to tie Michael Schumacher’s all-time record with his seventh title and sixth in the last seven years.
But one statistic shows just how dominant Hamilton has been this year.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
We all know that Hamilton’s qualifying pace is quick.
There’s a reason he holds the all-time record with 93 pole positions, there’s a reason that nobody else is even remotely close to that record, there’s a reason he breaks that record whenever he turns the quickest lap in a qualifying session, and there’s a reason that happens on a regular basis. But here’s where this one statistic shows just how strong he has been.
Last year, Hamilton tied his career-high with 11 wins and 17 podium finishes. In fact, his 17 podium finishes tied an all-time record, a record which he has tied four times in the last five years.
Additionally, he scored a career-high 413 points and averaged a career-high 19.67 points per race while recording a career-best average finish of 2.4.
But despite such a dominant record, the 35-year-old Briton only took five pole positions throughout the 21-race season.
Through seven qualifying sessions this season, he has already matched that total.
And it stands to reason, as it has translated to even bigger and better statistics for him than last year.
He has led a whopping 261 of the 382 laps that have been run so far this season, nearly half of his career-best through just just six races, and he is slated to lead a bunch more after taking the pole position for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
He has scored 132 points, giving him an insane 22.00 points per race average, and his average finish is 1.7. He has finished no lower than fourth place this year, and his lead in the driver standings over second place Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing is already well over one win’s worth of a points haul at 37.
Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of all-time. dark. Next
Tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET. Hamilton has not won at the track since 2017 but is a three-time winner there, having won in 2010 and 2015 as well. He finished in second place in both 2018 and 2019.