Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton broke yet another under-the-radar record
By Asher Fair
Lewis Hamilton broke quite a few records in the 2020 Formula 1 season, and he broke another one in the 2021 season opener.
Lewis Hamilton has made it a habit of tying and/or breaking all-time Formula 1 records which were previously held by fellow seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher in the 2020 season.
Hamilton tied Schumacher’s podium finishes record of 155 and has since broken it, as he now sits at 166 career podium finishes. He also tied Schumacher’s wins record of 91 and has since broken it, as he now sits at 96 career victories. In fact, only once in seven races has he finished outside of first place since tying that record.
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He also secured a record-tying seventh world championship, and he has now won four in a row and six in the last seven years
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Additionally, he tied and broke Schumacher’s wins record of 72 with a single constructor. Schumacher secured 72 of his 91 wins with Ferrari while Hamilton has now won 75 times with Mercedes.
Hamilton’s Hungarian Grand Prix victory from last July was also his eighth in that race, meaning that he and Schumacher are the only two drivers to win a single race on eight occasions. Schumacher is an eight-time French Grand Prix winner.
The list goes on. And it continued this past weekend in the 2021 season opener..
In this past Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Hamilton also broke another lesser-known Formula 1 record that had been held by Schumacher for many years.
By leading 27 laps of this 56-lap race around the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) road course in Sakhir, Bahrain, Hamilton now holds the record for the most laps led in Formula 1 history, as he has surpassed the former record held by none other than Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton entered this race having led 5,099 of the 15,561 laps he had completed, while Schumacher led 5,111 of the 16,824 laps he completed throughout his career.
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Now Hamilton has led a record 5,126 laps, a record which will likely continue to grow and may not be beaten. Only four other drivers have led more than 2,000 laps, and the only active driver among the is four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who has led 3,495.