Lewis Hamilton matched Michael Schumacher’s document of seven world titles at Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, placing the 2 drivers on an equal standing in Formulation One’s document books.
The argument over who’s the Best Of All Time (or GOAT) is totally subjective and has no single passable reply, however at a degree the place so lots of the two drivers’ statistics match up it appeared like as acceptable a time as any to handle the query.
So let’s begin with these mind-blowing stats earlier than shifting on to a number of the extra controversial and debatable classes of greatness….
Whereas they’re tied on titles, Hamilton now leads Schumacher on the 2 huge data used to measure pace and success in F1: pole positions and wins.
There are some classes the place Schumacher nonetheless holds the sting — quickest laps, most wins in a season, successive wins — however the outright document on two of these three has been matched or surpassed by Sebastian Vettel. Schumacher’s “second profession” at Mercedes between 2010 and 2012 skews his proportion stats unfavourably as he solely scored one podium in that interval in comparison with the 154 he scored between 1994 and 2006.
After all, Hamilton continues to be energetic in F1, so his proportion stats may go both approach, however the protected cash is on him bolstering these numbers and lengthening his benefit over Schumacher by the point he retires.
Titles
Hamilton 7 – 7 Schumacher
Wins
Hamilton 94 – 91 Schumacher
Profession begins
Hamilton 264 – 306 Schumacher
Pole positions
Hamilton 97 – 68 Schumacher
Factors finishes
Hamilton 227 – 221 Schumacher
Podiums
Hamilton 163 – 155 Schumacher
Quickest laps
Hamilton 53 – 77 Schumacher
Races till first pole
Hamilton 5 – 41 Schumacher
Races till first win
Hamilton 6 – 18 Schumacher
Most wins in a season
Hamilton 11 – 13 Schumacher
Successive wins
Hamilton 5 – 7 Schumacher
Successive podiums
Hamilton 16 – 19 Schumacher
It is attention-grabbing, however maybe nothing greater than a coincidence, that regardless of two very totally different journeys in F1, they each secured their seventh title on the age of 35. If we cap their careers at that age, then the proportion win stats are very barely in favour of Schumacher over Hamilton.
Age at first title
Hamilton 23 – 25 Schumacher
Age at second title
Hamilton 29 – 26 Schumacher
Age at third title
Hamilton 30 – 31 Schumacher
Age at fourth title
Hamilton 32 – 32 Schumacher
Age at fifth title
Hamilton 33 – 33 Schumacher
Age at sixth title
Hamilton 34 – 34 Schumacher
Age at seventh title
Hamilton 35 – 35 Schumacher
The stats can be utilized to make arguments for both driver, however contemplating Hamilton now holds the race win document and is more likely to lengthen the championship document within the coming years, it is solely more likely to turn out to be tougher and tougher to make the numbers stack up in favour of Schumacher.
That is at all times going to be a controversial matter and is among the many hardest to attract a conclusion from. Statistically talking, Hamilton has the document for pole positions however Schumacher has the document for quickest laps — though each of these stats are simple to argue into irrelevance.
Pole positions depend for nothing when it comes to factors, so it is potential one-lap tempo could be sacrificed for race tempo with a purpose to obtain victory (particularly as drivers needed to qualify with their race gasoline for part of Schumacher’s profession). What’s extra, in case you have the quickest automotive on the grid then a big a part of the job is completed and arguably Schumacher had extra “comparatively gradual” automobiles in his profession than Hamilton.
As for quickest laps, they’ve solely carried a degree because the begin of final 12 months, so a quickest lap has been of little relevance (apart from bragging rights) for almost all of each drivers’ careers. It is also usually the case {that a} quickest lap has been secured by a driver being on recent tyres and low gasoline at an opportune time of the race, which is commonly a by-product of a particular technique quite than a real indicator of a driver’s race tempo.
Transferring away from the stats, each drivers have been heralded for a way they management a automotive on the restrict, however then there are questions as as to whether the likes of Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna would have left each Schumacher and Hamilton of their wake if it got here all the way down to a low-fuel, fresh-tyre run in equal equipment. It is a query that we’ll by no means be capable of reply.
However, a current examine by F1 companion AWS aimed to reply it anyway by making a complex matrix of comparisons between teammates. Senna got here out on high, 0.114s forward of Schumacher on an imaginary lap, who in flip was 0.161s quicker than Hamilton. However the examine was considerably discredited by its questionable methodology and the actual fact Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli made shock appearances within the high ten.
The comparability between Hamilton and Schumacher is made even tougher by the 2 eras the drivers raced in. A lot of tales of Schumacher’s heroics come from behind the cockpit of a Benetton within the early Nineties, which was a really totally different beast to the aero-sensitive and much heavier automobiles of as we speak.
But when in search of variations proves futile, discovering similarities can no less than give us a sign as to why each drivers have been so profitable. Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has labored with each drivers (Schumacher between 2010 and 2012 and Hamilton from 2013 to now) and believes each had very comparable traits.
“The 2 characters could not be extra totally different, however if you happen to have a look at how they drive, there are similarities,” he mentioned earlier this 12 months. “When Michael arrived at our staff, the factor that stood out with him was the way in which he would at all times go after marginal positive factors, and it did not matter if it was 0.01s, he would attempt to get it and he would accumulate these up.
“Michael additionally had a capability to drive no matter [car] stability was quickest. If it was an understeering automotive, he would do it. If he wanted to maneuver the work onto the entrance tyres, he may. And so he was very adaptable in his driving fashion.
“These are two traits that Lewis very a lot has. Plenty of the great drivers have no specific fashion, it is simply no matter they should adapt to, they’ll do it.
“It did not matter what number of belongings you advised Michael to do on a lap, he would do them. Whether or not it was shifting brake bias to take care of tyres or no matter he wanted to do to get them in the fitting window, he would do it.
“Once more that is one trait that Lewis has; you may simply preserve layering one factor on high of one other and he does not neglect it, and you then can provide him extra issues to do and he simply provides it on high.
“So the way in which they’re within the automotive, they’re really extra comparable than you may suppose. It is simply out of the automotive they’re two fairly totally different individuals.”
However pure pace is sort of a given amongst drivers in F1’s GOAT debate and it’s the different attributes which will assist tip the stability in favour of 1 driver over the opposite.
Primarily based on the characterisation of the 2 drivers within the media, this class goes comfortably to Schumacher. However dig a bit deeper into their careers and it is a a lot nearer battle than you may suppose.
The Schumacher story is well-known: he was key to the rebuilding of Ferrari between 1996 and 2000, bringing technical employees reminiscent of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne from Benetton whereas contributing to a successful environment that in the end led to the domination of the game. It is incorrect to recommend it was all all the way down to Schumacher — it was very a lot a staff effort led by staff principal Jean Todt — however the success of Schumacher and Ferrari throughout that period is inseparable.
Schumacher’s work ethic whereas at Maranello stays legendary. There are tales of how he would speak with engineers on the cellphone a few new half on a Tuesday and be within the automotive testing it by Wednesday. And it was his need to enhance by testing that units him aside from another driver of his period.
In his most profitable interval between 2000 and 2006, Schumacher accomplished 89,533 check kilometres in a Ferrari — the equal of circumnavigating the earth twice. These kilometres had been unfold over 279 days of testing in whole, that means that within the house of seven years he spent a complete of 9 months strong testing, with race weekends on high!
In contrast, Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 at a degree when nearly all of the constructing blocks for domination had already been put in place. The transfer from McLaren to Mercedes on the finish of 2012 was unquestionably an important profession transfer, however — so the argument goes — he was in a roundabout way liable for the exhausting yards that led to the staff’s domination from 2014 onwards.
However that argument does an enormous disservice to Hamilton’s position since 2013 and the extent of exhausting work required to maintain Mercedes on the high for the next seven seasons. Hamilton could shun the thought of testing away from pre-season (and rules have considerably restricted the quantity of monitor time since Schumacher’s period), however it’s incorrect to imagine he clocks off the minute he leaves the circuit.
“Lewis’ rivals may prefer to suppose he’s simply quick within the automotive however does not put the hours in, however he is really one of many hardest-working guys we have ever recognized,” Shovlin says. “The extra he understands about tyres, about how the automotive works and how you can use all of the out there instruments, the extra he is ready to take that data and construct it into his driving.
“It is simply the relentless approach he appears at each missed alternative as one thing that wants fixing earlier than the following race and he goes off and works on it with Bono [his race engineer Peter Bonnington], Marcus [Dudley, Hamilton’s performance engineer] and the broader engineering staff attempting to know any points.
“It is simply the way in which he’s always constructing his ability set, and he is so lengthy right into a profession that you just may suppose a driver would high out their ability set, however Lewis retains discovering new and various things to do to get the perfect out of the automotive and the tyres.”
In consequence, this class is far nearer than it might sound at first look, however Schumacher’s sheer dedication and sacrifice of time through the years at Ferrari means he edges it.
The flexibility of each drivers to take a race technique and make it play out efficiently on monitor is vital to their success. However the kind of driving required in Schumacher’s period is sort of utterly at odds with Hamilton’s as we speak.
Schumacher was well-known for his skill to make a technique work by driving a collection of “qualifying laps” to make the distinction on a key stint between pit stops. Such turns of tempo had been usually the important thing to success in his Ferrari days and had been masterminded by Brawn on the pit wall.
In contrast, Hamilton’s current success lies in his innate skill to handle his tyres and tailor his driving and his tempo to the situations to make the rubber final. At races this 12 months we’ve seen Hamilton dictate the technique from the cockpit, typically overruling the pit wall primarily based on what he’s feeling from every nook of his automotive.
Schumacher by no means actually received to grips with the “Pirelli period” of tyre administration in F1 and was far more profitable on Bridgestone tyres that had been tailored for his Ferrari and able to being pushed to the restrict lap after lap. Each sorts of driving require distinctive ability and each Schumacher and Hamilton are arguably the perfect of their technology at their given fashion. However given these variations in race administration, it appears an unfair to make a direct comparability.
The achievements of each Schumacher and Hamilton have at all times needed to contest with the argument that they solely win as a result of they’ve had the perfect automotive. Leaving to at least one aspect the counter argument that they’re in the perfect automotive (or have helped develop the perfect automotive) for a motive, it is also honest to say you may solely beat the groups and drivers you might be racing towards. In consequence, their greatness is partly outlined by the rivalries they’ve had.
Schumacher gained titles in dominant automobiles towards lesser opposition, however the profession of his biggest rival was tragically lower quick in 1994. Had Senna not died on the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, there’s a sturdy argument he would have overwhelmed Schumacher to that 12 months’s title, which in the end noticed Schumacher win by a single level from Senna’s teammate at Williams, Damon Hill.
On successful his first title in 1994, Schumacher devoted the victory to Senna: “For me it was at all times clear that I wasn’t going to win the championship and Ayrton was going to win the championship, however he hasn’t been there for the final races, and I would prefer to take this championship and provides it to him. He’s the driving force who ought to have earned it as a result of he had the perfect automotive and was the perfect driver. That is my emotions about him.”
That is to not play down Schumacher’s achievement towards his later rivals reminiscent of Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso, however the extent to which Senna would have dominated the Nineties had he survived Imola 1994 stays certainly one of F1’s most tragic and compelling ‘what ifs’.
Hamilton’s period of success has seen some overlap with Schumacher’s when it comes to rivals, reminiscent of Alonso, however he has arguably gone up towards a stronger vary of rivals in Kimi Raikkonen (in his 2007 title 12 months), Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen. What’s extra, he has gained a race in each season of his profession, regardless of having sub-par automobiles in 2009 and 2013.
Nevertheless it’s the direct comparability with teammates that basically offers Hamilton the sting over Schumacher on this class. Schumacher solely as soon as had a world champion as a teammate — in 1991 throughout his six races alongside Nelson Piquet at Benetton — whereas Hamilton has gone head-to-head with Alonso, Jenson Button and Rosberg.
True, he tied on factors with Alonso in 2007, however he was a rookie and Alonso was the reigning two-time world champion (plus Hamilton technically gained the battle on countback of particular person outcomes). Button beat him within the driver standings in 2011, however Hamilton got here out on high in 2010 and 2012. In an in depth title battle, Rosberg beat him in 2016, however once more, Hamilton completed all the opposite seasons that they had as teammates forward and two of them with titles.
The deciding issue on this comparability is that Schumacher held No. 1 standing at Ferrari, with Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa all contracted because the No. 2 driver alongside him. Throughout his time in F1, Hamilton has by no means requested No. 1 standing and has solely been granted it when a championship is on the road and his teammate is already out of rivalry.
It is important to have a successful mentality in F1, however there is a distinction between a successful mentality and a win-at-all-costs mentality.
Schumacher’s F1 profession will eternally be tarnished by the occasions on the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, the 1997 European Grand Prix and qualifying for the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix. In every he exhibited a need to win that went to the very restrict (or past) and in two of the three circumstances his actions had been punished by the FIA.
His collision with Hill on the remaining race of the season in 1994 secured him his first title simply moments after it gave the impression to be slipping by way of his fingers after he made a mistake and hit the wall. Though he wasn’t penalised for it, he appeared to power a collision as Hill tried to overhaul and the injury to Hill’s Williams ensured neither scored factors, giving Schumacher the title.
The same transfer on Villeneuve on the remaining race of the season in 1997 did not repay and resulted in Schumacher being excluded from the championship following an FIA investigation. Each incidents may very well be marked all the way down to his comparatively younger age (he was 28 in 1997) however the Monaco incident, the place he crashed on objective on the Rascasse nook with a purpose to forestall drivers behind him beating his qualifying lap time, got here on the age of 37 and when he was already a seven-time world champion.
Such incidents gave Schumacher a status for ruthlessness and stay divisive amongst F1 followers to at the present time. Nevertheless it needs to be famous that those that labored with Schumacher inform a distinct story of his true character away from the monitor.
“He was a reasonably misunderstood character,” Brawn advised Sky Sports activities within the docuseries Race to Perfection. “I do not know if in his personal thoughts he fairly loved the form of impression he created as a result of he was fairly an intimidating character in some ways.
“However if you happen to knew him personally he was fairly the other, very partaking, very private. So many occasions I launched him to individuals who, earlier than they met him, thought he was a despicable, horrible character and also you introduce them, and as soon as they received to know him they utterly modified.
“I had that occur so many occasions as a result of there was Michael the racing driver out on the monitor and there was Michael the human being away from the monitor. “I do not know of anybody who labored with Michael who had a nasty phrase to say about him. Heaps of people that raced towards him had a distinct opinion however no person I do know who ever labored with Michael ever had a nasty opinion about him due to his integrity, his dedication, his human aspect.
“He was a really sturdy staff member of any staff he was a part of and it is a tragedy what’s occurred however he is a beautiful human being.”
Hamilton has usually discovered himself on the incorrect aspect of choices from the FIA stewards, however it has normally been for sincere errors.
His most questionable second got here in 2009 when he was disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix for “deceptive” the stewards in an investigation over why he overtook Jarno Trulli underneath yellow flags. It later emerged his testimony to the stewards was a results of orders from McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan, and at 24 years previous it was maybe comprehensible that he went together with it.
However Hamilton has matured loads since then. Ultimately 12 months’s Brazilian Grand Prix, he took the blame instantly after a collision with Alex Albon, making the stewards’ resolution to strip him of his podium end simple.
Hamilton’s monumental self-belief means he has solely ever requested for a straight battle in equal equipment along with his teammate, and that makes his achievements all of the extra spectacular.
That is arguably a very powerful class in the case of “greatness” but additionally the toughest to evaluate (not least as a result of Hamilton has but to complete his profession).
Additionally it is extremely subjective, with no numerical measurement and robust arguments for both driver — in addition to the argument that the premise of such a comparability is fatuous in itself. However, it’s potential to have a look at what the 2 drivers have achieved and what affect they’ve had on the world outdoors F1.
Throughout his profession, Schumacher raised the bar when it comes to professionalism in Formulation One. Journey to world wide and you may spot duplicate Schumacher helmets on bike riders in main cities, whereas his title stays synonymous with the game in each nook of the globe. At a time when F1 was at its prime when it comes to viewers and relevance, Schumacher was its most recognisable determine and his story stays inspirational to thousands and thousands of individuals.
He carried out nearly all of his charitable work in personal, however examples of his generosity sometimes made the headlines, reminiscent of his $10m donation to victims of a tsunami in Asia in 2005. Competing in an period earlier than social media, he guarded his personal life from the media however his on-track achievements had been nonetheless sufficient to mark him out as one of many biggest sporting icons of all time.
Ever since he sustained severe head accidents in a snowboarding accident in 2013, his household have guarded his privateness additional, however the Preserve Preventing Basis arrange in his title continues to work with tasks in tradition, schooling, science and public well being.
Compared to Schumacher, Hamilton’s personal life has been an open e-book throughout his time in F1. Conventional media has constructed him up and torn him down a number of occasions over, however the character that has emerged is likely one of the strongest and most related within the sport’s historical past.
Via social media he has aimed to inform his story and has more and more tailor-made his messages to encourage others quite than self-promote. This 12 months he has used his platform to battle towards racial injustice, push for better range in motorsport and proceed to focus on the risks of local weather change — three points that he has led the dialog on inside his sport.
His voice is likely one of the only a few within the paddock that transcends the F1 bubble and he’s persevering with to make use of it to unfold a constructive message world wide.
The probabilities are you had your thoughts made up earlier than you opened this text and it is unlikely any of the arguments above have modified it.
Schumacher followers won’t ever be satisfied Hamilton is bigger, whereas Hamilton followers won’t ever settle for Schumacher because the undisputed GOAT. Equally there are quite a few different drivers from F1’s historical past that needs to be added to the talk and have solely acquired a passing point out (or not point out in any respect) on this article.
However on the off likelihood you are still undecided, have a look again by way of the classes and determine which of them you worth probably the most in a F1 driver. That ought to offer you your reply …
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