HE’S COMING TO GET SCHU
Hamilton has time, car & talent to match legend says Brundle
LEWIS HAMILTON will chase down Michael Schumacher’s world championship record after becoming Britain’s best ever driver this weekend, Martin Brundle reckons.
Hamilton needs only to finish in the top five at the Mexican Grand Prix to claim his fourth crown with two races to spare.
That would bring him level with Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost, with only the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio and imperious Schumacher ahead of them in the record books.
And driver-turned-pundit Brundle insists Hamilton, 32, still has the time and skill to at least match the German’s haul of seven titles.
He said: “I thought Michael’s 91 wins were out of reach but Lewis has already nailed the qualifying record and is marching very quickly towards the total victories and championships.
“We don’t have a complete reset in Formula One until 2021 so basically teams are using the same engines until then.
“So unless Mercedes pull out, you look at it and think they could win the next three years as well.
“Hamilton is doing a lot of commercial deals, so that’s not a guy who is winding down either. Mercedes have found out how to press Lewis’s happy buttons and put him in a space he is comfortable with.” A fourth title would take Hamilton clear of Sir Jackie Stewart and make him Britain’s mostdecorated F1 driver – and Brundle believes he is worthy of his place among the sport’s elite.
“It’s hard to compare across eras but he is one of the all-time greats and the best drivers always find themselves in the best cars,” he said. “He has different challenges; it’s not as dangerous now as it used to be, there isn’t a fear of death every time you get in the car, and the cars are a lot more reliable.
“But they’re also more complex; you have to be fitter and more precise, the demands of the media are greater – so, different challenges to those Jackie, Stirling Moss and Jim Clark encountered.
“For me, he’s already worthy of being talked about in that conversation. His first ever corner in F1, in Melbourne in 2007, he went around the outside of Fernando Alonso. That was a statement, and he’s not stopped making it since.”
SKY SPORTS’ dedicated F1 channel is showing every session from the Mexican Grand Prix exclusively live.