The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hamilton smashes Schumacher record
Lewis Hamilton has been crowned the most victorious driver in Formula One history following his crushing 92nd career win in yesterday’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
A fortnight after he drew level with Michael Schumacher in Germany, Hamilton now stands alone in the record books after taking the chequered flag at Portimao 25.5 seconds clear of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton is poised to become the sport’s most successful driver of all time as early as next month, with a seventh world championship certain to follow this season.
The Englishman’s victory here moved him 77 points clear of Bottas with just 130 points to play for. Red Bull ’s Max Verstappen finished third ahead of the Ferrari driver of Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton said: “It is going to take some time to fully sink in. I cannot find the words at the moment.
“My dad is here, which is amazing, and my stepmum Linda and my dog Roscoe so it’s a blessed day.
“I could have only ever dreamed of being where I am today. I didn’t have a magic ball when I came to Mercedes but here I am and as a team we are trying to make the most of it.”
The Briton added: “I had cramp in my right calf so I was lifting down the straight because it felt like it was about to pull but I just had to get through it.”
Hamilton was an 11-year-old boy dominating Britain’s karting scene the last time a Formula One grand prix was staged in Portugal in 1996.
Little did Hamilton know then that, 24 years later, he would break F1’s all-time win record – a tally many thought would never be b e tt e r e d following Schumacher’s 91st win at the 2006 Chinese GP.
For the opening six laps, Ha m i l t o n ’ s quest for history appeared in grave danger following a bizarre start to the 12 th of 17 rounds under overcast and blustery Algarve skies.
But Hamilton cruised round the outside of Bottas
on the 20th lap to lead and over the course of nine spellbinding laps, Hamilton opened up a seven-second lead over Bottas and with that, any chance the Finn had of stopping Hamilton from rewriting F1’s record books was over.
The Mercedes machine is in a class of one this year and with Hamilton at the wheel, he has no competition.
The Englishman pulled in for his solitary change of tyres with 26 laps remaining before lapping the entire field up to Leclerc in fourth. It was a devastating display and one befitting of this great British talent. Despite his
accident with Verstappen on the first lap, Perez turned in a wonderful recovery drive to finish seventh.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took fifth ahead of early leader Carlos Sainz, of McLaren.
Lance Stroll, who missed the last race with an illness which was later diagnosed as coronavirus, endured a miserable afternoon.
He was penalised five seconds for crashing into Lando Norris at the first corner, was handed an additional five-second penalty for exceeding track limits and was later retired from the race by his Racing Point team.