Lewis Hamilton: British driver secures F1 legacy by breaking race wins record

What a man. What a driver. Now a true legend. Lewis Hamilton broke Michael Schumacher’s record of all-time wins and now paves a path for himself at the top of the F1 charts.

With 92 wins under his belt, Lewis Hamilton sets his sight on another record being equalled as the driver with the most World Championships.

This article will be based on the Brit’s legacy and his wins in an illustrious 13-year career in Formula One.

Win #1- Canada 2007

The then-rookie Lewis Hamilton was in his maiden year as a Formula One driver. The McLaren driver was able to get his car on pole position on Saturday which gifted a first pole position in his career.

Hamilton drove a stellar race in his McLaren-Mercedes as he led the race from start to finish more or less. His teammate, Fernando Alonso, was his only main rival during the start of the race, but the young Brit squeezed the Spaniard out and didn’t allow him to pass.

The race saw 12 drivers either be retired or disqualified and it was the race when Robert Kubica, on lap 26, crashed at high speed just before the hairpin.

Hamilton won his first race with a 4.3 second lead over second-place Nick Heidfeld and 5.3 seconds ahead of third-place Alexander Wurz.

It took the Brit six races to win his first Grand Prix and he was the black person to do so. In addition, he took the Championship lead after his win.

Win #9- China 2008

This was another dominant performance for the British driver on the way to his first World Championship.

He started on pole and he led most of the 56 laps as Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were nowhere to be seen as the Ferrari pair were roughly 15 seconds behind Hamilton.

Hamilton went into the final race with a seven-point lead and won the Championship in Brazil with a fifth-place finish after a famous line “Is that Glock going slowly?” as he took away the World Championship from Massa.

Race #24- Bahrain 2014

This victory pushed Lewis Hamilton equal on race wins with 1950’s Formula One driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

Hamilton had switched to Mercedes by this point and joined Nico Rosberg at the German team in which he battled strongly with Rosberg for early wins.

Rosberg set the early pace in qualifying as the German beat Hamilton to pole by three-tenths as the two Mercedes locked horns for another time.

The two Mercedes scrapped for the whole race as they overtook each other lap by lap, but it was Hamilton that took the win by one second and moved inside the top ten all-time drivers for race wins.

Race #42- Russia 2015

The race represented another battle between the two Mercedes drivers as they continued to battle fiercely for the World Championship.

Rosberg was able to squeeze his car on pole yet again ahead of Hamilton as the German denied his teammate his 50th pole position.

The German’s throttle locked up during the race and made the Mercedes driver retire from the Russian Grand Prix. This subsequently gave Hamilton his 42nd win and moved him into the top five in all-time wins above the likes of Ayrton Senna, Fernando Alonso, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, Jim Clark and Niki Lauda.

Race #92- Portugal 2020

The race where records were broken and history was made by the six-time World Champion.

Valtteri Bottas set the early pace in practice as the Finn topped every single session in free practice.

Hamilton brought the heat in qualifying as he was able to outpace his teammate in Q1. Bottas reclaimed his crown in Q2, but ultimately it was Hamilton who started on pole for his record-breaking weekend.

Hamilton got away well, but so did Bottas as the Finn claimed the lead early on. The medium tyres weren’t working well at the start of the race which saw Carlos Sainz take the lead away from the Mercedes pair.

It only took a few laps to get the medium tyre fired up and the Mercedes re-claimed the one-two. Hamilton took the lead once again and from there that was that.

A commanding win from the British driver saw him move ahead of Michael Schumacher in all-time victories in F1 with 92.

Hamilton will definitely not stop there and will be looking to try and get his tally above the 100 mark and even more as he continues to paint his legacy.

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