Lewis Hamilton: The record-breaking F1 driver in numbers
- Published
This weekend Lewis Hamilton beat the field in Russia in dramatic fashion to win his 100th Grand Prix. It's the most by any driver and marks him out as, one of, if not THE greatest driver ever. His first win came in 2007 at the Canadian Grand Prix, just six races into his debut season!
And he's at the top not just for races, but for World Championships too. Lewis has seven titles which puts him joint first with Michael Schumacher. He won the title in 2008, 2014, 2015, and then won four in a row from 2017-2020. Is 2021 beyond his reach?
Lewis took his first ever world title at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2008, at the age of 23. He became the youngest ever holder of the title at the time - an achievement later beaten by his rival Sebastian Vettel.
When he started his first race in F1 in 2007 Lewis was the first black driver to take part – and 13 years later, he still is! Lewis says one if his main ambitions is to improve diversity in all parts of F1 racing. Here he is taking the knee before a race, like so many other sports, to show his support for equality and to reject racism.
In 2017 Lewis broke the record for most pole positions when he hit 69. Pole position means you start the race from the front. You achieve this by being the quickest in qualifying and setting the fastest lap before the race begins. He’s now got over 100 and you can expect that number to keep going up!
Most podium finishes – not only has he won the most races but he’s been on the podium the most number of times too. That means if he isn’t winning he’s coming second or third. In 2020 he broke the previous record of 155 podium finishes and is still going strong! Here he is getting a soaking from race winner Sebastian Vettel.
Off the track he's been really popular with the fans. He’s won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award twice and come second four times! Here he is with the trophy in 2014 with golfer Rory McIlroy on his left and runner Jo Pavey on his right. He also won in 2020. Lewis is also interested in making music and regularly records his own tracks.
- Published15 July 2021
- Published21 December 2020
