IN STATS: Hamilton and Schumacher’s 91 Wins

Lewis Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 Formula 1 victories at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix. We compare Hamilton and Schumacher’s career statistics as they reached 91 wins.

Michael Schumacher achieved his 91st win at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, at the age of 37 years, 8 months and 28 days. Lewis Hamilton achieved his 91st win at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, at the age of 35 years, 9 months and 4 days. Hamilton was 724 days younger than Schumacher when he won his 91st Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher took his first victory at the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix. He achieved his 91 victories over a period of 14 years, 1 month and 1 day. Lewis Hamilton took his first victory at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. He achieved his 91 victories over a period of 13 years, 4 months and 1 day – that period being 274 days shorter than the period in which Schumacher amassed his victories. Though Hamilton has achieved his tally of 91 wins in a shorter period of time, it has taken him more races to achieve the feat than Schumacher. Schumacher took his 91st win on his 247th Grand Prix start (or his 248th appearance), while Hamilton took his 91st win on his 261st Grand Prix start.

Both Hamilton and Schumacher scored their 91 wins with two different teams. Hamilton won 21 races with McLaren and 70 with Mercedes, while Schumacher won 19 races with Benetton and 72 with Ferrari.

The longest gap between victories for Schumacher was 308 days – between the 2005 United States Grand Prix and 2006 San Marino Grand Prix – while the longest gap between wins for Hamilton is 280 days – between the 2008 Chinese and 2009 Hungarian Grands Prix.

Lewis Hamilton has won more races from pole position than Michael Schumacher. Hamilton has taken 56 of his 91 wins from pole position, while Schumacher took 40 of his 91 victories from pole.

Michael Schumacher has taken more race wins from second on the grid than Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher won 27 races from second on the grid compared to 24 victories from second on the grid for Hamilton. In total, Hamilton has won more races from the front row of the grid (80, compared to Schumacher’s 67).

Schumacher’s total number of wins from third or further back on the grid is double the number of Hamilton’s. Schumacher won 24 races having started third or further back, while Hamilton has won only twelve having started third or further back. Both drivers have won only one race each having started from outside the top ten on the grid. Hamilton won the 2018 German Grand Prix from fourteenth on the grid, while Schumacher won the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix from sixteenth on the grid. The 2014 British Grand Prix is the only other race which Hamilton has won having started outside the top five on the grid, while Schumacher took five wins in total from outside the top five (at the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix, 1995 Belgian Grand Prix, 2003 U.S. Grand Prix, 2004 Canadian Grand Prix and the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix).

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen are the only drivers to have taken pole position in races which both Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have won. Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica and Rubens Barrichello are the six drivers who have finished on the podium in races won by both Schumacher and Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton has led double the number of races from start to finish as Michael Schumacher has. Hamilton holds the record for most races led from start to end, having done so 22 times. Schumacher achieved the feat eleven times in his career; though it’s worth noting that leading from start to finish was more difficult to achieve in the 90s and 00s due to refuelling.

WINNING VENUES

Lewis Hamilton has taken his 91 victories at 27 different circuits, while Michael Schumacher recorded his 91 wins at 23 different circuits. Hamilton and Schumacher have won at seventeen of the same venues.

Both Schumacher and Hamilton recorded the sixth win of their careers in Monaco and the 80th win of their careers at Silverstone. They also both recorded their 49th wins in Germany (though Schumacher’s was at the Nurburgring, while Hamilton’s was at Hockenheim), their 79th wins in France (Schumacher’s at Magny Cours and Hamilton’s at Paul Ricard) and their 90th wins in Italy (Schumacher’s at Monza and Hamilton’s at Mugello).

Schumacher and Hamilton share the record for most wins at a single circuit. Schumacher won eight times at Magny Cours in his career, while Hamilton has won at the Hungaroring eight times so far in his career.

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Circuits where both Schumacher and Hamilton have won:

• Albert Park
• Bahrain International Circuit
• Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
• Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
• Hockenheim
• Hungaroring
• Indianapolis
• Interlagos
• Monaco
• Monza
• Nurburgring
• Red Bull Ring
• Sepang International Circuit
• Shanghai International Circuit
• Silverstone
• Spa
• Suzuka

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Circuits where Hamilton has won but Schumacher has not:

• Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
• Baku City Circuit
• Circuit of the Americas
• Circuit Paul Ricard
• Fuji Speedway
• Istanbul Park
• Mugello
• Sochi Autodrom
• Yas Marina Circuit

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Circuits where Schumacher has won but Hamilton has not:

• Aida
• Buenos Aires
• Estoril
• Imola
• Jerez
• Magny-Cours

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CONSECUTIVE WINS

In F1 history, there have been only ten occasions where a driver has taken five or more consecutive wins. Of those ten occasions, three of them were by Michael Schumacher. He took seven consecutive wins between the 2004 European and Hungarian Grands Prix; a record bettered only by Sebastian Vettel, who won the final nine races of the 2013 season. Schumacher also took six consecutive wins between the 2000 Italian and 2001 Malaysian Grands Prix, and took five wins in a row between the 2004 Australian and Spanish Grands Prix. Hamilton trails Schumacher in this category, having won five consecutive races on only one occasion – between the 2014 Italian and United States Grands Prix.

1-2 FINISHES

In their 91 wins, Hamilton led home more 1-2 finishes for his team than Schumacher, with 38 for Hamilton compared to Schumacher’s 25. Hamilton led home three 1-2 finishes at McLaren (at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix and the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix; the latter remains McLaren’s last 1-2 finish) and has led home 35 1-2 finishes during his time at Mercedes. Schumacher led home a single 1-2 finish at Benetton (at the 1995 Spanish Grand Prix) and 24 1-2 finishes at Ferrari.

From Hamilton’s 91 victories, a British driver finished in second place twice – both times being McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, while a German driver finished second to Schumacher on six occasions. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was the German driver in second place twice, while Michael’s brother Ralf Schumacher was the runner-up on the other four occasions.

WINNING MARGINS

Of the two, Schumacher has recorded a race win with the biggest margin. He won by over a lap at the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix, which is the penultimate time that any driver has won a Formula 1 race by over a lap. Schumacher’s second biggest win margin (75.3 seconds, at the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix) is also bigger than Hamilton’s largest win margin. The biggest gap by which Hamilton has won is 68.577 seconds, at the 2008 British Grand Prix.

Between them, Schumacher and Hamilton have taken fourteen victories with a win margin of less than a second. Schumacher did so nine times, while Hamilton has done so five times. Schumacher’s smallest win margin came at the 2000 Canadian Grand Prix, where he beat team-mate Rubens Barrichello to the line by 0.174 seconds. Hamilton’s smallest win margin was at the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he beat team-mate Nico Rosberg to the line by 0.439 seconds.

WET WEATHER WINS

Both Schumacher and Hamilton are known for controlled drives in the wet weather. Schumacher took twenty of his 91 race wins in Grands Prix which featured rainfall, while Hamilton has won fifteen rain-affected races.

Header images:

Lewis Hamilton – Jen Ross, Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Michael Schumacher – Azhar Zainal, Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0