Hamilton v Schumacher: How Lewis compares to F1's most prolific champion

We take a look at how Lewis Hamilton stacks up to Michael Schumacher following his fifth Formula One drivers' title.

Published : Oct 29, 2018 16:08 IST

Both Schumacher and Hamilton claimed their fifth world titles at the age of 33. (File Photo)
Both Schumacher and Hamilton claimed their fifth world titles at the age of 33. (File Photo)
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Both Schumacher and Hamilton claimed their fifth world titles at the age of 33. (File Photo)

Lewis Hamilton equalled Juan Manuel Fangio's haul of five world titles by clinching yet another drivers' crown at the Mexican Grand Prix.

As a result, the great Michael Schumacher is now the only man to have claimed more Formula One titles than Hamilton.

We look at how the illustrious duo's records compare.

Both  Schumacher and Hamilton claimed their fifth world titles at the age of 33 . The German matched Fangio's haul in 2002, in the middle of a five-year stretch of dominance that culminated with his seventh crown 14 years ago.

The Englishman has already surpassed the German when it comes to securing pole positions - Hamilton has topped qualifying on 81 occasions, compared to Schumacher's 68 . That equates to 36 per cent of his entries, streets ahead of Schumacher's 22 per cent.

Read | From McLaren prodigy to five-time champion - Lewis Hamilton's path to F1 greatness

It must be noted, of course, that Schumacher's statistics are somewhat skewed by his three seasons in an uncompetitive Mercedes after coming out of retirement, and this is perhaps most evident when the win ratios of the two drivers are compared.

Taking the pair's careers as a whole, Hamilton averages a victory every 3.19 starts, marginally - and perhaps surprisingly - better than Schumacher, who topped the podium once every 3.38 Grands Prix .

However, if we discount Schumacher's Mercedes encore, which saw him go 58 races without a win, his ratio improves sharply to 2.74, and he remains well clear when it comes to total race victories - Schumacher has won 91 Grands Prix, compared to Hamilton's 71 .

Hamilton is yet to dominate a season in quite the same way Schumacher managed - the German won 13 of 18 races in 2004, while the former's best was 11 of 19 in 2014 . However, he already has nine wins from 19 outings in 2018.

Hamilton has won a staggering 50 per cent of races since the dawning of the hybrid era in 2014 - if he can maintain that rate of success, he will surely catch Schumacher in 2020.

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