Putting Lewis Hamilton’s 100 unprecedented F1 wins into perspective

It’s hard to put Lewis Hamilton’s 100 Formula 1 wins in context, as no one in the sport’s 71-year history has ever hit triple-digit race wins.

Between 2006 and 2020, Michael Schumacher held the record for most career wins at 91 – a number that was 40 ahead of the previous record and looked unbeatable when Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007. But as he became clear that Hamilton would exceed that number in the last 12 months, the perceived limit of what is possible in a single career in F1 has been redefined.

Ignoring the statistical significance of the rounder of round numbers, Hamilton’s 100th win doesn’t change the fact that he’s in one of the tightest title battles of his career. This moved the 36-year-old two points ahead of title rival Max Verstappen in the championship standings, but offers no guarantee that he will end up winning as he pursues another record before. unthinkable: an eighth world title.

Yet being the first F1 driver to triple the numbers still has a meaning that even Hamilton, who often claims not to be interested in the numbers, couldn’t ignore.

“It’s a magical moment,” he said after the race. “I could only dream of being here again and having the opportunity to win these races and ride against such phenomenal talent at the end of my career.

“We continue to build with Mercedes with everything we have done on track, but also off track.”

Most F1 wins

• Lewis Hamilton 100

• Michael Schumacher 91

• Sebastien Vettel 53

• Alain Prost 51

• Ayrton Senna 41

• Fernando Alonso 32

• Nigel Mansell 31

• Jackie Stewart 27

• Jim Clark 25

• Niki Lauda 25

Yet some of Hamilton’s critics still dismiss his accomplishments. The argument is that he had the most dominant car in F1 at a time when more races were on the calendar than ever before, creating more opportunities to win than any other driver had before.

Rather than judging on the basis of the total number of wins, F1 aficionados often point to percentages as a purer form of ranking the success of the best. Yet the more races you take part in, the more chance you have of reliability issues, accidents or just a lack of performance of the car damaging your percentage, which is part of the reason why two drivers from the 1950s – when the cars were often more dominant than they are in modern F1, with winning margins sometimes counted in minutes rather than seconds – at the top of the standings.

Nonetheless, Hamilton remains in the top three with a win rate of 35.59%.

Percentage of wins

• Juan Manuel Fangio – 46.15% on 52 admissions

• Alberto Ascari – 39.39% on 33 admissions

• Lewis Hamilton 35.59% out of 281 entries

• Jim Clark 34.25% on 73 admissions

• Michael Schumacher 29.55% out of 308 admissions

• Jackie Stewart 27% on 100 admissions

• Ayrton Senna 25.31% out of 162 admissions

• Alain Prost 25.25% on 202 admissions

Of course, there’s no doubt that Mercedes’ streak of relatively undisputed successes over the past few years has contributed to Hamilton’s stats. His stint at Mercedes earned him 79 of his 100 wins and six of his seven titles.

But don’t forget that in his first year with the team, in 2013, he won just one victory in a 19-race season. Hamilton’s winning ratio with Mercedes depends a lot on the team he helped build and how they came from the top grid midfielder in 2013 to dominate the sport – a similar story exists behind the majority of Schumacher’s 91 wins.

But as impressive as Hamilton’s 100 wins are, at the moment they don’t seem as unbeatable as Schumacher’s 91s in 2006. Verstappen’s emergence on the scene as a title rival at the age of 23 years alone means Hamilton’s records, wherever they end when he retires, will likely be threatened over the next decade.

Verstappen has achieved 17 wins in 134 races so far in his career, but continues to build momentum and claim victories in Hamilton. To put the Red Bull driver’s career progression into context, Hamilton had won just nine races at the same age.

Perhaps the most exciting thing is that these two talents are currently fighting for the title and we can compare their talents not only by statistics but also by wheel-to-wheel battles on the race track. And in a close championship battle like this, you can guarantee that none of Hamilton’s 100 wins will be as important to him right now as his 101st.