Yahoo Lifestyle Lewis Hamilton ties Michael Schumacher with 91st career Formula 1 win
Lewis Hamilton is tied with Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton won Sunday’s Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany for his 91st career Formula 1 race victory. It ties him with Schumacher for the most wins of any F1 driver in the 70 years of the world’s most prestigious racing series.
Hamilton started second and ran behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas for the first part of the race. But Bottas locked his front tires up braking into the first corner on lap 11 and Hamilton was able to get past. Hamilton then stayed out front for the rest of the race and was able to stay ahead of Max Verstappen on a restart with 11 laps to go.
Bottas ended up having to retire from the race because of a mechanical problem.
After the race, Schumacher’s son Mick presented Hamilton with a helmet that Schumacher wore while driving for Mercedes. Mick Schumacher is currently first in the Formula 2 points standings and could land a F1 drive in 2021.
Michael Schumacher hasn’t appeared in public since he suffered a brain injury in a skiing accident in 2013. The family has been very private about Schumacher’s condition since his accident.
Hamilton’s win comes in Schumacher’s home country and the home country of his Mercedes racing team. With Bottas failing to score points because of his retirement, Hamilton’s points lead is now 70 points ahead of his teammate in the points standings. For perspective, a driver gets 25 points for winning a race. Bottas could win the next two races while Hamilton finishes outside the top 10 and Hamilton could still have a 20-point lead in the standings.
A championship in 2020 would be Hamilton’s seventh world title — and fifth straight — and also tie Schumacher for the most F1 championships. Hamilton can break Schumacher’s win record in two weeks at the Portugal Grand Prix.
Sunday’s race at the Nurburgring wasn’t originally on the Formula 1 calendar. But as the series scrambled to add races to its schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic, F1 officials agreed to a deal to host a race in Germany. The series has not traveled to Asia or the Americas since the pandemic halted the season in the spring and won’t leave Europe until the end of November to hold the final three races of the season in the Middle East.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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