F1 Eifel Gp: History was made in the Nürburgring on Sunday as Lewis Hamilton equaled Michael Schumacher’s F1 record of 91 wins with an emphatic victory in the Eifel Grand Prix.
Hamilton took the lead from his Mercedes teammate and polesitter Valtteri Bottas early in the 60-lap race at the renowned German circuit and also dominated the event without severe obstacle from second-placed Max Verstappen from the Red Bull.
F1’s All-time great:
World championship titles:
1.SCHUMACHER–7
2.HAMILTON–6
3.FANGIO–5
4.PROST–4
5.VETTEL–4
Grand Prix Wins:
1.HAMILTON– 91
2.SCHUMACHER– 91
3.VETTEL — 53
4.PROST– 51
5.SENNA– 41
Bottas retired through reduction of motor power, leaving the way clear for Australian Daniel Ricciardo to claim the final podium spot for Renault with Sergio Perez of Mexico fourth in the Beginner Point. The seventh victory of a truncated year for Britain’s Hamilton has taken him 69 points clear from Bottas from the championship race and well on course to win his seventh world title to bring him degree with another of Schumacher’s all-time recordings.
In a poignant moment, Hamilton was introduced with one of the German legend helmets by his son Mick, who had been put to make his own F1 debut before Friday’s practice session has been canceled due to fog.
“Thank you so much,” he told him.
“It’s such an honor. I really don’t know exactly what to say. If you grow up watching someone and idolizing them. What he managed to continuously do. “I hadn’t even calculated it when I crossed the line. I could not have achieved this without this unbelievable team pushing behind me. So a big thank you personally and enormous respect to Michael,” he added.
Verstappen tipped for a future world champion, had the consolation of setting the fastest lap to close to within 14 points of Bottas in the title race. His very best shot came after an overdue security automobile gave him the opportunity to close up again, but Hamilton was quick to race apparently when it pulled off.
“The Mercedes was only a little bit too quickly for us but I managed to get that fastest lap for the excess point so I’m delighted with that. We finished second, which was where we belonged,” said Verstappen.
Aside from Hamilton, the largest parties were earmarked for third-placed Ricciardo, who had been carrying his first podium since 2018 with Red Bull. Ricciardo has fought to match that accomplishment with his new group Renault but drove a superb race to hold off Perez in the quicker Racing Point. The overdue safety car after McLaren’s Lando Norris was made to halt beside the track helped Ricciardo as he changed to counter tires to help keep Perez at bay. ‘It’s been some time.
Honestly, it seems just like the first podium all repeatedly. “We have all waited a long time for this, so I think everybody is going to soak it up,” he explained. It was Renault’s first podium finish since Malaysia in 2011, a race won by Sebastian Vettel, who finished out of the points on home soil on Sunday in the fighting Ferrari.
With his teammate Charles Leclerc in seventh, it was a far cry from the dominant days appreciated by Ferrari when Schumacher was in his pomp, winning 72 races for the Prancing Horse team.
Only behind Leclerc finished’super-sub’ Nico Hulkenberg, who just took the seat of their Racing Point after Lance Stroll took ill just before closing qualifying. The German was due to be from the comment box but drove solidly to maintain the points.
Hamilton will be looking to surpass Schumacher’s all-time album at a fortnight in another round in Portugal on a new circuit at Portimao.
