Lewis Hamilton wins Portuguese GP to break Michael Schumacher’s F1 record. African British driver surpasses German’s record of 91 race wins.
Lewis Hamilton has been crowned the most victorious driver in Formula One history following his crushing 92nd career win in Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
A fortnight after he drew level with Michael Schumacher in Germany, Hamilton now stands alone in the record books after taking the chequered flag at Portimao 25.5 seconds clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton is poised to become the sport’s most successful driver of all time as early as next month, with a seventh world championship certain to follow this season.
The Englishman’s victory here moved him 77 points clear of Bottas with just 130 points to play for. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished third ahead of the Ferrari driver of Charles Leclerc.
“My dad is here, which is amazing, and my step-mum Linda too and my dog Roscoe so it is a blessed day.
“I could have only ever dreamed of being where I am today. didn’t have a magic ball when I came to Mercedes but here I am and as a team we are trying to make the most of it.”
The Briton added: “I had cramp in my right calf so I was lifting down the straight because it felt like it was about to pull but I had to get through it.”
LAP 20/66
Hamilton passes Bottas and retakes the lead! #PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1J3kHNPpTE
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 25, 2020
Over the course of nine spellbinding laps, Hamilton opened up a seven-second lead over the Finn and with that, any chance Bottas had of stopping Hamilton from rewriting F1’s record books was over.
The Mercedes machine is in a class of one this year and with Hamilton at the wheel, he has no competition. The Englishman pulled in for his solitary change of tyres with 26 laps remaining before lapping the entire field up to Leclerc in fourth. It was a devastating display and one befitting of this great British talent.
Despite his accident with Verstappen on the first lap, Perez turned in a wonderful recovery drive. He finished seventh. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took fifth ahead of early leader Sainz.
SOURCE ⇒ TELEGRAPH-UK
Consider supporting AMIBC™. Contribute by clicking on the advertisers and sponsors featured on AMIBC™ and please utilize them. Readers from around the world, like you, make our work possible. We need your support to deliver quality, vetted, investigative journalism – and to keep it open for everyone. At a time when factual, honest reporting is critical, your support is essential in protecting our editorial independence. The narratives and issues impacting all Americans is tantamount to the AMIBC™ platform. Every contribution, however big or small, is valuable for our future. Make sure to join the AMIBC Founders Club to maximize the total advantage of being a subscriber.