Written by Lucrezia Marano, Edited by Sean McKean
With his third place in Hungary earlier this year, Lewis Hamilton claimed his 200th podium in his Formula One career, further extending his own record. Let’s go through some of his most significant records in the sport till date.
The first of many: 2007 Australian Grand Prix
The first is the best, they say. But what makes this podium so special is the context.
It’s the season's first race, and a new driver is joining the grid with the team McLaren: Lewis Hamilton.
The race saw Kimi Raikkönen claiming the first win of the season, followed by the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, and the new rookie, standing on the lowest step of the three.
Hamilton will finish this season second in the championship, showing everyone what he’s capable of.
100 in the bag: 2016 Japanese Grand Prix
Qualifying set the grid, with Nico Rosberg leading the at-the-time three-time World Champion.
On Sunday, when the lifts went off, Lewis Hamilton had a slow start, caused by being on the wetter side of the track, dropping from second to eighth.
Thanks to a solid recovery, Hamilton was able to finish the race in third, behind a very young Max Verstappen.
Although this race is often remembered for being Nico Rosberg’s last victory, we must not forget that this marked the 100th podium for the other Mercedes driver, joining Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost in this milestone.
Equalling “The Red Baron”: 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2020 was a hard year for everyone, including F1. A total of five races were cancelled, and others were replaced.
COVID-19 didn’t stop the run for the championship though, and we arrived at the final race of the season.
Qualifying saw Max Verstappen taking his third career pole, followed by the two Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The result of the top three was the same as the qualifying, but with this last race, Hamilton ended the season as a seven-time World Champion, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record.
Latest home win: 2024 British Grand Prix
2024 is considered by many one of the best seasons of Formula One so far.
2023 saw the absolute dominance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, but in 2024 thus far, we have had seven different winners out of thirteen races.
One of these winners was Lewis Hamilton, at the British Grand Prix, his home race.
George Russell took the pole, followed by the other two Brits: Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
During the race, the poleman had to retire due to a water system failure, and Hamilton took the lead, followed by Max Verstappenand Norris, who completed the podium.
With this win, Lewis Hamilton broke other two records: most wins in F1 with 104 and most wins on a single circuit with nine in Silverstone.
The 200th: 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last but not least, let’s talk about the amazing race that took place at Hungary earlier this year. McLaren and Max Verstappen were the favourites, while Mercedes wasn’t really one of the teams expected to run at the top.
In qualifying, both Mercedes weren’t in the top three – Russell qualifying P18 while Hamilton was able to reach fourth.
In the race, thanks to an amazing strategy, Lewis Hamilton was able to score a podium after a battle with the reigning champion Max Verstappen. This podium marks a huge milestone in F1, and breaks another record, which was already held by Hamilton: he stood on the podium for the 200th time, making him once again the driver with the most podium finishes.
Once again, Lewis Hamilton showed us that his time is not over yet, and he still has that spark that we saw for the first time in 2007. He’s not done yet.
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