Lewis Hamilton vs Michael Schumacher: Comparing their stats after 308 races

Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are regarded as one of the greatest of all time to grace the F1 grid ever. The two legends have a varied history of racing in the sport and went on to become household names around the world.

While Hamilton is an active driver on the grid, driving under the prancing horse banner, Schumacher made his second retirement in 2012. This means that the Briton's race tally increases every race weekend, in contrast to Schumacher's, which is stuck at 308 races.

So, for the sake of this comparison, the pair's results in their first 308 race weekends would count. Though a question may arise that the German had only made 306 race starts, but this was down to two DNS at the 1996 French GP and the 1999 British GP.

Lewis Hamilton vs Michael Schumacher

Hamilton made his debut in 2007, when Schumacher had embarked on his first retirement from F1. This showcases the disparity of the generation between the two drivers, as the German had made his first race start in 1991.

However, as their careers in F1 grew over the years, their statistics seemingly started to converge as the Briton soon started catching up.

Championships - (7 vs 7)

Both Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher had amassed seven world titles by the time they had participated in 308 race weekends. Hamilton's first world championship came in his sophomore year with McLaren, in 2008. He won a further six titles between 2014-2020, with Nico Rosberg being the only one to break his streak in 2016.

Meanwhile, Schumacher won his maiden title in 1994 and repeated this feat in 1995. He then moved over to Ferrari and went on to win five consecutive world championships from 2000-2004.

Wins (103 vs 91)

In the wins metric, Hamilton has the upper hand. The Briton was already a centurion before he made his 300th race start and claimed a total of 103 race wins in 308 race weekends.

On the other hand, Schumacher amassed 91 race wins in this time frame and held the record for the most race wins in F1 before Hamilton took away this crown from him at the 2020 Eifel GP.

Poles (103 vs 68)

Again, Lewis Hamilton prevails here as he has scored 103 pole positions in 308 race weekends. All the while, Schumacher was only able to muster 68 pole positions in his time at Benetton and Ferrari.

Podiums (190 vs 155)

Though Lewis Hamilton went on to become the first driver ever to claim 200 podiums in F1, he claimed 12 podiums in his last 68 Grand Prix results. This brings his total podiums scored in 308 attempts down to 190 podiums, still a record on its own.

Meanwhile, Schumacher joined the rostrum 155 times in his F1 career, with his last visit to the podium coming in at the 2012 European GP.

Fastest Laps (61 vs 77)

Lewis Hamilton scored 61 fastest laps in his first 308 race weekends, but Michael Schumacher is the leader in this metric. The German driver has the record for the most fastest laps by any F1 driver at 77, which Hamilton is still quite a fair bit away from.

Career Points (4,381.5 vs 1,566)

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton has an overwhelming advantage over Michael Schumacher's points tally. He had scored 4,381.5 points in the first 308 races, while the German had only been able to amass 1,566 markers.

However, this figure is seemingly "rigged" due to the former points system that Schumacher's results have adhered to. Back then, only 10 points for a race victory were awarded in comparison to the present time's 25 points.

Though Hamilton's first three years in the sport also followed a similar points system, with the advent of 2010, this system was revised. This means that the Briton's majority of the points were scored under the "more generous" points system, leading to such disparity.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha