Formula One star Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have been great rivals of the modern era. The duo reminds the fans of the great rivals in the history of the sport. For instance, the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost; also the rivalry of the 1970s between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. But in the 21st century, Formula One has seen quite a few famous rivalries that include the seven-time champion of the Mercedes team. He won a record 103 races in his career. Nobody else in the history of the sport has even touched 100 Grand Prix wins.
Lewis Hamilton also leads the sport in case of most number of pole positions. He equaled the great Michael Schumacher in most Driver’s Championship wins in 2020. Now both Hamilton and Schumacher are the only drivers to win the Driver’s World Championship seven times in Formula One. However, the way Max Verstappen is dominating seems like if he continues for a long time, he can break Hamilton’s most GP wins record and many more. But there will be these three records that will be out of reach even for him. These unbreakable records of Lewis Hamilton are as follows:-
A. Most Race Entries With Single Engine Manufacturer
When Lewis Hamilton made his debut for McLaren in 2007, his car had Mercedes engines. McLaren had Mercedes as an engine partner for a long time. During all those years with McLaren, Hamilton drove only Mercedes-powered cars. Later in 2013, he joined the Mercedes F1 team and has been an essential part ever since. As a result, in his long 15-year career, Lewis Hamilton drove cars with Mercedes engines from his rookie season. But Max Verstappen drove Renault-powered cars since his F1 debut as a teenager. Later, he has been driving Honda. From 2026, he might drive cars with Ford engines.
B. Lewis Hamilton Had More Wins In The Rookie Season
Lewis Hamilton had the best rookie season in F1 history. He could even go on to win the season. But Lewis Hamilton fell just a point short. But he won four races in his rookie season. Lewis matched Jacques Villeneuve, and this all-time record belongs only to them. But Max Verstappen was not as lucky as Hamilton to drive a superior car in his rookie season. The Dutchman only finished P4 in 2015 with Torro Rosso. It was a midfield car.
C. Hamilton Had To Wait The Shortest Time Before Winning The First Title
Lewis Hamilton got a great start to his F1 journey as he was part of the McLaren team. But he did live up to the expectations of Ron Dennis in his tenure with McLaren. He had a great rookie season. Later, he won his maiden title in his second season for McLaren. On the other hand, Max Verstappen had to wait for six years before winning his maiden title. He joined Torro Rosso and debuted in 2015. Later, he won his first driver’s championship title in 2021, beating Lewis Hamilton narrowly.
So Far, Max Verstappen Has Broken Many Of Lewis Hamilton’s Records
The great British driver has been part of the sport for 15 long years. Along the road, he had rivals since his debut season, like Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, and so on. Then he had a great rivalry with former Red Bull champion Sebastian Vettel. Later, in his team, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton had an epic internal rivalry with Nico Rosberg. The German driver defeated Hamilton to win the 2016 title. All these rivals of Lewis Hamilton were great in their own way.
But none could break as many records of Hamilton as Max Verstappen is about to. Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher had a better record than Lewis Hamilton in terms of most wins in a season with 13 GP victories. However, Max Verstappen broke that record, winning 15 races last year. While doing so, he also secured the most points for a driver in a season (454). This record belonged to Lewis Hamilton previously, in 2019, with 413 points.