Sir Lewis Hamilton lost to Max Verstappen in the 2021 season. That was as close as he could get to winning the coveted eighth Driver’s World Championship. But the season finale in Abu Dhabi was full of controversies. Nevertheless, the Dutch racer broke the winning streak of the seven-time champion in 2021. That marked the shift in hegemony on the F1 grid. Since 2022, the Red Bull start driver has never looked back. Moreover, he helped the Austrian outfit beat Mercedes to win the constructor title after eight long years.
Coming to the middle of the 2024 season, the Milton Keynes outfit has already won two back-to-back constructor titles, and they are on their way to winning the third straight title. Max Verstappen is looking good to win his fourth title in a row. He has already won five races in 2024. The last win came in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Moreover, Max won the race quite narrowly against the McLaren driver Lando Norris. In the process, he surpassed his former foe in one of the F1 statistics.
Which Lewis Hamilton’s Record Did Max Verstappen Break In Imola?
From 2014 to 2021, Mercedes dominated the grid, winning every single constructor title. Moreover, Lewis Hamilton was the most dominant racer of the turbo-hybrid period. He broke several records, including most wins in Formula 1 with 103 GP successes. Moreover, Hamilton has the record for most pole positions with 104 and most podium finishes with 197. The great Briton also has the same number of Driver’s World titles as the German great Michael Schumacher. Lately, Max Verstappen was able to break one of the several records that belonged to the seven-time champion from England. As the Dutch racer won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, he surpassed the career win percentage of Lewis Hamilton. It was Verstappen’s 192nd Grand Prix.
Moreover, Max won his 59th race last weekend in Italy. As a result, the Dutch racer now has a career win percentage of 30.73%. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton has a career win % of 30.38. Hence, at present, Max Verstappen is fourth on the list. The three drivers ahead of the current three-time champion are Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari and also Jim Clark. If the German great Michael Schumacher had not made his unsuccessful Mercedes comeback, he could have finished with an incredible win percentage of 36.55%. Anyway, as things stand at present, the gap between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will just keep getting wider.
Mercedes Struggle Since 2022 Isn’t Helping The Seven-Time Champion
Juan Manuel Fangio has the best record for career win percentage with an unbelievable 47.06%. Alberto Ascari comes next to Fangio with a pretty good career win percentage of 40.63%. Besides Fangio and Ascari, the rest of the names on the list have less than 40%. Michael Schumacher is sixth on the list with 29.64%.
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton is fifth on the list with 30.38%. If it was not for the winless streak since 2022, Hamilton could have enjoyed a much better career win percentage. Who knows if things will be better at Ferrari for Hamilton next year?
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