HAMILTON VS SCHUMACHER: THE PATH TO GREATNESS
When Lewis Hamilton sealed his sixth world drivers’ championship at last year’s United States Grand Prix, he was asked what he thought about the prospect of equalling Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven. “It is all about how you position your thought process,” Hamilton said. “I have always said reaching Michael’s [tally] was never a target for me. I am not really one to think of records and those kinds of things.
“I definitely thought getting anywhere near Michael was so far-fetched. And I remember having my one [championship] for a long period of time, then getting a second one. It was so far away and now it seems so close, yet it is so far away that I still can’t really even comprehend.
“The challenges that we’ll face in these coming months, the next season – you look at these other teams that have really been putting in some astonishing performances in the second half of the season. It’s going to take another load of incredible performance and work from myself and all the people who are around me and I really don’t want to have to think about it right now.”
At the time of writing, before the start of 2020 pre-season testing, Hamilton had not been asked about the prospect again, but when he is, his answer will doubtless be a variation of the same.
He will talk about wanting to take one race at a time, the strength of his opposition, how long the season is, and how much effort it is going to take to win the championship again. All of which will be true. And yet, of course, he starts the season as favourite to achieve exactly that.
Hamilton and Mercedes have so dominated the hybrid era of F1 since 2014 that he has
