At the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, June 23, Lewis Hamilton came in 3rd position, thus validating his first podium of the season. Driver with the most podiums in the history of Formula 1, the Briton asserts his dominance in this ranking. At the same time, in Barcelona, Max Verstappen joins two historic drivers in this same category.
March 18, 2007, Australian Grand Prix, a rookie takes part in his very first GP in Formula 1 and finishes in 3rd position, on the podium. This young driver is Lewis Hamilton. That day, he becomes the 192nd driver in the history of F1 to reach a podium. Very strong for his first race in the automotive elite. Sunday, June 23, 2024, the seven-time world champion finishes 3rd at the Spanish Grand Prix, his first podium of the 2024 season. In doing so, the Briton has gleaned his 198th career podium, an absolute record in the world of F1. Better still, Hamilton finishes on a podium for the 18th season in a row, again, a record! Before him, only Kimi Raikkonen (14 seasons) and Michael Schumacher (16) had achieved such performances.
Hamilton / Schumacher : The King et Der Kaiser
It was with this other seven-time world champion that Hamilton battled, at a distance, in the category of drivers with the most career podiums. Michael Schumacher was, before Hamilton’s arrival, THE undisputed legend of F1. However, on August 9, 2020, at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, the Briton took 2nd place. At home in Great Britain, Lewis Hamilton equaled the Kaiser’s career podium number: 155. The King would overtake his German counterpart the following week, at the Spanish GP, by winning the race. Since then, 42 other podiums have been added to the Mercedes driver’s list of achievements, bringing his total to 198. Domination!
Hamilton is also the driver with the most podiums in the same team: 149 with Mercedes (49 with McLaren). The native of Stevenage is far ahead of Schumacher who has 116 podiums with Ferrari (39 with Benetton). Hamilton’s 198 podiums have, moreover, been achieved with a single engine, that of Mercedes (V8 then V6th). For comparison, Sergio Perez achieved 39 podiums with the most different engines: 6 (BWT Mercedes; Ferrari; Honda; Honda RBPT; Mercedes & RBPT).
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An international record with a preference for home
Yet another area where Hamilton has surpassed Schumacher in the podium category is the extent of successful circuits. The Briton reached the Top 3 in a race on 35 different circuits across the globe, another record. Behind him, Max Verstappen has been on the podium at 31 different circuits. The seven-time German world champion is 5th in this ranking with 27 tracks on which he finished among the top three. World sovereignty in 28 different countries for the Briton who however prefers his own kingdom. It was at the British GP that Hamilton most often reached the podium, with 13 points. Or even 14 if we count the 70th anniversary Grand Prix in 2020, on the Silverstone circuit.
In all of his podiums, Hamilton has shared the Top 3 steps with a total of 27 different drivers over his 18 years of competition. From Raikkonen to Leclerc, via Vettel, Alonso and Grosjean, the Briton celebrated and showered many peers with champagne. Most often, it was with Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen that the festivities took place, precisely 20 times. However, he never shared the podium with Michael Schumacher. The latter having only reached the podium once in 3 seasons of cohabitation with Hamilton (2010, 2011 and 2012). During this European GP in 2012, the Briton finished 19th following a collision.
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Schumacher advantage on seniority and duration!
This European Grand Prix, in Valencia in 2012, was the last where Schumacher finished in the top three in a race. At 43, the German performed better than his British counterpart. At last weekend’s Spanish GP, Hamilton reached his 198th podium at the age of 39 years, 5 months and 19 days. However, it is very likely that with Ferrari, in the coming years, the English driver will be able to return to the podium and flirt with Schumacher’s record.
One last area where the Kaiser surpasses Hamilton is the number of consecutive podiums. Michael Schumacher has 19 consecutive top 3s (between the 2001 US GP and the 2002 Japanese GP). Hamilton, for his part, has “only” 16 consecutive podiums between the 2014 Italian GP and the 2015 British GP.
Verstappen is watching and has the future ahead of him
For his part, Max Verstappen, big winner of the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday June 23, reached his 106th career podium. The Dutchman therefore equalizes the number of Top 3 finishes of Fernando Alonso and Alain Prost. However, the reigning world champion passes these two legends in the rankings. The reason ? His ratio of podiums / Grand Prix contested. Verstappen has reached the podium in 54.36% of his GP appearances. Prost is at 53.27%, while Alonso is at 27.32%. For his part, Lewis Hamilton finished on the podium in 57.89% of his Grand Prix contested. All this over 18 years of career in F1!
Despite the gap of 92 podiums between Verstappen and Hamilton, the Dutchman seems to be within reach of this record. At the age of the Batavian (26), the Briton had only reached 87 podiums. Verstappen is therefore ahead, but Hamilton still seems far from retirement. The battle for the podiums is likely to last for many more years!
