Lewis Hamilton breaks Michael Schumacher record for most Formula One podiums with Spanish Grand Prix win

1/27
George Flood17 August 2020

Lewis Hamilton set a new record for the most podium finishes in Formula One history with a comfortable victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, moving one clear of Michael Schumacher.

After ending fastest in qualifying and all three practice sessions in the heat of Barcelona, the reigning world champion led the race from wire-to-wire on Sunday and finished a dominant 24 seconds ahead of second-placed Max Verstappen.

Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was 44 seconds behind in third, with the rest of the field lapped by Hamilton.

It was the championship leader's 88th career victory from 256 total races and his 156th podium finish.

That is one more than Schumacher and 36 more than third-placed Sebastian Vettel, who provided a reminder of his ability on Sunday by turning P11 into a respectable seventh spot for Ferrari.

"I was just in a daze, I felt really good out there today," Hamilton told Sky Sports after his fourth win in six races during this unusual 2020 F1 season.

"We had this problem with the tyres, and an understanding of what happened last week enabled us to get that result today - the strategy we had was just right.

"I didn't even realise what lap it was - I was ready to keep going!

Lewis Hamilton has now secured more podium finishes in Formula One than seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher
Getty Images

"Finally, thank you to everyone back in the factory at this very difficult time."

Hamilton already boasts a commanding 37-point lead over nearest rival Verstappen in the drivers' standings, while Mercedes are 86 clear of Red Bull as they seek a seventh successive constructors' title.

Schumacher's overall record of 91 career victories is now firmly in sight for Hamilton, who will match the German's haul of seven world titles if he wins the championship once again this season.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in