Michael Schumacher vs. Lewis Hamilton: Who is the better F1 driver statistically?

In 2020, 14 years since his debut season, Lewis Hamilton took home a seventh F1 World Drivers' Championship (WDC) title, matching the record of the legendary Michael Schumacher. That same year, Hamilton also went on to break Schumacher's record of 91 victories. And earlier this year, at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, he even became the first driver to win 100 Grands Prix.

Statistically comparing the British record-breaking driver to the legendary Michael Schumacher brings to light some rather interesting results.

Currently racing for Mercedes, Hamilton has broken some of the most impressive milestones of the German legend. He has a whopping 102 F1 Grand Prix wins leading up to his most recent one in Qatar, compared to Schumacher's 92. The Brit also has nearly twice as many victories as the man with the third most wins - four-time WDC Sebastian Vettel (53 wins).

It should be noted that the Mercedes driver has consecutively scored points in 48 races, which is double Michael Schumacher's 24-race scoring streak. In fact, the race that broke Hamilton's streak was his inability to participate at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix due to coming down with COVID-19.

In his 19-season-long F1 career, Schumacher has achieved a total of 68 pole positions, compared to Hamilton's 102. However, the German driver still holds the record for setting the most fastest laps, with 79, 19 more than Hamilton.

The statistics between the two get narrower when considering the number of total podium finishes and races finished in the points. Demonstrating incredible consistency, Lewis Hamilton scored points in 247 races, beating Schumacher's record of 221. Hamilton has also surpassed Schumacher's 155 podium finishes, achieving 180 so far.

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Lewis Hamilton vs. Michael Schumacher - Misleading statistics

However, it is difficult to establish which of the two legends is "better", simply based on statistics. That's because more often than not, these statistics can be rather misleading.

Various factors have changed over the years. The points system which awarded 25 points for a win was introduced only in 2010, before which 10 points were awarded for victories. So, these results fail to fully provide an accurate comparison.

Also, with the sprint qualifying format introduced this year, it amounts to an even bigger change and greater scope for inaccurate results.

With this in mind, Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most points in F1 with 4121.5. The changes in the points system mean that Schumacher has not even made it to the top six in this category.

With developments in technology, changing regulations and technical limitations by the FIA and various other variable factors impacting the speed limits of a car, statistics regarding qualifying speed make the results unreliable. However, it should be noted that during his career, Lewis Hamilton has led a total of 5327 laps compared to Schumacher's 5111.

With more sophisticated technology and ever-evolving technical aspects in engineering, there is no doubt that modern F1 cars have a remarkable edge over the ones preceding them. Although these statistics bring us closer to understanding who the better driver of the two is, it cannot be denied that both Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are F1 legends who'll remain at the top of the record books for years to come.

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