Tony Jardine says Lewis Hamilton could break Michael Schumacher's records

Lewis Hamilton won his fifth world championship title in 2018, and the records that Michael Schumacher created are well within reach of the Briton. Lewis has 73 Grand Prix wins to his name and Michael achieved 91 victories throughout his stellar career. The Mercedes driver may score two more world championships to get level with Schumacher.

Tony Jardine, who has prior experience of working with Goodyear, McLaren, Brabham and Lotus in Formula One, weighed in on the debate and spoke to Express Sport about whether Lewis can accomplish what the German has in Formula One.

“I think it’s possible. I just think it’s possible because he’s already on 73. 91 wins for Michael Schumacher and seven titles,” said Jardine.

He further added: “Lewis has signed a new two-year contract and the regulations will stay pretty much the same. There’s a big change to the front wing for next year but the big regulation changes don’t come in for two years, so there is a certain amount of stability. Who’s gonna bet against him at this point? Other than you just look to the young, up-and-coming drivers who are going to be the threat.”

Tony had two youngsters on his mind when he thought about people who can challenge Lewis in his quest to become the all-time highest Grand Prix winner. One of those was Max Verstappen, who would be starting his fifth season in F1 with Red Bull Racing in 2019. The other is Charles Leclerc who impressed enough during his rookie season with Sauber to deserve a seat at Ferrari.

“And you start with Verstappen. You say well, 'Cor blimey, he is a precocious talent'. Hamilton absolutely knows that Verstappen is going to be on his level in the next couple of years and is almost there now with five Grand Prix wins, but he’s got to control his hot head. We love that [passion], we want more of that, but give us the [on track] entertainment.”

“Then you have to look at Charles Leclerc coming into Ferrari. He is quite a talent,” Jardine continued. “You look at the Azerbaijan race where he finished sixth in the Sauber and you think, 'Wow'. He’s always been good and now he’s got his reward. So we’ve got him.”

He also believes that the new British drivers joining the sport in 2019 would be ones to look forward to, but Max and Charles would remain the ultimate rivals to Lewis.

“Now we’ve got two new Brits joining in George Russell, who just won the Formula 2 championship and is going to Williams, and Lando Norris, from Formula 2 as well,” Jardine said. “Both of those two have got impeccable CVs so far. But [Verstappen and Leclerc is] where Lewis is looking to the threats that might prevent him from beating Schumacher’s record.”