MAUGER
Hamilton’s finest F1
achievement yet?
Did you ever think that Michael Schumacher’s Formula 1 wins tally of 91 would be matched? All records are there to be broken, of course, but Schuey’s (then) unprecedented period of domination with Ferrari, combined with longer seasons (and careers) than in the past did make the victory benchmark look like one of F1’s toughest. When Schumacher took his final win in the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix he had 40 more than the driver in second (Alain Prost) and Fernando Alonso, the next-highest active driver, had only 14 wins.
Lewis Hamilton arrived the following year, just as Schumacher left (the first time). Although it was obvious from his first race in F1 that he was going to be one of the talents of his generation, his trials and tribulations at McLaren meant it didn’t look like he would be challenging the record. Sebastian Vettel seemed set to at Red Bull.
But Hamilton’s switch to Mercedes and the arrival of the turbohybrid era heralded a period of sustained success that seems set to surpass Schumacher. It’s a remarkable achievement, one deserving of our traditional green cover for outstanding British achievement.
Kimi Raikkonen surpassed another milestone in Germany. The 2007 world champion made his 323rd F1 start, overtaking previous recordholder Rubens Barrichello. In next week’s issue we’ll catch up with the Finn to ask how he feels about F1 after nearly two decades – and pick out his best races with some of those that know him best.
Kevin Turner Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com
NEXT WEEK 22 OCTOBER Kimi Raikkonen special We speak to F1’s most experienced driver, 323
races and counting
COVER IMAGES Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
PIT & PADDOCK 4 Rally GB could be saved – in Ireland 6 Mercedes says no to Red Bull 9 Thompson escapes massive BTCC shunt 10 Hoggard stars on debut FIA F3 test 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 15 Opinion: Matt Kew 17 Feedback: your letters
RACE CENTRE 18 Eifel GP report and analysis 34 How the wins record has been broken 38 Hamilton’s top 10 F1 victories 44 Sordo wins Rally Italy for Hyundai 50 BTCC drama as Cook and Ingram win 56 World of Sport: WTCR; DTM; GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup; ELMS; Formula Renault Eurocup; IMSA; NASCAR Cup; MotoGP
CLUB AUTOSPORT 74 Button to race in British GT finale 76 New Ginetta GT Academy for TOCA race 78 Restored Lotus for Emmo at Goodwood 80 National reports: Cro ; Mallory Park;
Silverstone; Oulton Park; Brands Hatch; Mondello Park; Knockhill
FINISHING STRAIGHT 92 What’s on this week 95 Top five unsung Nurburgring F1 drives 96 From the archive: 1963 German GP 98 Autosport 70: birth of F1’s finest engine
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 60 Special deals for Autosport
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15 OCTOBER 2020 AUTOSPORT.COM 3
