Mercedes driver has recently been named in Time magazine’s top 100 influential people but sooner rather than later he will be in a class of his own
Perhaps one of the most admirable of Lewis Hamilton’s characteristics is a reluctance to aggrandise his success. Often his reaction when prompted is one of genuine, faint disbelief. This weekend at the Eifel
Grand Prix a victory for the world champion would equal Michael Schumacher’s record of 91
Formula One wins. Should Hamilton do so it will be an achievement that, as much as he might not believe it, places him as one of the greats in the sporting pantheon and a pivotal force in the history of Formula One.
There is symbolism, too, about the venue of his second attempt to equal the mark; the Nürburgring is only 50 miles from Kerpen, where the German great was born, and is a track where Schumacher has more race wins – five – than any other driver.