Formula One: Hamilton rewriting the record books

A leaping Lewis Hamilton has set a new F1 world record of 92 victories. Photo / Supplied

Lewis Hamilton is now the holder of the all-time record for grand prix victories, his win in the Portuguese GP at the Portimao circuit in the Algarve, means he has surpassed Michael Schumacher's total of 91 wins, which Hamilton had equalled with victory at the Nurburgring two weeks before.

In addition, Hamilton holds the pole position record with 97, the latest coming in the Portuguese race, the most podiums (161) and the most points, although the latter is less illustrious, given drivers now get 25 points for a victory, compared to six when F1 first started in1950, plus there are normally 21 races a year, whereas in the first season the championship consisted of only six races.

Nonetheless, it is impossible to take anything away from Hamilton's achievements to date and the new records he continues to set, with no indication his winning ways will come to an end any time soon.

His latest victory over teammate Valterri Bottas, was by a comprehensive 25.5 seconds, with another 9 seconds back to third placed Max Verstappen.

This is the seventh time in the 12 races to date, that Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen have stood on the podium together, such is their dominance in the championship.

But it is Hamilton who dominates, while Mercedes is likely secure its seventh consecutive Constructors Championship at next weekend's Emilia-Romagna GP at the Imola circuit in Italy.

There are five races left in the championship, which Hamilton leads by 77 points over Bottas and 94 points over Verstappen.

If Hamilton wins the next race, and Bottas finishes out of the points, Hamilton will join Schumacher as a seven-time world champion.

Regardless, Hamilton will inevitably secure the championship well before the season finishes, and perhaps then will sit down with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to negotiate a new contract.

There has been some speculation in the media as to why Hamilton doesn't yet have a new contract, whereas Bottas has already signed for 2021.

It is inconceivable that Hamilton will pass on the opportunity to become an eight-time world champion, unless he foolishly gets too greedy in his demand for a pay-rise, and the team go for current Williams driver George Russell who, according to rumours, may be replaced by Sergio Perez next year, despite having a contract with that team.

"We will have to sell plenty of inventory and sell the leases back of the buildings, just to come up with the money," Wolff has jokingly said.

Hamilton's record-breaking victory never looked in doubt even though, after starting from pole, he crossed the start-finish line on lap one behind Bottas and McLaren driver Carlos Sainz.

Hamilton struggled on cold tyres on that opening lap, but fast forward to mid distance in the race, and there was Hamilton well ahead of Bottas and Verstappen, and about to lap Sainz, despite the latter having led the race for a couple of laps.

Hamilton had overtaken Bottas for the lead, moments after complaining on the team car radio about not liking the look of his left-front tyre. It was a great example of Hamilton's ability to bluff his opponents, of whom there seem to be none, by hinting he has some sort of a problem.

If he is unsure what to do when eventually retiring from F1, which won't be until he has more than 100 pole positions and race wins, and eight championships, he would make a great poker player, as he has a canny knack for bluffing and psyching out his rivals.

Not that he needs to, given the performance and reliability he gets from the Mercedes, as he acknowledged at the end of his milestone victory.

"I owe it all to these [Mercedes] guys here and back at the factory, for just their tremendous work," Hamilton told Sky Sport commentator, Martin Brundle, post-race.

"They're continuously innovating and pushing the barrier even higher every year, the target, it's been just such a privilege working with them, I'm very grateful for all the moments."

"The reliability has been absolutely incredible, thanks to Mercedes and to Petronas and all our partners who continuously are pushing."

He said he is inspired by the fact that nobody in the team just sits back, but rather keeps on pushing.

"I could only have ever dreamed of being where I am today. I didn't have a magic ball when I chose to come to this team and partner with these great people, but here I am and what I can tell you is that I'm trying to make the most of it every single day," he added.

Asked what it meant to surpass Schumacher's record, Hamilton said he was lost for words.

"It's going to take some time for it to fully sink in, I was still pushing flat-out coming across the line. I'm still very much in race mode mentally, I can't find the words at the moment."

Towards the end of the race he had complained about cramp, but despite the discomfort of that, on his next lap he set the fastest lap. Perhaps the only way to deal with the cramp was to push harder on the accelerator?!

Lewis's father, Anthony, was on hand to witness his son's record–breaking 92nd win, as he was for his first grand prix victory in Canada in 2007, when he was a rookie at McLaren.

He added another 20 wins with McLaren, and his first world title in 2008, before departing to join Mercedes in 2013, with whom he has so far had 61 wins and five, but soon to be six, world titles.

Lewis and his father had a falling out the year after Hamilton become world champion, but whatever has passed between them since, was clearly forgotten as they warmly embraced in parc ferme.

Bottas also embraced his victorious teammate, but you get the feeling it is with a mixture of respect and envy.

This is Hamilton's eighth season with Mercedes, and the fourth for Bottas. Nico Rosberg was Hamilton's teammate between 2013 and 2016, and he won 22 grand prix in that period, including beating Hamilton in the 2016 championship, and then promptly retiring.

By contrast, Bottas has won nine times as Hamilton's teammate, but not come even close to threatening him in the title race.

Bottas won't relish seeing he finished second by 25 seconds, on his curriculum vitae. He said the "start was nice" and leading was obviously the highlight of his race, but "after that I couldn't really match the pace of Lewis."

Which just about sums up Bottas's predicament at Mercedes. His inability to match or better Hamilton, except when the latter incurs a time penalty, as he did in the season opener in Austria which Bottas won, underlines the lack of competition Hamilton has.

Verstappen is considered to be the only driver who would be capable of beating Hamilton if he was in the same car, but Hamilton will not allow that partnership to transpire, and nor will Red Bull let Verstappen out of his contract.

Verstappen described Hamilton's feat as "an incredible achievement" and noted: "92 victories and I don't think it stops there, it will go well over 100. He's pushing me to go until I'm 40 years old, or something. It's a good motivation as well."

In terms of his race, he conceded "I think we finished where we deserved" which was a distant third, after tangling early on in the race with Sergio Perez in the Racing Point, deemed a racing incident by the stewards, even though Verstappen made contact with Perez when rejoining the track, and spun him around.

Perez recovered to finish sixth. In Canada last year the steward's penalised Vettel for impeding Hamilton as he rejoined the track, even though there was no contact. It cost Vettel the race win. Consistency among race stewards will only occur when the same stewards are appointed for each race.

Consistency is something Ferrari was renowned for, but not this season. Charles Leclerc was delighted to qualify fourth and finish there, whilst Vettel could do no better than 10th.

Leclerc said he was "extremely happy, not because we didn't get lapped but mostly because our race pace, in general, has been very positive today."

Vettel has hinted at a Ferrari conspiracy, given he is being replaced by Sainz next year, and moving to Aston Martin.

"It is obvious the other car is much faster. Where do I lose time? I have been biting my tongue all year long," he said.

"Some idiot might never figure it out, but am I a complete idiot? I doubt it."

Driver of the race, if you overlook Hamilton, who is in a league of his own, was Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly, who is still hopeful of regaining the Red Bull seat that a struggling Alex Albon currently occupies.

After finishing fifth, Gasly was asked if it would help him regain the Red Bull drive.

"Red Bull decide what they want to do with the drivers," Gasly quipped.

"I think on my side, the only thing I can do is to perform, but obviously performance is not the only criterion to be in Formula 1 and to get a seat. That's out of my control-the only thing I can do is put in strong results. I have scored more points for Toro Rosso [Alpha Tauri] than any driver in the past and hopefully I will get rewarded at some point."

Impressing his team, or any other team, is something F1 record holder Lewis Hamilton, doesn't have to worry about.

His place in F1 history is assured as the holder of a record of wins that he is still building.

His Mercedes contract renewal still awaits but regardless of whether he is the greatest of all time or not, Hamilton proudly now sits on top of the all–time winners list. It is a record that will never be equalled or surpassed.

Wolff says the result is "a credit to his absolute passion, energy, and everything that he puts into the sport. His talent and ability, just stand out."

The record book Hamilton is rewriting quantifies Wolff's assessment.