Hamilton has undoubtedly had the best car for the majority of the time over the last seven seasons in F1, even if Ferrari, particularly, had their moments between 2017 and 2019. But carping that this is the only reason Hamilton is breaking these records is missing the point.
For a start, Schumacher set his records for exactly the same reason – Ferrari dominated from 2000-05 in just as impressive a fashion as Mercedes have since 2014. And Clark and Fangio – and others who have achieved big statistics – also benefited from the best cars on the grid for much of their careers.
Why did these drivers find themselves in that position? Because they were the best of their time, just as Hamilton is now.
In addition to that, Hamilton has not been the only driver in a Mercedes since 2013. Hamilton won 32 races from 2013-16 compared to 22 for Nico Rosberg, who beat him to the title in 2016 only because Hamilton suffered much the worse reliability, even if Hamilton did not help himself with a handful of errors he probably would not make now.
And since Valtteri Bottas joined the team in 2017, Hamilton has won 38 races compared to nine for the Finn.
In qualifying, too, he has been on another level. His average advantage over Rosberg was 0.14secs; over Bottas it is 0.225.
Of his five team-mates in F1, only Fernando Alonso has really been on a comparable level, in Hamilton’s debut season – four wins each, tied on points, Alonso ahead when both finished races eight times to seven, and Hamilton just 0.003secs quicker on average in qualifying.
Jenson Button scored more points than Hamilton over their three years together from 2010-12, but that record is skewed by a difficult year for Hamilton in 2011, when personal problems affected his driving and he was involved in a number of incidents.
On other stats, Button was 0.201secs slower in qualifying, when Hamilton was ahead 42 times to 12, while Hamilton won 10 races to Button’s eight and finished ahead 28 times to 16.
It’s worth making the point, too, that Hamilton does not have the stains on his career that Schumacher had from the series of underhand incidents that cloud his legacy, most notoriously deliberately colliding with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve in title-deciding races in 1994 and 1997, and parking on the track in Monaco in 2006 to prevent rivals setting faster times.
