Lewis Hamilton hit another unbelievable Formula 1 milestone on Sunday as he clinched a record-extending 100th victory; Here, we look at the key statistics from his relentless charge over 15 years - while Hamilton has his say on his long-term future.
Tuesday 28 September 2021 10:27, UK
Hamilton has won a race in all 15 of his F1 seasons, a feat no other driver has ever achieved.
As you can see, the majority of those victories came after joining Mercedes from McLaren in 2013 - and particularly upon F1's new hybrid era the following season. Since 2014, Hamilton has won a staggering 78 races out of 153.
He has also only failed to reach double figures of wins once in that time, in 2017 when Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari put up an improved title fight against him and Mercedes.
Hamilton may, however, be up against it to reach 10 this year. He has five wins from 15 in his 2021 championship battle against Max Verstappen, with only seven races remaining.
The 91 wins from Michael Schumacher was long thought to be unattainable. After all, that was a whopping 50 clear of the great Ayrton Senna.
But Hamilton quickly surged towards that record at Mercedes and then smashed it at last year's Portuguese GP, just before he matched Schumacher with a seventh title.
One thing is for sure, Hamilton has put down quite the benchmark already. For reference, current title rival Max Verstappen has 83 fewer wins than him...
Hamilton, meanwhile, is third in the all-time charts when it comes to win percentage despite winning more than half of the hybrid-era races.
The Canadian GP's Montreal circuit has long been a favourite of Hamilton's, and it is indeed where he claimed his first victory back in 2007. But in its enforced absence from the calendar in the last two seasons, Hamilton has notched two wins apiece at the Hungarian and British GPs, lifting the Hungaroring and his home Silverstone to the top.
Hamilton has 101 pole positions so it's unsurprising that the majority of his 100 wins have come from F1's most favourable grid slot, while 86 of them have come from the front row.
Hamilton didn't win from lower than fourth on the grid until 2017, while his biggest comeback to victory came a season later at the German GP, when he fought back in the wet weather.
Interestingly, his Sunday victory at Sochi - where he started fourth - was just the sixth time he had won from lower than third.
While Hamilton's commitment to F1 and his long-term future has been in doubt a few times over the last few years - particularly ahead of the 2021 season as he failed to agree a new contract until a month prior to lift-off - but the Englishman is now signed up with Mercedes until the end of 2023.
Hamilton, 36, says he has been energised by the battle on the track - particularly with Verstappen - as much as his efforts off the track, as he looks to improve equality and inclusion in the sport.
Mercedes hope he could even continue beyond 2023.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports Italy before clinching his 100th win, Hamilton said he would continue until the "hunger" and "desire" stops.
"There's definitely plenty of times I've had over the last four or five years where I've been like, I don't know if I want to keep giving or sacrificing the training and my personal life," he said.
"There's other things that I'd like to do, normal stuff I want to do... but on the other side I'm like, wow, I'm so fortunate that I get to do this job.
"In the bigger scheme of things, it's a little of your life. There's a long, long time retired.
"So I'm trying to find the right balance. If I'm still hungry, if I can still train myself as I did as a kid, which I do now, and still achieve great results... then great.
"If I start getting slower, I can't be bothered to train and I'm not as driven, then I know that's when I need to stop."
There's little sign to suggest that time will be coming soon.
