07/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Monza weekend sees Lewis Hamilton move up the tables in F1 history books.
Speaking at the weekend, Hamilton, minded that a win would move him closer to the 41 recorded by his great hero Ayrton Senna, pointed out, quite rightly, that if not for his tragic death at Imola in 1994 the legendary Brazilian would have scored many more wins, many more titles and set more records.
Nonetheless, Lewis' amazing grand-slam, being quickest in all three practice sessions, taking pole, leading every lap of the race, taking the win and fastest lap, was pretty special.
In the process the Mercedes driver brought his total number of wins up to 40, one shy of Senna and Sebastian Vettel.
Being his 160th Grand Prix, Hamilton equalled the number of races contested by driver turned commentator Johnny Herbert, whilst in terms of fastest laps he is now on a par (25) with Mika Hakkinen and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.
In terms of world championship points, Vettel's second place saw the German become the sport's most successful driver, the Ferrari star now on 1,796.
However, let's not forget that the numerous changes to the points system over the years meant that Nico Hulkenberg's seventh place saw the Force India driver leapfrog three-time world champion Jack Brabham, whilst Valtteri Bottas' 281 sees him equal Emerson Fittipaldi and Riccardo Patrese.
Talking of Fittipaldi, Monza was the 104th event for the former Virgin outfit, Manor, thereby equalling Shadow and Fittipaldi (Copersucar).
With 39 wins in total, Mercedes next target is Red Bull (50), thereby giving Lewis further reason not to want the German manufacturer to supply its rivals.
More stats, here