Echoing Michael Schumacher’s Words to Him, 15 Years Later, Lewis Hamilton Passes the Baton to Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has had an outstanding F1 career so far as he has already grabbed 40 wins despite being just 25 years of age. Considering the purple patch that the Dutchman has been in over the past few seasons, he is undoubtedly a generational talent that is likely to follow the likes of Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

As Verstappen continues to perform, Hamilton has just echoed the words that Schumacher said in an interview 15 years ago. When asked back in 2008 if Hamilton could match his record of seven world championships, Schumacher replied, “I would say, absolutely yes.”

The German then gave his explanation by adding, “Records are there to be beaten“. Schumacher had no doubt back then that someone some day would reach the numbers he had reached. And it seems that the 54-year-old was absolutely correct about his prediction.

Hamilton has not only gone past Schumacher’s record of 91 wins by clinching 103 victories himself, but has also matched the legendary Ferrari driver with seven world championships. Now it would be interesting to see whether the Briton can add another title to his tally or whether the likes of Verstappen can also end up breaking his records.

Lewis Hamilton concerned Max Verstappen may break his records

While speaking during his press conference ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, Lewis Hamilton was asked if Max Verstappen could potentially break his records. The interviewer asked the Briton this question at a time when the Dutchman is just a win away from matching Ayrton Senna’s record of 41 wins.

When asked this question, the Briton replied, “He’s got a very long career ahead of him, so absolutely“. Hamilton then continued his reply by echoing Schumacher as he added, “Ultimately, records are there to be broken“.

Hamilton believes that since Verstappen has got a fantastic team, there is every possibility that the 25-year-old can break his records. After speaking about the opportunity that the Red Bull driver has, Hamilton stated that he and Mercedes need to work harder to push the benchmark even higher.

While Hamilton seems worried that Verstappen may break his records, the Dutchman himself has stated on various occasions that records do not matter to him. In a conversation with Robb Report after the Monaco GP, Verstappen said, “I’ve never been interested in breaking records“.

The Dutchman explained his point by stating that an F1 driver needs to be extremely fortunate to even think about breaking some of the records, because this would mean that they need to have a good car for a very long time. After making it clear that records do not matter to him, Verstappen concluded his remarks by stating that Hamilton does not “need to look over his shoulder“.

Hamilton explains his feelings about matching Senna’s records

During the same press conference in Montreal, Lewis Hamilton also explained how great he felt to have matched Ayrton Senna‘s record back in 2017. On that occasion, the Briton grabbed his 65th F1 pole position to go level with his Brazilian hero.

When asked about his feelings at the time, Hamilton replied, “For me, it was very, very surreal just that being five years old, watching with my dad and the dream was to be like Ayrton. The dream was to get to Formula 1 and do something like him and then to then find that you’re matching equally in terms of results“.

Hamilton then concluded his remarks by sending a warning to Verstappen. The Mercedes driver said that the 25-year-old already has had such an “incredible career” and that he and Mercedes were now working hard to “slow him down“.