Hamilton takes pole at Belgium, matches Schumacher record
Ryan Joseph Ramos August 26, 2017Lewis Hamilton took pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix—his 68th—and in doing so, has tied the Michael Schumacher record for most poles in a career.
Hamilton will start ahead of Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel, who headed into the mid-season break still leading the drivers’ championship race. After the race, F1 managing director Ross Brawn relayed a congratulatory message straight from the Schumacher family.
“I think and pray for Michael all the time,” Hamilton said. “I’ve had the privilege of racing with him and always admired him and still do.”
In order to achieve the pole position, Hamilton had to overcome a hurdle Mercedes had been facing all weekend. Ferrari was quicker in sector two. However, on Saturday’s qualifying proper, Hamilton managed to put together a superb sector two to secure the pole.
Hamilton took only 200 events in 11 seasons to reach the all-time mark. Of course, many will argue Hamilton has had the benefit of a tremendously dominant car in the past few seasons with Mercedes. In contrast, Schumi took 308 events in 19 seasons to get to his 68 poles. Those are just nice statistics for us; both records are incredible in their own way.
Indeed, very few would have thought 68 poles would be matched back then. No one foresaw a team as dominant as Mercedes is right now.
Ferrari, of course, is trying to stand in the Silver Arrows’ way. Vettel sits ahead of the pack in the standings, while a resurgent Kimi Raikkonen is also performing well. Raikkonen took P3, ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. The two Red Bulls are in row 3.
It’s very likely Hamilton goes past the Schumacher record sooner rather than later, and there’s still plenty of races left this season to do so. Of course, his eyes are on the ultimate prize—another championship.
