Every driver Lewis Hamilton has raced in his all-conquering F1 career
From Michael Schumacher to Max Verstappen (plus Markus Winkelhock and Andre Lotterer)… all 74 drivers Lewis Hamilton has raced and beaten in his all-conquering F1 career
- Lewis Hamilton has conquered everything Formula One has thrown at him
- In 11 years, Hamilton has raced in 227 GPs – winning 71 – vs 74 different drivers
- He has seen off some of the sport’s greats – and some consigned to obscurity
Eleven years, 227 races, 71 wins, two teams and five world championships. Lewis Hamilton has come, seen and conquered everything Formula One has thrown at him – and there is plenty more to come.
The British ace has become one of the world’s leading sportspeople since emerging in F1 in 2007 with McLaren, winning his first title in 2008, before switching to Mercedes and beginning an era of complete domination.
In that time, many names – some sporting greats, others barely the biggest names in their own household – have come and gone: 74 individual drivers, to be precise.
Lewis Hamilton has come, seen and conquered everything Formula One has thrown at him
In 11 years, Hamilton has raced in 227 GPs – winning 71 of them – against 74 different drivers
Hamilton has seen off some of the sport’s greatest drivers – and some consigned to obscurity
Of those who Hamilton raced in his debut campaign back in 2007, only three drivers remain – his initial team mate Fernando Alonso, his greatest current rival Sebastian Vettel, and Ferrari veteran Kimi Raikkonen.
Only Alonso has had a full race seat for that entire period – Vettel came in midway through 2007 for Toro Rosso have raced one Grand Prix for BMW Sauber, while Raikkonen had a two-year break from F1 in 2010 and 2011 after leaving Ferrari, where he competed in karting.
Alonso and Hamilton’s 11-year association in F1 will come to an end next season, however, with the Spanish two-time world champion confirming he will leave McLaren following several frustrating years.
Fernando Alonso has featured in more of Hamilton’s races than anyone else – 223 of his 227
At the opposite end of the scale to Alonso – who has featured in 223 of Hamilton’s races – two men have only completed in one.
One, Andre Lotterer, drove just a single lap in F1, at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix. Having started 21st for Caterham – Hamilton was second on the grid – he suffered mechanical failure, and retired having had less impact on the Brit than any other racer in the sport.
The other single race competitor, Markus Winkelhock, has gone down in F1 legend for leading the 2007 European GP for six laps, despite starting last on the grid.
Two drivers have featured in just one race with Hamilton, including Markus Winkelhock
After sudden heavy rain fell in the early stages, Hamilton and co had to pit to change tyres – except Winkelhock, who already had wets on and surged to the front of the grid, until unsafe conditions caused the race to be stopped. The German was then forced to quit with hydraulic issues, but not before cult hero status was assured.
In his time in F1, Hamilton has raced alongside five team mates – Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button at McLaren; Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes.
It has not been a smooth ride with all of his colleagues – Alonso and Hamilton were not on speaking terms at times in 2007, the rookie objecting to what he saw as preferential treatment to the then-world champion.
Hamilton has raced with five team mates – his rivalry with Nico Rosberg was competitive
Hamilton and Rosberg also had a relationship best described as competitive – Hamilton attempted to back Rosberg into the field in the 2016 season-ending Abu Dhabi GP to deny his team mate the world championship; the German held on.
During his time in the sport, Hamilton has raced against some of the all-time greats, none more so than Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher had left Ferrari – where he won five of his seven world championships – in 2006, the season before Hamilton made his debut, but made his comeback with Mercedes in 2010.
Hamilton raced alongside Michael Schumacher for three years and replaced him at Mercedes
The pair raced together in F1 for three years, before Schumacher, having been unable to recapture his old magic, re-retired – and was replaced at Mercedes by Hamilton.
In the Mercedes, Hamilton has risen to among the greatest names in the history of the sport, and with five world championships now has his eyes on Schumacher’s record seven.
Next season, Hamilton’s opponents will rise in number to at least 76 – Lando Norris and George Russell are joining F1, with McLaren and Williams respectively.
It will be at least 76 opponents by next year, with Lando Norris and George Russell joining
HAMILTON’S 74 OPPONENTS
Fernando Alonso
Giancarlo Fisichella
Heikki Kovalainen
Felipe Massa
Kimi Raikkonen
Jenson Button
Rubens Barrichello
Nick Heidfeld
Robert Kubica
Sebastian Vettel
Ralf Schumacher
Jarno Trulli
David Coulthard
Mark Webber
Nico Rosberg
Alexander Wurz
Kazuki Nakajima
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Scott Speed
Adrian Sutil
Christijan Albers
Markus Winkelhock
Sakon Yamamoto
Takuma Sato
Anthony Davidson
Nelson Piquet jr
Timo Glock
Sebastian Bourdais
Luca Badoer
Romain Grosjean
Kamui Kobayashi
Jaime Algersuari
Sebastien Buemi
Michael Schumacher
Nico Hulkenberg
Vitaly Petrov
Karun Chandhok
Christian Klien
Bruno Senna
Pedro De La Rosa
Lucas di Grassi
Pastor Maldonado
Paul di Resta
Narain Karthikeyan
Daniel Ricciardo
Jerome D’Ambrosio
Sergio Perez
Jean-Eric Vergne
Charles Pic
Esteban Gutierrez
Giedo van der Garde
Jules Bianchi
Max Chilton
Marcus Ericsson
Will Stevens
Andre Lotterer
Alexander Rossi
Daniil Kvyat
Roberto Merhi
Kevin Magnussen
Felipe Nasr
Max Verstappen
Carlos Sainz
Stoffel Vandoorne
Rio Harayanto
Esteban Ocon
Pascal Wehrlein
Jolyon Palmer
Antonio Giovinazzi
Pierre Gasly
Brendon Hartley
Lance Stroll
Sergey Sirotkin
Charles Leclerc
And there are more to come! Two new drivers, Lando Norris and George Russell, join the grid in 2019, becoming Hamilton’s 75th and 76th foes.
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