Michael Schumacher’s son Mick said that the prospect of Lewis Hamilton equaling the Ferrari great’s all-time record of 91 wins has given him something to aim for when he gets to Formula One.
Hamilton, who replaced Michael Schumacher at Mercedes in 2013, can take his 91st victory in today’s Russian Grand Prix in Sochi — a race he has won four times previously.
“One sentence my dad always used to say was: ‘Records are there to be broken.’ It’s everybody’s aim in this sport to do that,” Formula Two championship leader Mick Schumacher said on Friday.
Photo: Reuters
“I think Lewis had a very, very good run. He had a very consecutive and positive run,” he said.
“It’s good for the sport ... the next aim would be then I guess for me, if I do make the step [up], to break that again,” the 21-year-old said.
Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher took his last win with Ferrari in China in 2006. He has not appeared in public since he sustained severe head injuries in a 2013 skiing accident.
Hamilton is on course for a seventh crown and set to replace the German as the most successful F1 driver of all time. The Briton already has more pole positions, podiums and points finishes.
Hamilton said he prized the helmet he exchanged with Michael Schumacher in Abu Dhabi in 2012 and felt “pure admiration” for a man he first met as a youngster at the German’s kart track in Kerpen.
Asked whether he might shed a tear as Michael Schumacher did when he matched the late Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna’s 41 wins in 2000, Hamilton said he remembered that, but was not focused on the numbers.
“I cannot tell you how I am going to feel, or what it is going to mean, or if it’s going to mean anything,” he said.
“There’s other and bigger issues happening in the world,” he added.
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