Ralf Schumacher – brother of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher – believes that Max Verstappen can go on to have greater success than Lewis Hamilton during his F1 career, but that neither will match up to his family relative.
Schumacher etched his name into the history books by winning seven World Championships and bringing relentless success to Ferrari. The German racer notched up 91 wins, 155 podiums and 77 pole positions during his 306 career starts in F1.
These figures, combined with his brave on-track efforts and no-nonsense attitude endeared him to fans all around the globe, cementing his legacy as one of the sport’s most popular figures and most respected competitors.
For many, beating Schumacher’s achievements seemed unlikely, bordering on impossible, but with the help of a longer schedule, Hamilton and Verstappen have both eaten into the 55-year-old’s statistics.
In fact, Hamilton has now surpassed the Ferrari legend in almost all categories. The 39-year-old heads into the United States Grand Prix with 105 race wins, 201 podium finishes and 104 pole positions to his name – the most of any driver in F1 history.
Despite these impressive figures, the brother of the Ferrari star doesn’t believe that Hamilton measures up in a head-to-head battle. “Not even Lewis Hamilton will ever come close to Michael,” he told the Formel1.de YouTube channel.
“Not in light years, from my point of view. We thought Lewis Hamilton could walk on water and, no, he didn’t. We thought Max Verstappen could walk on water – although in my opinion, in terms of talent, he could actually go further than Lewis. That’s just the way it is.”
The former Williams racer went on to add: “Michael was one of the drivers who made the difference. He was also very lucky to be in the right place at the right time.”
When Hamilton makes the move to Ferrari at the end of the 2024 campaign he’ll be hoping to emulate Schumacher and bring World Championship glory back to the Scuderia. If he is successful, he’ll become the sport’s first-ever eight-time world champion.
Standing in his way, however, is a formidable team-mate in Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque racer is one of F1’s best qualifiers of the modern era and has the race pace to match it, having dominated the intra-team battles with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz during his Ferrari career.
