In the end, the record will have to wait. An uncharacteristically error-strewn weekend from Lewis Hamilton at the Russian Grand Prix meant Michael Schumacher still stands alone in Formula 1’s history books – for one more race at least.
Things had started to unravel for Hamilton in a chaotic qualifying session on Saturday, in which the Mercedes driver took his 96th career pole, but came within a second of qualifying 15th as a result of a series of errors.
But it was in the build-up to the race that things really fell apart and delayed the 91st win with which Hamilton will match Schumacher, before surely going on to surpass him.
Hamilton asked his team if he could do his practice starts from further up the pit lane than the usual spot, and they said he could.
The stewards disagreed, and Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty. Initially, they also gave him two penalty points that moved him within two of an automatic one-race ban. But that decision was later rescinded, giving him a bit more breathing space over the next four races, although he will still have to be careful.
Hamilton thought his punishment for what he regarded as a relatively harmless error was “ridiculous” and provocatively added: “It is to be expected. They’re trying to stop me, aren’t they?”
He rowed back on that a few minutes later, saying: “I don’t necessarily think it’s for me. Whenever a team is at the front, they are under a lot of scrutiny. Everything we have on our car is being triple checked and triple checked. They are changing rules, such as the engine regs. Lots of things to keep the racing exciting, I assume.
“I don’t know if the rules in terms of what happened today was anything to do with it, but naturally that’s how it feels. It feels we’re fighting uphill.
