Lewis Hamilton has become the first driver in Formula 1 history to stand on the podium 200 times after his P3 finish in Hungary. After crying on the team radio in Silverstone, Hamilton started to get emotional again in Hungary.
Hamilton pays tribute to team on radio
By finishing third in Hungary behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to take 200 podiums in the sport. When given the news by his race engineer Peter Bonnington, Hamilton started to let the emotion out as he paid tribute to his Mercedes team.
“I couldn’t have done it without you guys. I’m so proud of all of you and grateful to all of you, both here back at the factory, for all the hard work. Really grateful to have done this with you. Great job today.” This was Hamilton’s message straight after the race.
The 7-time world champion also paid tribute to his former team McLaren after they occupied the top two steps on the podium in Hungary. “I got signed by McLaren when I was 13,” Hamilton said; “There was always so much love for that team and through the journey that we had, where I had my first World Championship and then they went through a really difficult time so to see them back up there is really, really great. I’m really happy. You know that’s my old family, so really, really grateful to be up here with them.”
Numbers don’t mean anything to Hamilton
When asked what 200 career podiums meant to him, Hamilton admitted he doesn’t care much about numbers and stats. “I just think about these two and how young these guys [Norris and Piastri] are. They were in nappies when I started,” Hamilton said with a laugh.
“Honestly, it just makes me think about the whole journey and all the great people I’ve had the chance to work with. Ultimately, I think it was a tough race today and I definitely didn’t think I would be having 200 podiums but what have I done? Like 340-something races? So, not too bad a score but I couldn’t have done it without all those great people that I’ve worked with in both these teams.”
200 podiums in 345 race starts for Hamilton means that he has stood on the podium 57.97% in all of his F1 races. Fellow 7-time world champion Micheal Schumacher only stood on the podium 155 times. Sebastian Vettel is third on the list with 122 podiums, but current world champion Verstappen isn’t far behind with 107 podium finishes.
