“By no means have I ever suggested that I’m better than Ayrton,” Lewis Hamilton admitted to Nigel Roebuck in 2008. “For me he’s the king, and always will be. If I could ever get to a point of being anywhere near as good as he was, I’d feel great…”
Come Sunday evening, should he win for the third time in as many races, Hamilton’s Formula 1 win-record will be almost identical to that of his idol, Ayrton Senna (but for Senna’s non-qualification at San Marino in 1984…).
While winning is the statistic that matters, you can find out which of the two is the better qualifier, whether Senna or Hamilton converts the most pole positions, gains the most places and much more, only on the new Motor Sport Database.
It doesn’t stop there, either. You can compare the two at Spa, Monaco, Monza and any other circuit they both graced. The Senna v Hamilton argument is far from at its end.
Compare Hamilton and Senna for yourself on our new Database
The Motor Sport Database is free to use, featuring more than 7000 drivers, 750 circuits, and a compare function for all Formula 1 drivers.
A power-unit penalty leaves Russell with a mountain to climb in Singapore, and Alonso could prove an unexpected obstacle, Mark Hughes predicts
Isack Hadjar wants them banned, George Russell champions their benefits and Max Verstappen questions their purpose - F1’s cooling vests have become an unlikely source of division
Nigel Mansell’s infamous final-lap failure in the 1991 Canadian GP exposed an unforeseen weakness in Williams’ sophisticated gearbox – and offers a striking parallel with F1’s software-driven problems today
The FIA has explained why cars lost power on the Sepang formation lap, and what Formula 1 will change for Singapore and Austin
