Lewis Hamilton is the best driver of his generation, but Michael Schumacher is currently the finest of any generation and he has the championship record to prove it. Hamilton is currently one win away from equaling Schumacher, so the question is whether he can be the great man and stand alone at the top of his sport. We’ve looked at the odds of this happening and offered a little bit of background to these two legendary Formula One drivers.

All that’s left for you is to read what we’ve said and then decide if you agree or disagree.

Needs to get number 7 first

First things first, Hamilton must match Schumacher’s championship record before beating it. Seven is the magic number for the legendary German, with a gap of ten years separating his first win in 1994 and final title in 2004.

Hamilton is currently on six championships and there are 12 years between his earliest victory and most recent successful campaign. But enough about the past.

The present is what matters and right now Hamilton is a shoo-in to win title number seven.

Even the sports betting bookies have good odds on Hamilton. You can get an indication of this by checking various sports betting sites, which you can find by reading reviews from OnlineCasinos.co.uk. He’s so far ahead of the competition that sites like Betfair Casino put him at 1/2, while his closest rival, Max Verstappen, is on 5/1.

So, the odds of him matching Schumacher’s record are exceptional.

Odds of number 8 are pretty good

Hamilton has said that he’s not focussed on Schumacher’s record.

When asked about it by Men’s Health in June 2020, he explained:

 “I honestly don’t think about it much. I don’t want it to be a distraction. I’m currently the world champion but, every year, I start from scratch. I just want to be at the top of my game in a physical sense.”

And that was just matching Schumacher, not beating him.

But Hamilton is a ferocious competitor who wants to win every time he starts a race. It wouldn’t be in keeping with the man he is if he didn’t harbor a burning desire to overtake Schumacher.

So, it’s fair to say he does want the record. What’s also fair to say is that he has an excellent chance of doing exactly that. This is because even back in 2018 he was at 3-1 to go past Schumacher’s record.

Will taking the record make Hamilton better than Schumacher?

Let’s assume that Hamilton does match Schumacher’s record. Because in all honesty, it looks like it’s there for the taking. If Hamilton then goes on to become the championship record holder, will he then be the greatest Formula One driver of all-time?

It’s hard to make the case against him being the sport’s finest.

If he takes the championship record then he’ll also have the most race wins. But not only that, he’ll have turned Mercedes into the greatest team in F1.

That’s not just a personal achievement, it’s one that transcends what he does and allows a whole team of people to enjoy a share of history.

Yes, Schumacher was exceptional and yes he won races and titles at an astonishing rate.

But he did it for Ferrari, an institution that expects to win. Hamilton’s greatest legacy might just be that Mercedes now expects the same.

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We’ve given you the odds and our reasoning for Hamilton beating Schumacher’s championship record. Will he do it? Who knows. All that can be said right now is that he has an exceptional chance.

So, keep a close eye on his races over the next couple of years, because you’ve got a chance to see something historic.