Fernando Alonso agrees with Hamilton over Michael Schumacher weapon

Alonso stressed that no one had ever replicated Schumacher’s ability to haul his car onto the podium despite suffering adversities. He said: “Michael didn’t have bad days. Michael never underperformed. That’s what impressed me most when I got to Formula One and especially when I fought with him for the championship.

“Previously, in all my career and different categories, my rivals had some bad days and those were the days when you would capitalise – you would score many more points than them. With Michael, that didn’t happen. He and Ferrari were unbeatable most of the time, but even when they didn’t have the car, the tyres, or whatever working in the right window, Michael still finished second or third.

“Even after a bad free practice or a bad qualifying, you would still find Michael on the podium on Sunday. He had this tenacity, this willingness to exploit any opportunity – to minimise the damage on the bad days and maximise the good days. His determination was outstanding.”

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Schumacher secured his first two crowns for Bennetton in 1994 and 1995 before switching to Ferrari. He initially struggled at the Prancing Horse, coming closest to success in 1997 before he was pipped by Williams’ Jacques Villeneuve.

However, he dominated F1 in the early noughties as he romped home to five successive titles with the Scuderia between 2000 and 2004. The German still holds a string of F1 records, including the prize for most consistent podium finisher with 17 top-three finishes from 17 starts in 2002.

Schumacher still has the record for the most wins when starting outside the front row with 24. However, Hamilton has now exceeded Schumacher’s win rate with 103 victories from 210 starts (33.23 per cent).

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This is slightly higher than the Ferrari star who racked up 91 wins from 308 races (29.55 per cent). But Hamilton also praised the F1 icon after he matched the German’s seven world titles in 2020.

He also admitted he was stunned by Schumacher’s ability to extract results “week on week” during his career. Hamilton explained: “When you grow up watching someone you generally idolise them in terms of the quality of the driver they are but also what they are able to continuously do race on race, year on year, week on week

“Seeing his dominance for so long, I don’t think anyone and especially me didn’t imagine I’d be anywhere near Michael in terms of records.”