How Hamilton’s qualifying record compares to Senna and Schumacher

Lewis Hamilton reached a unique Formula 1 milestone at the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix. Despite the increasing challenge from Red Bull and Max Verstappen, the seven-time world champion reached a century of pole positions. The next two on the all-time list are Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna on 68 and 65 respectively.

Hamilton's qualifying prowess has long since been established, but where does he slot in if we take a wider look at the statistics?

Strike rate obviously means a lot more than pure tallies, particularly given that F1 careers include a lot more races than they used to. Hamilton, for example, has started more than five times as many world championship GPs as 1950s legend Juan Manuel Fangio only 51.

If we take a look at the top 10 polesitters in history in terms of percentage we get a rather different picture, although Hamilton is still a leading contender. For the purposes of these statistics, the anomalous Indianapolis 500s that counted for points between 1950 and 1960 are excluded, and only drivers who made at least 10 world championship starts are included.

Top 10 world championship qualifiers by pole percentage (poles/starts)

It is worth noting that many of the numbers above do not exactly correspond to the official figures for some of the drivers. For example, Ayrton Senna made 161 world championship starts. But he also attempted to qualify for the 1984 San Marino GP. That was a session in which, technically, it was possible for him to qualify on pole, so it is included above, bringing his count to 162, irrespective of the fact that it did not lead to a race start.

Similarly, sessions in which drivers failed to pre-qualify or crashed out of are included. That explains why, for example, Nigel Mansell has 191 'starts' above, even though he actually started 187 GPs. He twice failed to qualify for Lotus (at the 1980 Italian GP and 1981 British GP) and twice missed races due to accidents in qualifying (1985 French GP and 1987 Japanese GP).

The 1950s was the least competitive period in the world championship, so it is no surprise that the two leading drivers of the era - Fangio and Alberto Ascari - score so highly

Many of the drivers on these lists have similar anomalies and have been corrected, but the changes have done very little to the overall order. The only driver to be significantly disadvantaged is Damon Hill, who drops out of the top 10 when his six failures to qualify the recalcitrant Brabham BT60B and non-start at the 1997 Australian GP with Arrows (due to a failure on the way to the grid) are taken into account.

In terms of the spread of pace of the machinery, the 1950s was the least competitive period in the world championship, so it is no surprise that the two leading drivers of the era – Fangio and Alberto Ascari – score so highly. They were always likely to qualify near the front, though their strike rates are clearly impressive.

Competitiveness improved during the first half of the 1960s, arguably making Jim Clark's figures more significant, though his access to Colin Chapman's often-revolutionary Lotus designs was clearly a factor.

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Although operating during the turbo and then 'gizmo' F1 eras, which spread the field out in the 1980s and early 1990s, Senna's sheer strike rate stands out. Clark and Senna are often regarded as two of the fastest F1 drivers of all time, so this is hardly surprising.

But, as we have shown before, F1 was at its most competitive in terms of raw pace during the Cosworth DFV era in the 1970s, and the 2000s, particularly after the engine freeze regulations came in from 2007.

For Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Jackie Stewart to appear in the top 10 is therefore truly remarkable, though four-time champion Vettel is gradually sliding down the list as his struggles continue.

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Hamilton's place is strengthened further when we look at front-row statistics, which give an idea of consistently strong qualifying performance.

Top 10 world championship qualifiers by front row percentage (front rows/starts)

These numbers are skewed by the fact that, during the 1950s and 1960s, F1 grids were often 3-2-3, or even 4-3-4, so a top-three or top-four qualifying performance could get drivers onto the front row, which clearly does not happen today.

That helps to explain why seven of the above are from those decades, with F1's inaugural world champion Giuseppe Farina the most surprising appearance in second spot.

For a fairer comparison, setting the first or second fastest time in qualifying (or practice as it used to be known) is clearly the way to go.

The table below therefore gives perhaps the fairest comparison and gauge of consistent qualifying performance.

Top 10 world championship qualifiers by top-two percentage (top two/starts)

Hamilton comes out of this extremely well. Fangio's remarkable 82.4% strike rate will probably remain out of reach for all time, but for Hamilton to be third on the list – across a much greater number of events, some of which have been during incredibly hard-fought periods in terms of car performance – is outstanding.

It's also interesting to note that Alain Prost climbs to seventh. Given the undoubted pace of Senna and Prost's subsequent focus on race performance over qualifying, the Frenchman's strike rate is a reminder that he was incredibly fast, a point sometimes overlooked when people talk of his analytical and measured approach.

While Mansell's team-mate Riccardo Patrese struggled to get to grips with the Williams FW14B in 1992, Valtteri Bottas is rarely more than a few hundreds or thousands of a second behind Hamilton

Michael Schumacher's numbers take some explaining. He is officially credited with 68 pole positions and 116 front row starts, but for the purposes of this his numbers are 69 and 117 respectively, thanks to his fastest qualifying time at the 2012 Monaco GP. He actually started sixth thanks to a penalty for hitting Bruno Senna out of the previous race, but that has no impact on his qualifying performance, which was arguably the best of his 'second' F1 career.

It's probably fair to say that the post-sabbatical, post-motorcycle crash Schumacher was not the same driver as the one that swept to seven world titles. Just counting his 1991-2006 numbers, his figures would be 68 poles (27.2%) and 115 front row qualifying performances (46%) from 250 events.

That gets Schumacher more into the ballpark, but both statistics still fall short of Hamilton and Senna. That's perhaps not surprising given that Schumacher was not regarded as a qualifying master in quite the same way as he was a relentless racer, but it is worth noting given the obvious comparisons that will be made as Hamilton matches or surpasses Schumacher's remaining records.

Statistics can never reveal the whole picture. The quality of the machinery is clearly a key factor and comparing across eras is fraught with complications. The importance of qualifying has also changed over the years as overtaking has become more difficult, but on this analysis it's clear that – in no particular order – Fangio, Clark, Senna and Hamilton come out on top.

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While Hamilton perhaps doesn’t have a lap as famous as Senna’s 1988 Monaco GP pole – 1.427 seconds faster than McLaren team-mate Prost – his 2018 Marina Bay and 2020 Spa efforts should be in the discussion when it comes to the greatest qualifying laps.

Pole Sitter Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes with the Pirelli pole position award

Photo by: FIA Pool

Red Bull is much closer to Mercedes this season than it has been in recent years – Verstappen could have conceivably been on pole for the first four races – and Valtteri Bottas is rarely more than a few hundredths or thousandths of a second behind his illustrious team-mate, but Hamilton delivers consistently. He has done for years.

And that rather sums up modern F1 and Hamilton's ability. It's a constant search for tiny margins and, over time, Hamilton has proved to be better at that than anyone else.