Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton dreams of matching Senna record

Lewis Hamilton admits he is dreaming of matching Ayrton Senna's F1 record at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver is one victory away from matching the legendary Brazilian's tally of 41 victories, which Senna achieved from 161 starts. A win for Hamilton in Singapore would see him exactly match that record, with the Italian Grand Prix having been Hamilton's 160th race start.

Speaking after being named GQ's Sportsman of the Year, Hamilton admits he is aware of the significance of the next round at Marina Bay.

“My dream was always to emulate Ayrton Senna," Hamilton said. "I always wanted to be like him, I wanted to drive like him, I wanted to inspire a nation like he did. He was such a hero in Brazil.

“To think that he had 161 grands prix and won 41 grands prix and I’ve just reached 160 and 40 wins…”

Hamilton currently holds a 53-point lead in the drivers' championship, chasing his third title which would also put him level with Senna's number of championships which were all achieved with McLaren.

View Hamilton's full acceptance speech below:

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.