Hamilton hits 5,000 laps led milestone in F1

Lewis Hamilton has become only the second driver in Formula 1 history to lead a total of 5,000 laps throughout his career, joining Michael Schumacher in passing the milestone.

The Briton achieved this at Imola en route to his ninth win of the season as he closes in on his seventh world championship, leading Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 85 points with four races remaining.

Max Verstappen also continued his incredible streak of either finishing on the podium or retiring, a run that dates back a calendar year.

All of this and more in this week's best statistics to come out of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix!

Hamilton leads for 5,000 laps

While he does not quite have the record yet for most laps led, Hamilton did become the second driver in F1 history to lead a total of 5,000 laps throughout his career.

Only Schumacher, who led for 5,111 laps, is ahead of Hamilton, who now has 5,021 after leading for 45 laps of the 63 at Imola before securing his 93rd victory.

To put it into context, that's the equivalent of covering 98 British Grands Prix.

Hamilton had dropped to third after being overtaken by Max Verstappen at the start of the race but then claimed the lead when Valtteri Bottas pitted on lap 19.

It was a position the 35-year-old did not relinquish. After putting in a series of fastest laps, Hamilton then struck lucky as he was able to pit under a virtual safety car period to retain first ahead of Bottas and Verstappen.

Verstappen's bizarre run of either podium or DNF

For a calendar year, Verstappen has finished on the podium in every single race he has finished.

Since the 2019 United States GP on November 3, when he finished third, the Dutchman has a streak of 16 races in which he has either retired or claimed a top-three finish.

The run features two victories at Interlagos and Silverstone and four retirements, all of which have been this year, with three of those on Italian soil - an electronic issue at the season opener in Austria, followed by an engine problem in Monza, a lap-one collision in Mugello and a puncture in Imola.

Verstappen and Italy have never been a good combination, with the 23-year-old's best result being fifth in 2018. Alex Albon's third in Mugello is the only Red Bull podium in Italy in the turbo-hybrid era.

Daniel Ricciardo's unlikely podium run

After scoring his first podium for Renault at the Eifel GP in October, the team's first top-three finish since Malaysia 2011, Ricciardo followed it up with another third two races later.

Not since 2017 has Ricciardo had two podiums in three races. Back then, the seven-time grand prix winner scored three successive podiums in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan for Red Bull.

While the 31-year-old won two races in 2018, bizarrely he never stood on the podium apart from those two occasions as he suffered eight mechanical retirements that season.

Ironically, in 2020, it took the mechanical retirements of Bottas at the Nürburgring and Verstappen in Imola for Ricciardo to be promoted to a podium place.

Lance Stroll's cold streak since second podium

In the five races since achieving his second career podium at the Italian GP earlier this season, Stroll has not scored a single point.

In the Tuscan GP, the Canadian brutally smashed into the barriers when a piece of debris punctured a tyre.

The 22-year-old has struggled in every aspect from that moment as he has also not reached Q3 since Mugello. In Russia, he crashed out on the opening lap, while he then sat out the Eifel GP through illness. He would later test positive for Covid-19.

The Portuguese GP was another race to forget, with self-inflicted damage and time penalties for exceeding track limits too often prompting Racing Point to end his race early.

Stroll at least reached the end of the Emilia Romagna GP, but again, no points from what was another underwhelming Sunday afternoon, where his highlight came in the pitlane.

Stroll. pic.twitter.com/NAroCtrVwl

— LeoF1 (@LeoF1_) November 1, 2020

In comparison, Stroll's team-mate Sergio Perez has scored 48 points in the last five races, while even his stand-in Nico Hülkenberg scored four points at the Nürburgring.

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