Hamilton proud to beat Schumacher record

Lewis Hamilton broke Michael Schumacher's record for the most wins at different Grand Prix circuits with his victory at the Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday, and admits he is always "blown away" by the statistics which the German notched up during his time in F1.

Hamilton stayed away from the opening lap carnage in France which left Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly out, and Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas down at the back of the grid after the collision.

The 2017 world champion led from pole to flag and comfortably took the victory which put him back on top of the driver rankings for 2018.

An added bonus was that he broke Schumacher's record for the most GP victories at different circuits, and Hamilton admits he was unaware of the record.

“I didn’t know that. It’s news to me. Every time I’m told of these records I’m blown away by Michael, even more and more,” Hamilton said.

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“He had obviously a long career and incredible statistics, and it just brings me back to watching him as a kid."

Hamilton went on to reiterate his respect for the older generation, and says he actually played as Kimi Raikkonen in video games when he was younger.

“I was actually just sitting here thinking, and I don’t know if Kimi knows, I remember growing up wanting to be in Formula 1 and obviously I was at McLaren since I was 13 and I used to play F1 on the Playstation all the time and I was always Kimi, which is kind of crazy.

“I wasn’t Montoya, I was always Kimi in his car and I always wanted to race against him. It’s just crazy how life works and how you get the opportunity to work with some of these legends.

“I don’t know if they realise the respect that the younger generation will have for them.

“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t but… yeah.”