Lewis Hamilton keeps climbing his way up the list of Formula One’s greatest drivers.
The top now looks very much in sight.
The British driver won his fifth career F1 championship with a fourth-place finish Sunday at the Mexican Grand Prix. It was a race dominated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, but one that will be remembered for Hamilton tying the late Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina for the second-most championships in F1 history.
At age 33, he can now make a run at something once previously unthinkable: The seven titles won by Germany’s Michael Schumacher.
“Michael’s still the greatest,” Hamilton said. “Fangio is the Godfather and always will be. I feel honoured to have my name alongside his. If I stop today, I’ll always have my name up there.”
He’s not stopping. Hamilton has won four of his five titles with Mercedes and this year extended his contract through 2020. His 2008 championship was with McLaren.
“I feel like I still drive with that fire that I had when I was eight-years-old,” Hamilton said. “I’m here for a few more years, so hopefully I’ll get close. I’ll always be a fan of Michael Schumacher.”
Hamilton’s fifth championship arguably ranks among his best. He had to fight off a strong challenge from Ferrari, which even Hamilton admitted often had the stronger car. Ferrari beat him on Sunday with title rival Sebastian Vettel taking second and Kimi Raikkonen third.
“I always believed we could win this championship, but it was one of the toughest,” Hamilton said.
Ferrrari also won the previous week at the US Grand Prix. But it was a run of wins over the second half of the season that sent Hamilton to Mexico City all but assured of the championship. All he had to do was finish no lower than seventh, and even that would have required a Vettel win.
Yet he didn’t get the leisurely Sunday drive he would have liked over the 71 laps in the high altitude at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
After a brief bid for the lead Sunday, Hamilton had a scary run off the track late. In between, he complained of car and tyre problems, and had to fight to hold on for one of his worst finishes of the season.
“It was a horrible race,” Hamilton said. “I was just trying to bring the car home.”
It was a near perfect day for Verstappen, who earned his fifth career victory and defended his 2017 race win.
Red Bull had dominated qualifying to earn its first 1-2 start of the hybrid engine era. But pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo was beaten off the line by Verstappen and Hamilton. Ricciardo’s race ended with late engine failure, the eighth time this season his car didn’t make it to the finish.
Hamilton could have let the Red Bulls ride off from the start, but he took a shot at the lead when by slipping into a gap between them. The straight line power of his Mercedes nosed his car in front until Verstappen cut under him at the first corner.
Verstappen wasn’t giving any ground. He was angry on Saturday when he was denied the chance to be the youngest pole winner in F1 history
“The start was the key,” Verstappen said. “I was determined to win.”
Hamilton could afford to back off and his primary goal was to avoid trouble. Last year, a bump from Vettel at the first turn punctured a tyre which relegated him to ninth.
A four-time champion himself, Vettel opened the season with a strong charge of two straight victories only to see Mercedes snatch wins while their own car faded for a long stretch. Hamilton wrapped up the season with two races left.
Vettel will have the small consolation of beating Hamilton in the title-clinching race, passing him about midway through on a run down the long straight in a test of power between F1′s top two teams.
The team constructor’s championship is still up for grabs between Mercedes and Ferrari. “He drove superb all year. He was the better one of us two,” admitted Vettel. “Five championships is something incredible. I asked him to keep pushing for next year to be at his best, to fight him again.”
Ferrari hasn’t won the driver’s championship since 2007 and Hamilton gave a nod of respect to the season title fight with Vettel. “He fought so hard this year,” Hamilton said. “The pressure that he would be under ... that’s a lot to ride on one’s shoulders.
“Honestly, it’s very hard to realise it at the moment. It’s something I dreamed of, but I never in a million years thought I’d be standing here a five-time world champion.
“I never knew that was going to happen and I am just so grateful to everyone who has helped me be here. I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to all the fans here for making the Mexican Grand Prix as special as it is. And I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to my team. So, I am so grateful for all the hard work back home, for PETRONAS, for all our partners and ultimately for Mercedes.
“I have been with Mercedes since I was 13, so to achieve the same thing Fangio had done with Mercedes so many years ago, is an incredible feeling and very surreal at the moment.
“To my family back home, I love you, ‘thank you’ for all the support. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all the hard work my dad did and my family. This is a very humbling experience!”
Team boss Toto Wolff was full of praise for the champ, saying that people don’t usually acknowledge greatness until someone’s career is over.
“But we need to take a moment to recognise its presence,” he said. “Lewis has now equalled Fangio’s record and there aren’t many like him out there! Lewis has been the differentiator this season - our car was the fastest at times, but not always; sometimes, like today, it was only the third-fastest. And yet Lewis’ performance was always was very stable, his race craft was absolutely great.
“It has always been one of his strengths, but this year it was definitely one of the key factors of his success. We’re very happy about Lewis’ fifth drivers’ title and our fifth in a row as a team, but the job is not done yet.”
Mercedes want to take the constructors’ crown too. “Now all our focus is on the constructors’ championship, we need to perform strongly in Brazil and make sure we keep pushing until the end,” added Wolff. The penultimate race takes place on November 11 with the season-ending grand prix in Abu Dhabi on November 25.
