F1 2018: Hamilton secures fifth world championship title
Lewis Hamilton won his fifth championship in MexicoBriton matches Juan Manuel Fangio with five F1 crowns, despite only finishing fourth in the Mexican Grand Prix
British racer Lewis Hamilton secured his fifth Formula 1 World Championship title – and his fourth in the last five years – with a fourth place finish in the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Mercedes-AMG driver went into the event knowing that seventh place would secure the title, while Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel effectively needed to win. Despite a strong start, Hamilton struggled with his tyres in the race and could only finish fourth. Verstappen took a comfortable race win, while Vettel battled hard to take second.
Hamilton said he had mixed feelings taking the title after what he admitted was a “horrible” race where he was just “trying to hold on and bring the car home”.
Feature: Autocar meets the racers who beat Lewis Hamilton
But he added: “I don’t really allow myself to be too emotional in public, but I feel very, very humbled by the whole experience. It’s something that I dreamed of, but never in a million years did I think I’d be standing here today as a five-time world champion.”
Hamilton, 33, has now tied Juan Manuel Fangio for second place on the all-time list with five championships, behind only seven-time title winner Michael Schumacher.
Opinion: is Lewis Hamilton Britain's greatest F1 racer? (from 2016)
Hamilton secured his first title driving for McLaren-Mercedes in 2008, in only his second season in the sport. He switched to the works Mercedes squad for 2013, taking his second title in 2014. He has won four of the last five titles, only narrowly missing out to team-mate Nico Rosberg in 2016.
While Hamilton has benefitted from having a dominant car most years since 2014, he faced a strong challenge this year from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The four-time champion led Hamilton by eight points after ten races of this year’s 21 races, but Hamilton then put in a stunning run of form, including four wins in a row – while Vettel was involved in a number of incidents – to build a substantial points lead.
Hamilton could have secured the title in last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, but a strategy error meant he finished third behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Unusually, Hamilton has secured three of his five championships without finishing on the podium, and his fourth place in Mexico ended a run of nine consecutive podiums. With two races remaining, Hamilton has secured nine race wins this season, giving him a total of 71 for his career. That puts him second on the all-time winners list behind Schumacher, who has 91.
Hamilton has also claimed 132 podium finishes and a record 81 pole positions. He has also secured a multi-year agreement to stay at the Mercedes F1 squad, giving him the opportunity to add to those totals in the years to come.
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Feature: Autocar meets the racers who beat Lewis Hamilton
Opinion: is Lewis Hamilton Britain's greatest F1 racer? (from 2016)
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