Lewis can be the greatest
LEWIS HAMILTON will become Britain’s first-ever four-time world champion even if he finishes only fifth in tomorrow’s Mexico Grand Prix.
But he has already been installed as one of the all-time greats by some of the best drivers of the modern era.
He would become only the fifth driver to win the title four times after Michael Schumacher (seven), Juan Manuel Fangio (five) and Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel (four).
Hamilton’s Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said this week: “Lewis is about to break all records that have been set in Formula One, and it is just a matter of time that people will say he is on track to being the best driver that has ever existed.”
That view was endorsed by three of the men who have tried to beat him, fellow Brit Jenson Button, Brazilian Felipe Massa, and double world champion Fernando Alonso.
Former McLaren team-mate Button said: “He’s probably the most gifted driver that has ever driven a Formula One car.”
And Massa added: “You cannot put him in a different level compared to Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. He’s there.”
Even Alonso, who Hamilton spent an unhappy debut season alongside in 2007, said: “He’s a champion of our generation. Lewis was able to win with a dominant car, like the last three years, a good car like 2010 and 2012, or bad cars like 2009 and 2011. Not all the champions can say that.”
Hamilton said: “It really makes me happy to hear positive things from other drivers. Your colleagues – people you race against – to have positivity from them is one of the greatest compliments you can have.”
Vettel led the title race by 22 points after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in July before Hamilton won five of the next six races to lead by 66.
But there are still 75 points up for grabs from the three remaining races, with Brazil in two weeks’ time and the finale in Abu Dhabi in November.
And Vettel said: “It’s not over yet. We want to win the last three races and I think we can. Then we’ll see what happens.”
But he was off the pace in fifth place after the first practice session yesterday.
Valtteri Bottas kept team-mate Hamilton off the top of the time sheets with a rapid lap of 1min, 17.824secs.