HIGH FIVE FOR HAMI

Lewis Hamilton becomes third driver to win five Formula One titles

Mexico City, Oct. 29: Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth drivers’ world championship to draw level with Juan Manuel Fangio in the Formula One record books when he finished fourth behind a victorious Max Verstappen in the Mexican Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s success — the third time he has taken the title without finishing on the race podium — elevated him to a supreme club alongside Fangio with only seven- time champion Michael Schumacher ahead of him.

He was adding the 2018 crown to his championship wins in 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

The 33- year- old Briton’s only remaining championship rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, who needed a victory, with Hamilton outside the top seven, to keep his hopes alive, finished second on Sunday. He celebrated by executing ‘ doughnut’ wheel spins for the cheering crowd before leaping out of his car and into the arms of his team.

Four- time champion Vettel heaped praise on his rival. “It is not easy today but well deserved for him and I want to congratulate Lewis. They did a superb job all year. We need to stand there, accept that and send congratulations. We would have liked to have hung in there longer, but it was not to be,” he said.

Hamilton, who started third on the grid, struggled with chronic tyre- wear after making a strong start in his Mercedes and settled for a cautious cruise to the title without a podium finish.

Verstappen, upstaged by his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying on Saturday, came home 17.108 seconds ahead of Vettel after the luckless Australian pole- sitter retired with nine laps remaining. “I didn’t sleep very well last night,” said Verstappen.

A puff of smoke signalled an engine failure and his eighth ‘ Did Not Finish’ ( DNF) of the season while his 21- year- old Dutch tyro teammate secured a repeat of his 2017 triumph, his second win this season and the fifth of his career.

Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen came home third ahead of Hamilton and his Mercedes team- mate Valtteri Bottas. Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Renault ahead of Charles Leclerc of Sauber, Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren, Marcus Ericsson in the second Sauber and Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso. For Ferrari, it was a first double podium success in Mexico since 1990 with Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell.— AFP

AFP Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates his fifth drivers title after the Formula One Mexico Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City on Sunday. Hamilton became only the third F1 driver in history to capture a fifth world title.