High five: Hamilton reaches F1 immortality
In the final hours of a dark and sombre weekend for British sport, Lewis Hamilton provided one blazing shaft of light. With a drive of poise and maturity amid the kaleidoscopic colour of this Mexican Grand Prix, where lurid face-masks and Aztec costumes framed every inch of the grid, Britain’s greatest driver took a giant leap into Formula One immortality, emulating Juan Manuel Fangio with a fifth world title.
While the immediate moment of triumph was relegated down the headlines, quite rightly, by the helicopter tragedy in Leicester, this feat was one that deserved to endure for posterity. Only two men, Fangio and Michael Schumacher, had ever known the sensation of becoming an F1 champion five times over, but here Hamilton earned the privilege of joining his sport’s most gilded club.
Little did he know as a child, when father Anthony ferried him to karting races in a battered Fiat Cinquecento, that he would ever reach the sunlit uplands of F1.
Even when he blew the paddock doors down in 2007, as the first black driver at this level and the most electrifying talent in years, he could scarcely have envisaged that a first world championship would arrive just 18 months later. Now Hamilton, a trailblazer in so many ways, has five of them. Still just 33, he has it within his gift to vault past Schumacher’s seven and cement his place as the greatest driver who ever lived.
“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. .
“I feel like I still drive with that fire that I had when I was 8-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 [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 yesterday, with title rival Sebastian Vettel taking second and Kimi Raikkonen third, behind race winner Max Verstappen.
“I always believed we could win this championship, but it was one of the toughest,” Hamilton said.
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 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, 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 win and defended his 2017 race 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.
“He drove superb all year. He was the better one of us two,” Vettel said. “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.”