Four Formula One world championships, by any yardstick, is a remarkable achievement. Lewis Hamilton’s accomplishment in Mexico might simply be measured by the company he now keeps in the record books. He has one more title than Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Jack Brabham – a breathtaking array of talent. He shares four with Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel and only two drivers have more – Juan Manuel Fangio on five and Michael Schumacher’s seven. Yet perhaps what is most striking is that he has joined their company with his greatest season yet and a title that has proved the hardest and most gratifying to secure.
Hamilton’s three previous championships, in 2008 for McLaren and for Mercedes in 2014 and 2015, were without doubt impressive but this season he has been pushed to the limit. His battle with Ferrari’s Vettel has demanded the obvious requirements of raw pace and race craft but so much more. He has had to display maturity, composure and attention to detail. It has required him to be calm under the pressure being applied by a four-times world champion, where the slightest misjudgments would be punished, and to repeatedly run error-free, flawless meetings.
Which is not to play down his previous successes. In 2008 he was in a genuinely tough fight with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa that went to the wire, passing Timo Glock on the last corner of the last lap in Brazil for the fifth place he needed to secure the championship. There were high points – in the wet at Silverstone he was magnificent. But errors too, not least when he hit Kimi Raikkonen parked under the red light at the pit-lane exit in Canada and his lock-up at turn one in Japan that forced Raikkonen wide and resulted in a drive-through penalty.
“In 2008 I was a kid,” Hamilton admitted here. “I had all the natural talent I have today but I didn’t have the knowledge and experience. I’m now fighting a championship-winning team in Ferrari and a champion driver but I’m much better equipped than I was in 2008.”
The previous two titles with Mercedes were both taken against his team-mate Nico Rosberg when the dominance of Mercedes meant it was only an intra-team battle in both seasons. It came with internal pressures that only gradually came to light as the relationship between the former friends grew increasingly fractious and the dynamic within the team made the task of taking the title all the more difficult.
Hamilton had to work hard to overcome it, pointed out the Mercedes executive director, Toto Wolff. “For Lewis probably fighting with his team‑mate was hard in a different way,” he said. “Having the enemy in the same team is a different struggle or fight than fighting against Sebastian in a Ferrari.”
But out of the garage, where he was in complete control, Hamilton largely had it his own way. Rosberg pushed him hard in 2014 but Hamilton’s string of six wins in seven races at the end of the season proved unstoppable. In 2015 Rosberg could offer little resistance and Hamilton had the title in Austin with three races remaining. Last year, in the final race of the season, the German prevailed – and promptly retired.
This year the opposition has come in the form of a different team and one of the acknowledged best drivers of this generation. Ferrari emerged from testing under the new 2017 regulations with a car that looked very promising in taking the challenge to Mercedes. Within the space of three races in the hands of Vettel it had proved to be just that and Hamilton knew he was in for a real fight.
For Mercedes it was to be the toughest test they had faced. “For the team, it was the hardest,” Wolff said. “Because we had some ups and downs, new car, new tyres and had to accept that this is the reality now and to progress was very difficult, it really took the maximum out of us.”
Hamilton repeatedly stated how much he was relishing the fight – as did Vettel. Both drivers seem to have genuinely enjoyed going up against one another in similar machinery, knowing they were testing themselves against the best. Hamilton acknowledged it had been a huge task.
When asked if he agreed with Wolff that it had been his toughest title to win he said: “Definitely.” He emphasised that he had needed to step up to make the difference. “This year I have finally been in the position to really lead a team, to motivate and direct the car exactly where I want it to go. To have such a great team in Ferrari, with a driver who was the highest decorated in the sport, was a massive challenge. We have all loved that challenge. Every single individual in the team had raised their game.”
Because the competition was so strong this season, only an exemplary performance would have been enough and that is what puts this title on a level above his other achievements. Hamilton had to be at the top of his game to defeat Vettel and Ferrari.
His qualifying, with 11 poles, was exceptional – especially when wrestling an unprecedented lap from out of nowhere to make the difference as he did in the wet at Monza, or in Sepang, Spa and Suzuka. He backed up the single-lap strength with remarkable consistency. There was almost no sign of the errors of his youth. With a car that was a handful to manage and set up on occasion he still extracted the maximum from it and without putting a wheel wrong. His achievement is exemplified when compared to what his team-mate Valtteri Bottas was able to extract from the same machinery. When dominant, Hamilton was untouchable and when it was a matter of scoring points he took as many as possible – margins that ultimately ensured he had the title sewn up in Mexico.
Expected to sign a new contract with Mercedes within the month, it is hard to imagine he cannot go on to at least equal Fangio and perhaps even Schumacher. Hamilton has always had raw pace and talent but his fourth world championship proved beyond doubt that he is now a complete driver in the mould of the greats and more than worthy of keeping their company at the top of the F1 pantheon.
