Lewis Hamilton has become the third driver in Formula 1 history to win five world championship titles.
The 33-year-old clinched the 2018 F1 drivers’ championship in today’s Mexican Grand Prix. He joins Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as a five-times champion.
Only Schumacher, who went on to win a total of seven championships, has more titles than Hamilton.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
List of Formula One drivers’ champions
Rank | Driver | Championships |
---|---|---|
1 | Michael Schumacher | 7 |
=2 | Juan Manuel Fangio | 5 |
=2 | Lewis Hamilton | 5 |
=4 | Alain Prost | 4 |
=4 | Sebastian Vettel | 4 |
=6 | Jack Brabham | 3 |
=6 | Jackie Stewart | 3 |
=6 | Niki Lauda | 3 |
=6 | Nelson Piquet | 3 |
=6 | Ayrton Senna | 3 |
=11 | Alberto Ascari | 2 |
=11 | Jim Clark | 2 |
=11 | Graham Hill | 2 |
=11 | Emerson Fittipaldi | 2 |
=11 | Mika Hakkinen | 2 |
=11 | Fernando Alonso | 2 |
=17 | Giuseppe Farina | 1 |
=17 | Mike Hawthorn | 1 |
=17 | Phil Hill | 1 |
=17 | John Surtees | 1 |
=17 | Denny Hulme | 1 |
=17 | Jochen Rindt | 1 |
=17 | James Hunt | 1 |
=17 | Mario Andretti | 1 |
=17 | Jody Scheckter | 1 |
=17 | Alan Jones | 1 |
=17 | Keke Rosberg | 1 |
=17 | Nigel Mansell | 1 |
=17 | Damon Hill | 1 |
=17 | Jacques Villeneuve | 1 |
=17 | Kimi Raikkonen | 1 |
=17 | Jenson Button | 1 |
=17 | Nico Rosberg | 1 |
This article will be updated.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
28th October 2018, 20:52
Well done. Congratulations to Lewis and Mercedes F1.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
29th October 2018, 4:58
Indeed! Well done Lewi5. What a mega year.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th October 2018, 20:55
Well done. Only two more to go to equal M. Schumacher.
erikje
28th October 2018, 22:02
if today is a sign for the future that will be way more difficult.
Ferrari had the car but not the driver and a Merc without HAM is lapped by Red Bull this race.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
29th October 2018, 0:02
Hamilton and MB can’t win them all. On this track and with the tyres available it was Red Bull’s day. Hamilton and MB will have strong winning opportunities on at least 15 F1 circuits in 2019/20.
KGN11
29th October 2018, 10:08
He was also lapped by them last year, but yet this year he won the title again. Not sure that argument carries any weight.
yloops
30th October 2018, 14:15
Great comment, completely agree!
@BoysFromTheDwarf (@boysfromthedwarf)
28th October 2018, 20:59
Awesome work from Lewis – great to see Vettel breaking off from his interview to congratulate Lewis. A poke in the eye for all the Hamilton haters…. Just brilliant.
Sumedh
28th October 2018, 21:02
Thoroughly well deserved. By far the best driver in F1 today.
Now please, will you do a few seasons for the Tifosi? It would be better than the Sebastian or the Fernando era.
Aldoid
28th October 2018, 21:39
I’m nowhere close to being a Ferrari fan (my brother is Tifosi through & through however… bleeds Ferrari red, & every few years Italia blue), but I would love to watch Lewis win a championship in a red car. It would be a fitting end to his career, I think. Maybe in a few years he & Vettel can trade seats :)
Nathan Builder (@nathanbuilder)
28th October 2018, 21:41
He’d never win in a Ferrari, lol. Alonso and Vettel couldn’t do it.
Let him stay at Merc for 5 or 6 more years, he’ll get 10 WDCs.
Aldoid
28th October 2018, 21:53
He’d still have won in this, or last year’s Ferrari, IMO…
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
28th October 2018, 22:53
True, and Alonso would’ve won this one too in a Ferrari, IMO
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
29th October 2018, 10:23
Well, Hamilton would have one advantage in a Ferrari that Vettel and Alonso never had – he wouldn’t be competing against Lewis Hamilton!
BlackJackFan
29th October 2018, 5:16
I can’t see VET still being around “in a few years”… Maybe not HAM either… And by then neither team is likely to be interested in either driver…
Wishful thinking…? ;)
Lee1
29th October 2018, 8:49
Please no! I want to see him only at proper racing teams.
Optimus prime
28th October 2018, 21:03
Congratulations but Vettel still better than Hamilton.
Fudge Kobayashi (@)
1st November 2018, 11:53
You need glasses.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
28th October 2018, 21:03
Grats and full respect to Mr Lewis.
James
28th October 2018, 21:14
Well done Lewis! I wasn’t sure this was going to be his year, seemed like it was difficult to keep up with Vettel until mid-season, but he has been mighty down the stretch. Here’s hoping he continues to do battle for the championship with Verstappen, Vettel and Leclerc next season.
BlackJackFan
29th October 2018, 5:21
That would be good… but I’m not convinced that Honda will be ready before 2020… And will Ferrari team-orders allow LeClerc to shine…? But I can see VET/LEC doing a HAM/ALO… leaving HAM and VER to go at it…
Could still be good… ;)
As the off seasons get shorter, why do they seem to get longer… lol.
LB (@burden93)
28th October 2018, 21:15
Congratulations to Lewis! He’s proved he’s the best of his generation! He’s been unbelievable this year, some of the qualifying laps this year will go down as some of the best ever in F1.
2 to go till Schumacher’s record… and maybe only 2 years left in F1
AMG44 (@amg44)
28th October 2018, 21:17
Congratulations to Lewis for the 5th title. And today’s race is a further prove that he didn’t necessarily have the best car. It was and still is mighty close between Mercedes and Ferrari yet Lewis made the champioship pretty one sided tells a lot about Lewis Hamilton.
Well done Champ.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
28th October 2018, 21:38
Would love to see him finish his career at Ferrari in a few years. Would be a new challenge to try and win titles for three different marques.
John H (@john-h)
28th October 2018, 22:12
Agreed. One more title for Ferrari would be worth 3 more for Mercedes imho.
Nathan Builder (@nathanbuilder)
28th October 2018, 21:40
Yay, Mercedeeeeeeeeees….
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
28th October 2018, 22:33
Get in there, Lewis, X5!
JC
28th October 2018, 22:42
I’m a little sad today could have been more historic, if not for Mclaren’s failures in 2007 and his Mercedes reliability problems in 2016. He could already have equalled Schumacher.
Still, an impressive season up against genuine competition from Ferrari. Congratulations Lewis! Here’s hoping there are a few more championships left in him.
Also, as much as Vettel grates on me, his determination to congratulate Lewis after the race showed he’s got class. So well done to him too for that. Hopefully it doesn’t go unnoticed in this week’s world press covering the F1 outcome.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
28th October 2018, 23:10
Totally agree!
I know there are no “ifs” in F1, but Lewis could easily be on his 7th world title by now. He lost by a single point in his rookie year, and though people blame him for his grass excursion in China, objective fans know it was Ron Dennis’s indecision and micromanagement that caused that. No rookie has ever performed the level Lewis Hamilton performed in 2007.
More is, it too a cheating teammate (Monaco), a DNF, and something like 7 engine related issues that ensured he started from the back of the grid 3 times, and and mid grid 4 times to lose the championship by only 5 point in 2016. And he still beat the champion (Rosberg) on pole positions and wins.
Again, people want to blame bad starts, but he lost far more point to the engine related issues than to the bad starts. It truly shows the level he has been general performing at since he entered the sport.
Nell (@imabouttogoham)
29th October 2018, 3:36
It comes with the territory. For every misfortune he had in Mclaren, whether it was in 2007, 2010 or 2011, or even in 2016 when Rosberg seemed to be bulletproof, he had it paid back to him this year. But you make your own luck and Lewis cashed it in at opportune moments.
Dom (@3dom)
29th October 2018, 20:17
@JC @kbdavies @imabouttogoham I still particularly feel sore about 2007 and 2016 (although I respect how formidable an opponent Rosberg was) and it’s easy to think “what if”, but part of me also has the feeling that the experience from those disappointments may have helped Lewis to be a better person and driver than he may have been if things had gone his way in 2007, 2012 and 2016. He may not have made the leap of faith to Mercedes if he didn’t have reliability issues at McLaren in 2012. The mettle he developed from his battle with Rosberg set him up well for his showdown with Vettel. So in the case of his career the hardships may have helped.
Alternatively everyone knows how Lewis rides the crest of the wave when he’s on top so it could be looked on the other way.
Lewis gets a lot of stick on here for saying that everything happens for a reason, but I can’t help but think that, maybe in this case, it is true.
yloops
30th October 2018, 14:20
Great comment
Lenny (@leonardodicappucino)
28th October 2018, 23:04
Not to rain on Hamilton’s parade, he fully deserves this title and has been amazing this year, but surely it can’t have just been me that got annoyed at the incessant reminders that Hamilton was in championship position. Please do give us an update when he comes into or goes out of championship position, but with him being more than a lap ahead of 7th place for most of the race, it really wasn’t necessary to remind us that Hamilton was going to win the championship about every 5 minutes.
Foggy
28th October 2018, 23:53
You can’t expect much more with the standard of today’s commentators …. oh for someone like Murray Walker.
BlackJackFan
29th October 2018, 5:24
Agree with both Lenny and Foggy…
MaliceCooper
28th October 2018, 23:23
Congrats to Lewis on his 5th! He makes it look easy doesn’t he? Whatever people might think of his style or personal life, there’s no denying he gives a huge amount to the sport and is undoubtedly one of the best there has ever been.
Foggy
28th October 2018, 23:56
Congratulations Lewis on a fantastic achievement ….. it made staying up all night to watch the race worth it.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
29th October 2018, 1:58
Congratulations to Lewis, he truly earned his 5th.
Schumacher’s 7th looked untouchable even a few years ago, now it feels like a question of “2020?”.
I can’t wait for 2019, to be honest, will Vettel and Ferrari come back reinvigorated, or have they peaked in this PU era?
Nell (@imabouttogoham)
29th October 2018, 3:38
Who knows? I think a third team will really throw the spanner in the works, as we saw today.
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
29th October 2018, 9:29
Interestingly, he was also the 3rd drive to be a 4 time world champion.
Will he also be the 3rd driver to become a 7 time world champion? :P
moggers
30th October 2018, 10:47
No, he was the 5th Driver to be a 4 x Champion, as Fangio, Prost, Schumacher and Vettel all had 4 before him.