Lewis Hamilton won his fourth Formula One world championship at the Mexican Grand Prix to become the most successful British racing driver. He now has one more title than Sir Jackie Stewart and achieved the remarkable feat after a tense and dramatic race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in which his lowest finish of the season – ninth place – was enough to seal the title.
Hamilton clashed with his championship rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, on lap one, with the damage and consequent pit stops demoting both drivers to the back of the grid. They both came back out and, with Hamilton’s 66-point advantage in the title race, Vettel’s fourth was not sufficient to take the fight into the last two rounds.
Hamilton is now level with Vettel and Alain Prost in the all-time list of world champions and behind only Juan Manuel Fangio on five and Michael Schumacher on seven. The 32-year-old admitted after the race that “it doesn’t feel real”.
He was, however, revelling in his success, how far his career had taken him and what he had done to come so far. “I’ve been reminiscing a lot about where I came from,” he said.
“Growing up in Stevenage, dreaming of being in F1. Being a four-time world champion, it’s so hard to describe. I was going back to when my dad put me in a boxing ring when I was young. I was bleeding but I kept going.
“I remembered that moment today, decided that I was going to keep pushing.”
His father Anthony oversaw and supported his career into F1 and Hamilton acknowledged the sacrifices his parents had made. “No matter how much I try, I can never fully pay that back. I just try to grab the opportunity with both hands,” he said. But he was less complimentary about other more negative influences early in his life. “They were a couple of teachers who said that I would never amount to anything,” he added. “I wonder what they’re thinking now?”
Hamilton won his first title with McLaren in 2008 and many questioned his decision to leave them for Mercedes in 2013. He now has three titles with the team and felt fully vindicated.
“People had doubted whether it was the right move,” he said. “But I knew 100% in my heart that it was the right thing to do. It is so cool to take a risk and see it pay off like this.”
Hamilton, who races with the number 44 on his car, is expected to sign a new contract with Mercedes in the near future and was adamant that further titles were the target. “Four’s my magic number,” Hamilton said. “Four’s a great number, but I want No5 now.”
The team’s executive director, Toto Wolff, admitted the tension in Mexico had been difficult to manage. “I hated every bit of the race,” he said, while praising Hamilton and his team for coming through what had been a challenging season after three years dominating the sport.
“Ferrari put the level up a lot and then Red Bull came into the game as well. As a team you are always in a more comfortable situation when you know that it’s one of your two drivers that’s going to win the championship and trying to manage the inter-team rivalry was not easy at times, but far away from the struggles of this year.”
Vettel too, acknowledged that Hamilton had proved the better driver. “I’m down, obviously. It’s tough to cross the line and realise that you’re not in the fight anymore,” he said. “The rest isn’t that important, whatever happened today, the most important thing is it’s Lewis’s day - he was crowned world champion and he deserves that. I would have loved to go one up on him, but it’s his day, it’s his year.”
Stewart took his third championship in 1973 at Monza and paid tribute to the man who had succeeded him, with his third title in four seasons. “He’s beaten my record but I held it for 44 years and records are meant to be broken,” he said.
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