Formula One: Alain Prost says it’s ‘ridiculous’ to talk about Lewis Hamilton winning 7 championships
By Asher Fair
Formula One legend Alain Prost says that it is ridiculous to start taking about Lewis Hamilton winning seven championships.
This past weekend in the Mexican Grand Prix, the 18th race of the 20-race 2017 Formula One season, Lewis Hamilton secured his fourth career championship with a 9th place finish.
Fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, the other championship contender, was unable to stay within 49 points of Hamilton heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season, as he finished in 4th in Mexico and sits 56 points behind Hamilton, securing Hamilton the title.
By winning his fourth career Formula One championship, Lewis Hamilton, 32, now trails only two drivers on the all-time list: Michael Schumacher, who won seven titles, and Juan Manuel Fangio, who won five.
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One of the two drivers with whom Hamilton is tied at four championships, however, says it is ridiculous to start talking about the 32-year-old perhaps winning seven career titles to tie Schumacher’s all-time record.
That four-time champion is Alain Prost, who trails only Schumacher and Hamilton on the all-time Formula One wins list. Here is what he had to say about the subject.
"“When you have four titles, the fifth is a just too far off. You’re living Grand Prix after Grand Prix. Practice, qualifying, the race…It wouldn’t be good for a driver to think any other way. So to talk about seven titles is ridiculous.”"
Prost didn’t say that it is impossible for Hamilton to get to seven career Formula One championships. In fact, he went on to compliment Hamilton’s driving and the fact that he continues proving people wrong. However, he simply does not think chatter about something that is not possible in the near future is appropriate right now.
Hamilton is in his 11th Formula One season, and his fourth career championship is his third in the last four years. He is the all-time pole position record holder with 72 pole positions and counting, and he trails only Michael Schumacher on the all-time wins list, as he has won 62 races while Schumacher won 91. There is no doubt that he is one of the best drivers in Formula One history.
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But will Lewis Hamilton reach a point at which talk of him perhaps tying or even passing Michael Schumacher’s all-time championship record becomes a lot less “ridiculous” to Alain Prost? With Hamilton having won three championships since the 2014 season, it’s definitely possible.