Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton wins 2018 championship
By Asher Fair
Lewis Hamilton has mathematically clinched the 2018 Formula 1 championship, his fifth career title, following the Mexican Grand Prix.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton entered the 19th race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the Mexican Grand Prix, as a four-time Formula 1 champion who trailed only seven-time champion Michael Schumacher and five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio on the all-time Formula 1 titles list.
Hamilton ended the race in a second place tie on the all-time Formula 1 titles list with Juan Manuel Fangio as just the third driver to win five Formula 1 championships, and he now trails only Schumacher on this all-time list.
The 33-year-old Briton entered the 71-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.304-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico with a 70-point lead in the driver standings over Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in second place.
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With three races remaining on the 2018 schedule, a maximum of 75 points were on the table for each driver, and with two races remaining on the schedule, a maximum of 50 points are on the table for each driver.
Because Hamilton clinched the tiebreaker over Vettel considering the fact that he entered this race with nine victories this season while Vettel entered it with five, meaning that Vettel had no way of matching, much less passing, Hamilton’s 2018 win total, Hamilton needed to end this race at least 49 points ahead of Vettel in the driver standings as opposed to at least 50 points ahead of him to clinch the championship.
As a result, Hamilton simply needed to score at least five points in this race, and even if he didn’t do so, he would clinch the championship as long as Vettel didn’t win it. Hamilton ended up scoring 12 points by finishing in fourth place and Vettel ended up scoring 18 points by finishing in second, meaning that Hamilton would have clinched the championship even had he failed to score points in the race or if Vettel would have won it.
With two races remaining and a maximum of 50 points on the table for each driver, Hamilton leads Vettel by 64 points in the driver standings, making him a five-time Formula 1 champion.
Hamilton won his other four championships in the 2008 season, the 2014 season, the 2015 season and the 2017 season. As a result, he has now won two championships in a row, and he has won four of the last five titles. Over the course of the last five seasons, the only driver to win a championship other than Hamilton is Nico Rosberg, who edged out Hamilton to win the 2016 championship before his subsequent retirement from Formula 1.
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Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on winning his fifth career Formula 1 championship. Do you believe that he will win his sixth championship next year? Do you believe that he will end up tying if not passing the all-time championship record held by Michael Schumacher? If so, when do you believe he will do so?