Formula 1 and IndyCar: 2018 is first year ever for two 5-time champions

Two drivers in Formula 1 and IndyCar became five-time champions in 2018. Two drivers in these two series had never previously done so in the same year.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton clinched his fifth career Formula 1 championship with his fourth place finish in the 19th race of the 21-race 2018 season, the Mexican Grand Prix, at the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.304-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico.

The 33-year-old Briton pulled off this historic feat, which makes him just the third driver in Formula 1 history to win five championships, roughly one and a half months after Scott Dixon became the second driver to win five IndyCar championships and the first to do so since A.J. Foyt did so back in 1967.

Among Formula 1, IndyCar and the NASCAR Cup Series, seven drivers had won five or more championships at the time 2018 began. Michael Schumacher is a seven-time Formula 1 champion while Juan Manuel Fangio is a five-time champion. A.J. Foyt is a seven-time IndyCar champion.

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Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson are all seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champions while Mario Andretti is a four-time IndyCar champion who also won one Formula 1 championship.

However, what happened in 2018 was a first.

Never before had two drivers in any of these three series become five-time champions in the same year. But in 2018, Dixon, who won his first four championships in the 2003 season, the 2008 season, the 2013 season and the 2015 season, and Hamilton, who won his first four championships in the 2008 season, the 2014 season, the 2015 season and the 2017 season, changed that.

Schumacher won his seven Formula 1 championships in the 1994 season, the 1995 season, the 2000 season, the 2001 season, the 2002 season, the 2003 season and the 2004 season. Fangio won his five Formula 1 championships in the 1951 season, the 1954 season, the 1955 season, the 1956 season and the 1957 season.

Foyt won his seven IndyCar championships in the 1960 season, the 1961 season, the 1963 season, the 1964 season, the 1967 season, the 1975 season and the 1979 season. Petty won his seven NASCAR Cup Series championships in the 1964 season, the 1967 season, the 1971 season, the 1972 season, the 1974 season, the 1975 season and the 1979 season.

Earnhardt won his seven NASCAR Cup Series championships in the 1980 season, the 1986 season, the 1987 season, the 1990 season, the 1991 season, the 1993 season and the 1994 season. Johnson won his seven NASCAR Cup Series championships in the 2006 season, the 2007 season, the 2008 season, the 2009 season, the 2010 season, the 2013 season and the 2016 season.

Andretti won his four IndyCar championships in the 1965 season, the 1966 season, the 1969 season and the 1984 season, and he won his Formula 1 championship in the 1978 season.

Foyt and Petty became six-time IndyCar and NASCAR Cup Series champions, respectively, in 1975, and they became seven-time IndyCar and NASCAR Cup Series champions, respectively, in 1979. However, no two drivers in Formula 1, IndyCar or the NASCAR Cup Series had ever become five-time champions in the same year prior to this year.

After they both won their fifth career Formula 1 and IndyCar championships, respectively, in 2018, will Lewis Hamilton and Scott Dixon win their sixth career titles next year to become just the sixth and seventh drivers in Formula 1, IndyCar and NASCAR Cup Series history to do so and just the second pair to do so in the same season since A.J. Foyt won his sixth career IndyCar championship and Richard Petty won his sixth career Cup Series championship in 1975?