Formula 1: 5 drivers who could be the next champion not named Lewis Hamilton

Asher Fair

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 28: Fourth place finisher Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates winning the 2018 F1 World Drivers Championship by performing donuts during the Formula One Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 28, 2018 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

SUZUKA, JAPAN – OCTOBER 06: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton has won four of the last five Formula 1 championships. Who will be the next champion not named Lewis Hamilton?

Coming into the 2014 Formula 1 season, which was Lewis Hamilton’s eighth season in the sport and second driving for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, he was a one-time champion, as he won the 2008 championship in his second season in the sport, which was his second season driving for McLaren.

Yet all of a sudden, exiting in the 2018 season, Hamilton is a five-time champion who is tied with Juan Manuel Fangio on the all-time titles list and trails only seven-time champion Michael Schumacher on that list.

Having just signed a two-year contract over the summer to continue driving for Mercedes through at least the 2020 season, the 33-year-old Briton could very well tie if not pass Schumacher’s record before his career comes to an end.

However, despite the fact that the 71-time Grand Prix winner won the 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 championships (he was edged out by teammate Nico Rosberg for the 2016 title), there will, in fact, be more Formula 1 champions in the future who are not named Lewis Hamilton.

As far as when a driver not named Lewis Hamilton will win a Formula 1 championship, that could happen next year or five years from now. But when it does eventually happen, which driver will pull it off?

Here are five drivers who could become the next Formula 1 champion not named Lewis Hamilton.

Sebastian Vettel

Despite the fact that Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has blown a number of big opportunities this season, which has cost him a chance to compete with Lewis Hamilton for the 2018 championship, it would be foolish not to include him on this list.

The fact that the 31-year-old four-time champion, who won his four championships in consecutive seasons from the 2010 season through the 2013 season during his stint driving for Red Bull Racing, has thrown away so many points this season goes to show that there are points out there to be had, meaning he can very well compete with Hamilton for championships if he can eliminate his gaffes, which have become quite frequent throughout 2018.

While Mercedes have undoubtedly had an advantage over Ferrari as of late, Ferrari have had the upper hand as far as speed is concerned for much of the season. If they can continue to improve and maintain the slight advantage that they have had over the Brackley-based team, Vettel could be in a position to become just the fourth driver to win five Formula 1 championships.

Even considering the 2018 season, it’s not like Vettel is a “choker”. He is, after all, a four-time champion, and he won two of his championships, the 2010 championship and the 2012 championship, in close fashion. He won the former by four points and the latter by three. Plus, his career win total of 52 ranks third on the all-time wins list. He has proven that he can get the job done and is capable of doing it again.

Charles Leclerc

Piggybacking off of the idea that Ferrari have had the upper hand over Mercedes as a whole throughout much of the 2018 Formula 1 season, Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc, who has signed with Ferrari to replace 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen starting in the 2019 season, could also very well become the next champion not named Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari have been content with Raikkonen playing a support role to four-time champion Sebastian Vettel since Vettel began driving for the team in the 2015 season. Raikkonen’s second stint driving for the team, as he also drove for them from the 2007 season through the 2009 season, began in the 2014 season, yet he has not won a single race since he made his return.

If Ferrari wanted this to continue, they would have re-signed the 38-year-old Finn. Raikkonen has proven that he can be a team player, so it is pretty clear that Leclerc was not signed solely to replace Raikkonen as a wingman to Vettel. There would be no point in signing a replacement to do something that Raikkonen has done almost perfectly over the last few seasons.

This effectively means, without a doubt, that Leclerc, who just turned 21 years old, was signed to do two things: win race and win championships. Whether or not he can do so right out of the gate remains to be seen, but he is seen by many as a future world champion, and justifiably so given the success he has had in his rookie season driving for Sauber, a team that have been a backmarker over the last few seasons and really still are from an overall speed perspective.

Max Verstappen

It is hard to believe that Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen just turned 21 years old and is already set to enter his fifth Formula 1 season next year, which is set to be his fourth season and third full season driving for Red Bull Racing.

Unless Red Bull Racing can make drastic improvements as a result of their impending switch from Renault engines to Honda engines for next season, which is certainly a good possibility, don’t expect them to give the Dutchman the car he needs to compete for championships with the four Mercedes and Ferrari drivers.

However, that does not mean that the talented Verstappen will not have the chance to win championships in the future. Verstappen, who many people consider to be a future world champion, signed a contract last year to continue driving for Red Bull Racing through at least the 2020 season.

Of the four drivers who are slated to drive for Mercedes or Ferrari next season, only Charles Leclerc, who currently drives for Sauber, has a contract to drive beyond the 2020 season.

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever by anybody that Verstappen is loaded with talent and potential. However, his overaggressive driving style has caused fans to question whether or not he has what it takes to drive a car that in which he is capable of winning championships.

But aside of a few gaffes early on this season, there has been a marked improvement in terms of Verstappen’s decision-making in 2018. If he can continue to improve and avoid making silly mistakes, there would be no reason for him not to drive for a championship-caliber team and thus contend for championships on a regular basis starting within the next few seasons.

Valtteri Bottas

Since arriving at Mercedes ahead of the 2017 Formula 1 season, Valtteri Bottas has effectively been the team’s number two driver behind Lewis Hamilton. However, that was almost not the case this season.

Even after Bottas’s disastrous qualifying crash for the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, and subsequent disappointing eighth place finish in the race, he was in a position to shoot to the top of the driver standings following the season’s fourth race, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

However, Bottas ran over a piece of debris with less than three laps remaining in this race while leading it, which caused one of his tires to go flat and prevented him from even finishing the race.

Hamilton ended up taking the lead, winning the race and shooting to the top of the driver standings as a result of it. Ever since, he has been Mercedes’ top driver on a regular basis, not including the infamous Russian Grand Prix.

Over the summer, the 29-year-old Finn signed a one-year contract to continue driving for Mercedes through at least the 2019 season, and this contract has an additional one-year option that the team can use to retain him through the 2020 season if he continues to perform at a high level and/or serve as a wingman to Hamilton.

Keep in mind the fact that Bottas is 29 years old and Hamilton is 33. If Bottas continues to do what Mercedes want him to do and he continues to develop into a driver who is capable of winning races on a regular basis, it is very possible that he will continue driving for the team even after Hamilton moves on, at which point he could become the man to beat in Formula 1.

Esteban Ocon

Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon has confirmed that he will not return to Force India in the 2019 season, as he will likely be replaced by Lance Stroll, whose father Lawrence led a consortium and purchased the team, then named Sahara Force India, after the backers of Ocon’s teammate Sergio Perez sent the team into administration to protect them from the threat of a winding-up order.