Formula 1: How high is Lewis Hamilton’s ceiling?

Lewis Hamilton just clinched his fifth career Formula 1 championship and his fourth in the last five seasons. How high is his ceiling?

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 champion with a chance to clinch his fifth career championship.

With his fourth place finish in the 71-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.304-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico, the 33-year-old Briton did just that.

Hamilton, whose 71 career wins in Formula 1 rank second on the all-time wins list behind only the win total of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, which is 91, moved into a second place tie on the all-time championships list with his most recent championship.

More from Formula One

• Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
• Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
• Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
• Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
• Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points

Now Hamilton trails only Schumacher on the all-time championships list, as he is now tied with five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio on this list.

With Hamilton having won two consecutive championships and four of the last five, how high is his ceiling?

Hamilton arrived at Mercedes in the 2013 season, which was the final season before the V6 turbo hybrid era began. He had previously driven for McLaren ever since his Formula 1 career began in the 2007 season, and he won the 2008 championship driving for the Woking-based team.

Ever since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in the 2014 season, Mercedes have been dominant. Their drivers have won all five of the driver championships that have been decided since this season, as Nico Rosberg edged out Hamilton to win the 2016 championship, the lone championship since this era began that Hamilton has not won.

The Brackley-based team are close to securing their fifth consecutive constructor championship as well. Only Scuderia Ferrari, which won six consecutive constructor championships from the 1999 season through the 2004 season, have ever won at least five consecutive constructor championships before.

With Hamilton having signed a two-year contract extension in July to remain with Mercedes through at least the 2020 season, it would not be crazy to believe that he can surpass Schumacher’s wins record and at least tie his championships record.

While Ferrari have shown a lot of strength in recent years, particularly over the course of the last few seasons, there is still not doubt that Mercedes are the top team in the sport, and there is no doubt that Hamilton is better head-to-head than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, a four-time Formula 1 champion.

As a result, Hamilton’s ceiling is truly indeterminate. Having earned a record 49 victories over the course of the last five seasons, he could end up not only breaking Schumacher’s wins record but becoming the first driver in Formula 1 history to win 100 races assuming he does not retire after the 2020 season.

If Hamilton does end up continuing his Formula 1 career beyond the conclusion of the 2020 season, it is not hard to imagine him becoming the first driver to win eight and perhaps even more than eight championships in Formula 1 history either.

How high is Lewis Hamilton’s ceiling? How many more races and championships will he win before he retires from Formula 1? Will he end up holding the all-time wins record and/or the all-time titles record when he retires?