Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton steadily catching Michael Schumacher’s titles record

Lewis Hamilton is ever so closer to catching Michael Schumacher’s all-time Formula 1 championships record following another Formula 1 season.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton wrapped up the 2018 Formula 1 season by winning yet another championship. This championship, which was the fifth of his career, was his second consecutive championship as well as his fourth championship in the last five seasons.

The 33-year-old Briton entered the season in a tie for third place on the all-time Formula 1 championships list. Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost had all won four championships at that point, and all three trailed only two drivers on this list.

Hamilton now trails just one driver on this list, seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, after vaulting himself into a second place tie on the list with five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio this past season.

Now all eyes have turned to Hamilton potentially tying if not breaking Schumacher’s all-time championships record of seven. If he keeps performing the way he has been performing since the start of the V6 turbo hybrid era in the 2014 season, he should be able to at least tie this record.

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This past summer, Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension to remain with Mercedes through the 2020 season. If he does what he did in the last two seasons and wins two more championships in the next two seasons, he will tie Schumacher’s all-time championships record.

In the V6 turbo hybrid era, there has been only one season that did not result in Hamilton being crowned champion. In the 2016 season, teammate Nico Rosberg beat him by five points (385 to 380) in the driver standings before retiring following the conclusion of the season.

Hamilton has pretty much dominated each of the other four seasons of this era, as his smallest winning margin in the driver standings among his four winning margins in these four seasons is 46 points.

In fact, Hamilton just had a career-best season despite the fact that this season resulted in Mercedes ending up with their lowest winning margin in the constructor standings in the V6 turbo hybrid era so far. They beat second place Scuderia Ferrari by 84 points (655 to 571) in the standings.

Meanwhile, Hamilton won the championship with a Formula 1 record 408 points, and he won it after tying his career-high single-season win total of 11. After he entered the fourth race of the season on a six-race win drought, he reeled off 11 victories in the season’s final 18 races and won the championship with a career-high winning margin of 88 points in the driver standings, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished in second place in the standings with 320 points.

While the addition of Charles Leclerc as Kimi Raikkonen’s replacement for the 2019 season and Red Bull Racing’s switch from Renault engines to Honda engines for the 2019 season should result in more serious championship contenders for Hamilton to have to fend off starting in the 2019 season, he is still the clear favorite to be crowned champion in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

At this point, it would not be inaccurate to say that he is on pace to tie Schumacher’s championships record by the 2020 season and that this is the most likely scenario.

However, whether or not Hamilton breaks Schumacher’s championships record could hinge on whether or not he continues to compete in Formula 1 following the conclusion of the 2020 season. In fact, if he fails to win both of the next two championship, whether or not he ties this record could hinge on this as well.

Many people believe that Mercedes junior driver George Russell, who is set to drive for Williams Racing in his rookie Formula 1 season in 2019, will replace Hamilton in the 2021 season, and while there have been rumors that Hamilton could potentially sign with Ferrari to close out his career in seasons after the 2020 season, there has been nothing to back up this speculation.

With all things considered, it will be a close battle when it comes to whether Hamilton will retire having won fewer championships than Schumacher won, the same number of championships as Schumacher won or more championships than Schumacher won. But it is no secret that he is currently steadily catching Schumacher’s all-time championships record.

Will Lewis Hamilton eventually surpass Michael Schumacher’s record-setting mark of seven Formula 1 championship to become the new all-time Formula 1 championships leader? If so, when will he earn his eighth career championship? If not, will he tie this mark, and if so, when will he tie it? How many championships will he have won when he retires from the sport?