Lewis Hamilton has officially been crowned Formula 1’s world champion for 2018 as he picked up the Drivers’ Championship trophy for the fifth time at the FIA’s awards gala.
Hamilton was in St Petersburg, Russia for motorsport’s annual end-of-season ceremony as he and Mercedes received their prizes for another clean sweep of world championships.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen collected trophies for finishing second and third respectively in the title race.
Hamilton’s fifth championship has drawn him level with the great Juan Manuel Fangio on F1’s all-time table, with only seven-time Michael Schumacher now ahead of the Englishman.
“I wouldn’t be up here without this incredible team, so I am really chinking the chain,” said Hamilton.
“There’s so many people and I am sure for everyone who has a team here, there’s so many people in the background that are really the unsung heroes.
“And it’s kind of weird to come up here and to receive this great awards, but it couldn’t be done without this great team, so it’s been a real privilege to be with Mercedes Benz for the last six years, it’s crazy to think that this is my 12th season, but luckily Kimi is staying for another year so I am not going to be the oldest driver. But otherwise we just got to keep pushing, keep trying to raise the bar.”Hamilton wants to be ‘the all-time great’
The Mercedes driver’s fifth championship and latest collection of race wins in 2018 has moved Hamilton closer to Schumacher’s record haul of seven titles and 91 victories.
With a new two-year contract at F1’s champions starting in 2019, Hamilton has outlined how he plans to get even better next season.
Speaking at a post-season event with Mercedes sponsor Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hamilton said: “How do I remain relevant? How do I remain fitter than all these guys? How do I remain mentally more focused and more diligent than all these other guys? That’s my super focus to stay ahead of them. They might be young, but I’ve got the experience and fortunately that helps.
“But it’s really how you dissect your year. So this next month I’m going to sit down and figure out where I can be better. I asked for my team to send me an email, from several different departments, and asked them to be blunt – they don’t even need to tell me who the email’s from – and just ‘tell me the things you feel I can improve on, if there’s been a certain experience this year you’ve felt that could be better, or something I said that’s swayed the energy within the team’. Whatever it may be because I’m looking to be the all-time great and that means winning in all areas.”
