On October 28, 2018, Lewis Hamilton became only the third racer in the Formula One history to register five Drivers' World Championship titles to his name. The British racer finished fourth in the Mexican Grand Prix to claim his fifth title in F1. The race was won by Max Verstappen as the Dutchman clinched it for a second year in a row. With his finish outside the podium places in the race in Mexico City, Lewis Hamilton equaled the tally of five Drivers' World Championship titles of Argentine great Juan Manuel Fangio.
In the next couple of years during his ongoing illustrious F1 career, Lewis Hamilton went on to equal the legendary Michael Schumacher's record of most F1 Drivers' World Championship titles in history. Currently, both Lewis Hamilton and former German racer have seven F1 titles to their name. Hamilton clinched his first F1 title in 2008 with the McLaren before doing it six times with the Mercedes in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
It's something I dreamed of…: Lewis Hamilton after his fifth F1 title win in 2018
Lewis Hamilton was five points away from clinching the title before going into the Mexican GP, and his fourth finish earned him 12 points, which was more than enough to win the fifth F1 Driver's World Championship title. Following the conclusion of an enthralling race, Hamilton showed sportsmanship and hugged Vettel after the latter wasn't able to deny him the title win any longer with his second place finish. And then, the Briton got back to his teammates and celebrate the title win at Mercedes garage. After winning five titles at the age of 33 years, Hamilton mentioned that this was a dream.
“It's something I dreamed of, but I never in a million years thought I'd be stood here as a five-time champion, Lewis Hamilton was quoted as saying by India Today. "I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me be here, to raise the bar and lift the cup. It wasn't won here, just throughout the season and a lot of hard work," he further added.
Hamilton also went on to retain his F1 Drivers' World Championship title in 2019 and 2020. The British is now joint-first with Michael Schumacher in the list of most F1 title wins in history with seven. They are followed by the late Argentine racer Juan Manuel Fangio who won five titles, while Frenchman Allan Prost and Sebastian Vettel of Germany won the title four times each.
