Mexico City: Lewis Hamilton on Sunday claimed his fifth drivers’ world championship at the Mexican Grand Prix, where he finished fourth to draw level with Juan Manuel Fangio in the Formula One annals. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished second and third respectively.
Hamilton’s success – the third time he has taken the title without finishing on the race podium – elevated him to an exalted position alongside Fangio with only seven-time champion Michael Schumacher ahead of him. He was adding the 2018 crown to his championship wins in 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
The 33-year-old Briton celebrated by executing ‘doughnut’ wheel spins for the cheering crowd before leaping out of his car and into the arms of his team. After being congratulated by Vettel, Hamilton said: “It’s a very strange feeling right now.”
After surviving what turned into a battle of attrition at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez he added “It was a horrible race… I really don’t know what happened. We were struggling, both Valtteri (Bottas) and I, and we had to just hang on and bring the car home. I’ve been with Mercedes since I was 13 and to complete this when Fangio had done it with Mercedes, is an incredible feeling and it is very surreal to me at the moment. I just feel very very humble, of course, I dreamed about this but I never thought I’d be standing here as a five-time champion.”
“Itās definitely the best year I feel,’he said. ‘It was the goal when I won the championship last year. I asked how can I improve? How can I be fitter, more focused, manage my time better? I feel this year I have been able to lift them all up. I donāt know if that comes with age but I am sure experience helps and I feel like I have performed my best this year.”
Reflecting on his season Hamilton added “It has been the toughest year physically, mentally and personally with everything I’m committed to, but I have amazing support. Mercedes and my team have just been the most incredible unit and worked to raise the bar. In my min,d it is just another day of fighting and I have more races to win, it is not over. In my mind I have to work, go to the debrief and try to win in Brazil.”
Technical director of Mercedes, James Allison said “Lewis’ contribution to keep us in the fight and to carve out his very, very well deserved championship will go down in history as one of the great performances in our sport. Of course, we know we haven’t actually finished our work for the season yet; we still have the constructors’ championship which is every bit as important to us and we haven’t yet managed to get the points necessary to seal it. We want to come back firing on all cylinders in Brazil and win it from the front in a fitting manner. So all our focus now turns to that and we’re looking forward to having a stronger day on Sunday in Brazil.”
Four-time champion Vettel heaped praise on his rival. “It is not easy but well deserved for him and I want to congratulate Lewis. They did a superb job all year. We need to stand there, accept that and send congratulations. We would have liked to have hung in there longer, but it was not to be.”Ā 
Hamilton, who started third on the grid, struggled with chronic tyre-wear after making a strong start in his Mercedes and settled for a cautious cruise to the title without a podium finish. Verstappen, upstaged by his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying on Saturday, came home 17.108 seconds ahead of Vettel after the luckless Australian pole-sitter retired with nine laps remaining.
“I didn’t sleep very well last night,” said Verstappen. “I was very determined to win and we’ve done that – we had the right tyres and the car was working very well. It was a shame to lose Daniel. We wanted two of us on the podium.”
Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen came home third ahead of Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
For Ferrari, it was a first double podium success in Mexico since 1990 with Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. Vettel for one wants Hamilton back as strong as ever in 2019. “I told him to keep pushing for next year, as I need him good to fight him again,” said the German, who with Raikkonen is aiming now to deliver the constructors title to Ferrari in the last two races.