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Former Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg believes Lewis Hamilton will pass Michael Schumacher's total of seven world championships.
Hamilton is very close to sealing his fifth world championship which could take place this weekend at the US Grand Prix in Austin.
If Hamilton does win this year's world championship, it would mean the Briton is only two behind F1 legend Michael Schumacher.
Rosberg reckons it will motivate Hamilton, even more, to go and become the most successful driver in the history of the sport.
Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2013 after leaving his boyhood team, McLaren. The deal saw Hamilton take over Schumacher's position after the German announced a second retirement from the racing series.
From 2013 to 2016, Rosberg was Hamilton's teammate and championship rival for three of the four seasons that they were together for.
Rosberg finally beat Hamilton to the driver's title in 2016 at the final race in Abu Dhabi just days before he announced retiring from Formula One which shocked many.
The rivalry between the two saw many sparks as both drivers were not friends on and off the track despite growing up together in their karting days.
But despite their recent history, the 2016 world champion expects his old teammate to create history and beat Schumacher's record-breaking of seven world championships.
"It would not be quite right to call it a surprise," Rosberg told Gazzetta dello Sport.
"It (the championship) was great because he has practically never put a foot wrong.
"I think this title could give him the right push, the motivation to try to match Schumacher's record of seven World Championships.
"He has a two-year contract. Maybe he could even beat it."
Scuderia Ferrari has proved throughout 2018 that they have more power than Mercedes' car but Hamilton's racing talent has put him further ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the driver's championship.
"The thing is, Mercedes is a war machine," he added. "I mean the whole package: the car and Lewis Hamilton.
"In the long run its rhythm becomes incredible, to beat it you have to be perfect, and Ferrari has not been able to be perfect.
"But basically it's not even that strange. At Mercedes, for five years the team is more or less always the same, at Ferrari, there have been many changes. To reach the maximum you need time."
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