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#3 Lewis Hamilton
Into the top three now and at third on the list is a current driver in the sport and a man that has just equaled Juan Manuel Fangio’s record, Lewis Hamilton.
He is ahead of Fangio simply because he still has a chance for more titles and with the way he performed this season that looks like a strong possibility.
In his first rookie season in 2007 he burst onto the scene and made everyone stand up and look at this young British driver trying to make a name for himself, he went on to just miss out on the championship by a single point but you knew he was destined for great things.
The year after became another one for the history books, who doesn’t remember Brazil 2008?
Hamilton won the championship by a single point snatching it from Felipe Massa at his home GP with his family already celebrating to only stop and realise what had just happened and at the age of 23, he became the youngest world champion in F1 history.
He had a few more years at McLaren but none gave him the second championship he was craving and in 2012 he announced he would leave McLaren and join Mercedes who did not look very competitive at the time and many wondered whether it was the right decision.
He finished fourth in the title race in 2013 but it looked like things were improving for Mercedes and alongside teammate Nico Rosberg the German manufacturer looked to be on the up.
2014 was an even better season for the team and Hamilton who won 11 races that season and beat Rosberg to clinch his second drivers’ title.
This momentum carried on in 2015 seeing him win 10 races and becoming a three-time world drivers champion, he became the first British driver to achieve back-to-back world titles.
This was halted in 2016 as Nico Rosberg claimed his first and only title in the sport, Hamilton won 10 races to Nico’s 9 but reliability issues including the famous one at Malaysia saw him lose out to the title by five points.
Rosberg retired after winning his championship in 2016 and with him gone so was the bad blood in the team with the friction between Hamilton and Rosberg growing ever stronger race after race.
Valtteri Bottas became Hamilton’s team mate in 2017 and this change saw the team work better together and it allowed Hamilton to win his fourth world title and finish ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton enjoyed the chance to race against more competitive cars and once again saw himself up against Vettel in 2018.
Ferrari had upped their game but once again lost out to Mercedes and Hamilton who became a five-time world champion, not only that but he has surpassed the likes of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher to become F1’s best ever qualifier.
He has become the most successful British driver in F1 history and he still has a chance to improve on this in the future.
Stats
World Championships – 5 (2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
GP Entries - 229
GP Wins – 73
Podiums – 134
Last Win – 2018 Abu Dhabi GP
