Lewis Hamilton Wins His 5th World Championship

Formula 1 rolled into town for the Mexico Gran Prix, with all eyes on the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, to see if he would take home his 5th world championship title.

Hamilton came into Mexico City with a vengeance, after failing to secure his 5th world title at the US Gran Prix in Austin, Texas at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) just one weekend ago. He was close, but a brilliant drive by Scuderia Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel (Lewis's closest title rival) kept the 'Drive for 5' battle alive. Both Vettel and Hamilton were in a fierce battle all season to see who would be crowned world champion at the end of this season, both drivers having each won 4 world championships, only one won win his fifth world championship.

The Mexico Gran Prix was quite eventful to say the least. We saw a number of cars retire from the race with problems. One of which was the McLaren of Fernando Alonso, in his final Mexican Gran Prix. Alonso was trying to set a record before his departure from Formula 1 at the end of the season, that record being for the most laps raced in Formula 1.

Another car that retired was the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, which retired due to an engine/power unit problem/failure. In a post-race interview Ricciardo said, "I don't even think frustration is the word anymore, helpless I think is the best word. Another problem with this car... I don't know, the car is just... I'll let Gasly drive it, I'm done with it. Everything just feels hopeless. I honestly... don't see the point coming on Sunday. I don't see the point doing the next two races. I haven't had a clean race all weekend in so long. I'm not superstitious or any of that bull****, but the car is cursed." (Formula 1).

The race gave the fans lots of hard-fought battles and some screw-ups like Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas both making almost identical mistakes during the race while under braking.

However, the day would be Lewis's as he won his 5th world championship. The British driver has won a championship in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, & 2018. Which ties him with the all-time great and Formula 1 legend, Argentinian driver Juan Manuel Fangio. Who was World Champion in the 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, & 1957 seasons. Fangio won with Alfa Romeo in 1951, then with Maserati & Mercedes in 1954, driving a Mercedes in 1955, raced for Ferrari in 1956, and won in a Maserati in 1957. 

Lewis Hamilton is also tied (sort of) with the Formula 1 superstar German driver, Michael Schumacher. Schumacher who has won seven World Championships, the most of any Formula 1 driver ever. Who was crowned World Champion in the 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, & 2004 seasons. Schumacher won with Benetton in both 1994 and 1995, he then won his next five championships, from '00 to '04, with Ferrari. Hamilton being only the third driver of all-time to achieve such an accomplishment. 

Sources: 

Sky Sports F1 coverage - skysports.com/f1, ESPN2 - espn.com/f1, Formula 1 - formula1.com, Liberty Media - libertymedia.com/companies/formula1, Gran Prix Fans - gpfans.com, WTF1 - wtf1.com, & Wikipedia - wikipedia.org