Chronicle EditorLONDON. – The race that finally clinched it was a bit messy, through no fault of his own, but the season in which Lewis Hamilton won his fourth world title has underlined his status as one of Formula One’s all-time greats. Hamilton’s best is of a standard few have ever matched, and this year he produced his best perhaps more often than ever before.
Now the holder of the all-time record for pole positions, he put together at least five qualifying laps to rank with the best he has ever done – Montreal, Baku, Silverstone, Monza and Malaysia were each breathtaking in the way they redefined the perception of what was possible. Of his nine wins so far, at least three were of the very highest calibre, and in very different ways – he fought back to catch and pass Vettel in Spain, held off a faster Ferrari in Belgium, and came through against the odds with pace his team did not know they had in wet-dry Singapore. And three others, in Britain, Italy and the USA, were utterly dominant.
For much of the year, Hamilton was fighting, in Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, a rival with a car that, as an overall package, was probably better than his Mercedes, and was certainly less temperamental. And yet he has won more than twice as many races as the German and nearly three times as many pole positions. Undoubtedly, Hamilton was helped by Ferrari’s implosion over three races in Asia in September and October, when a driving error by Vettel and two engine problems effectively ended their challenge. But over the season Hamilton was calmer, more impressive, more consistent, more reliable and raced better. – BBC Sport.
Online Reporter