Lewis Hamilton Enters F1's GOAT Debate, Reveals His Choice

Lewis Hamilton was crowned the 2018 Formula 1 Drivers’ champion following the Mexico Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Sunday.

It was the Mercedes driver’s fifth world championship title — making him just the third driver in F1 history to achieve the feat. Hamilton is tied Juan Manuel Fangio on the all-time list with Michael Schumacher leading the way with seven world titles — five of which he won with Mercedes’ main rivals Ferrari.

The British racer has already beat Schumacher’s pole position record and is gaining ground on the race wins tally with the German currently on top with 91 wins. Hamilton is second on the list with 67 and his 2018 title rival Sebastian Vettel is third with 52.

The 2018 world champion was asked if he was now the GOAT, the greatest of all time, having dominated for the last few seasons, but was quick to point the finger at Schumacher, who is still statistically the best driver in the history of the sport. Hamilton, however, is hoping that his achievements on and off the track will help people create a good opinion of the Briton.

“Firstly I could never ever personally classify myself as the best,” Hamilton said when asked if he is the GOAT, as quoted on Planet F1.

“Obviously, within myself, I know my abilities and where I stand. But ultimately, my dad always told me, since I was eight years old, he said ‘do your talking on the track’.

“So I just try to let my results and the results from the things that I do outside of my sport, hopefully, also contribute to that, so people can hopefully create a decent opinion,” he explained.

“But Michael’s still quite far ahead in race wins so you have to say he is still the GOAT.”

Hamilton is committed to the Mercedes team until the end of the 2020 season and looking at Mercedes’ recent dominance and not much of a change in the regulations he could have a chance to equal Schumacher’s tally.

The Briton revealed that his thoughts have been on winning the 2018 title and while his desire is to continue challenging for the title in the coming years, he made it clear that matching the former Ferrari driver’s records is not a priority.

“I’ve not really put any thought towards getting to that number – just because I’ve been trying to focus on getting this one,” Hamilton said. “Whether or not I’m going to have the chance to win more, who knows – but I’m going to give it everything to do so. The 91 wins that he has, for example, that’s a lot of wins. There’s still a long way to go but I’m here for a few more years, so I’m hoping that I can at least get close.”

“Michael was just such a genius in how he implemented himself into Ferrari and what he did with that team. I will always be a fan of him.”