Lewis Hamilton has won his fifth F1 World Championship, making him the joint second most successful driver of all time.

The 33-year-old becomes only the third man in history to win five world titles. He matches the haul of the Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio and is two behind all-time record holder Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton needed only to finish seventh at Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix to become champion, even if Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel had won - but the German could manage only second place behind the dominant Max Verstappen, despite a valiant and strong race.

It was a difficult race for the Mercedes driver, who battled tyre problems throughout, but his finishing position just off the podium, in fourth, was more than enough to seal the biggest achievement of an illustrious career.

At the end of the race, Hamilton pushed his car through a series of celebratory 'doughnut' spins in the track's stadium section, before waving to the capacity 135,000 crowd.

Hamilton said: "It is a very strange feeling right now. This was won through a lot of hard work through a lot of races. I am so grateful for all the hard work, for everyone who has been a part of it.

"To complete this, when Fangio has done it with Mercedes, it is an incredible moment.

"It was a horrible race. I got a great start and was working my way up and I really don't know what happened after that. I was just trying to hold on and bring the car home."

Vettel broke off from his post-race interview to congratulate Hamilton, as the two men embraced at the conclusion of a titanic battle.

The Ferrari driver said: "Well deserved. Congrats to him and his team. They did a superb job all year - we need to stand there and accept that. We would have loved to hang in there a bit longer but that wasn't the case."

Under-par Mercedes seal it in Mexico

The race was a reminder of what might have been for Vettel, as both Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas fell back with excessive tyre wear and his Ferrari moved up with an aggressive strategy to pressure the Red Bulls in the closing laps.

But it was too little too late for Vettel, whose season, once so promising, unravelled in the summer and early autumn with a series of errors from driver and team.

Hamilton and Mercedes were well below the high standards they set for themselves as they won six out of seven races from the German Grand Prix in late July to the Japanese race in early October.

But that run - and the consistent excellence that both pressured Vettel and Ferrari into their mistakes and won races through the highest quality driving and teamwork - had put Hamilton into a comfortable position.

And it was enough to seal the championship despite such a relatively lacklustre race, perhaps their poorest in terms of absolute performance of the entire season.

He's won it five times: celebratory championship donuts perfectly performed by Hamilton

A struggle throughout

Hamilton had started the race with hopes of clinching the title with a win, and he did challenge for the lead on the run to the first corner.

But Verstappen muscled him aside, as they left pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull behind following a poor start, and the Dutchman never looked back.

Verstappen was in control throughout, soon easing away from Hamilton into a comfortable lead as the Mercedes driver began to struggle with tyres.

Behind Verstappen, Hamilton never sounded comfortable, complaining soon after his first pit stop that the tyres he had been fitted with didn't feel good.

Media playback is not supported on this device Pot washing & for sale signs: How Hamilton conquered F1 as only working class driver

As the stint went on, he fell further and further back as Mercedes tried to persuade him to manage his tyres.

Shortly after half-distance, Vettel, who started fourth, had passed Ricciardo for third and then took Hamilton on lap 39, with 32 to go.

Hamilton continued to drop back and on lap 47 he locked a wheel under pressure from Ricciardo and ran wide at Turn One, then pleading with his team that his tyres were finished.

He pitted for fresh ones and rejoined with 24 laps to go on a set of ultra-softs, and backed off to ensure he could get to the end without drama.

Vettel salvages some self-respect

As Hamilton was struggling, Vettel was beginning to think of a potential win. He made a second pit stop on lap 47, and when Verstappen stopped again himself a lap later, Vettel was four seconds behind Ricciardo, who was on old tyres, and five seconds behind his team-mate.

Vettel was quickly on Ricciardo's tail, but the Australian appeared to be capable of holding off the Ferrari to the end, until his car failed for the eighth time this season and he retired on lap 62, promoting Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to the final podium position.

Ricciardo's retirement caused some nerves at Red Bull, and Verstappen was on the radio pleading with the team to turn down his engine to reduce risks of a failure as much as possible.

But it held on for his second victory of the year in a race that, despite Verstappen's impressive performance, was all about the man who finished fourth.

Driver of the day

No contest this - Verstappen was supreme in taking his second win in Mexico in succession, on a weekend he dominated other than being pipped to pole by Ricciardo

What happens next?

Brazil in two weeks' time. Red Bull are expected to slip back into a more normal level of competitiveness. But can Hamilton break his run of never winning another race after clinching the championship before the final event?

More than 130,000 came to watch the race in Mexico City

Music and dance is a staple at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez</s>As Lewis Hamilton cruised over the finish line at Mexico's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday in the knowledge that he had, at last, secured his fifth world title, it dawned on the F1 community that he is on course to be the sport's best ever.

Michael Schumacher's records, set during his dominance in the 1990s and 2000s, at once appeared impregnable. Seven championship titles. 91 wins. 77 fastest laps.

But having produced the finest season of his career to date - and given he has committed to Mercedes for a further two years - Hamilton almost has the German's records in an overtaking zone.

Separated by just two drivers' championship titles, Sportsmail breaks down the pair from their racing, their controversies and their life away from the race track.

HAMILTON: The Briton burst onto the scene earning a podium on his debut race, before going on to become the youngest ever world champion the following season. It was at that point fans sensed they could be in the presence of someone special.

Without a doubt title No 5 has been Hamilton's most emphatic; his performances jaw-dropping at times and he has not made a memorable mistake since Brazil in 2017.

Hamilton is a man driving with such confidence in the knowledge that, over the course of the season, he has the best all-round car.

Red Bull excelled in Mexico and Ferrari have their moments like Belgium but Hamilton seems to possess a pace that leaves rivals in his rear-view mirrors more often than not.

His racing has evolved to a point where Hamilton is producing near perfection with such reliability it begs the question why Ferrari did not provide an offer he could not refuse before he was tied down by Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel went into this season level with Hamilton on four world titles but the difference between the two was striking. While in his early days at McLaren Hamilton showed an aggressiveness to get the max from his car, these days he has seen it all before and trusts he knows what he is doing.

'Why don't you leave me to it?' he told his race engineer in the early stages at Mexico on Sunday as his tires became heavily worn. He knows what it takes to drive to a title. Don't expect No 5 to be the last.

SCHUMACHER: A serial winner. Probably the best way to sum up a man who would go to any length in the quest to be the best among his peers.

He demanded the best from himself and those around him and his fixation with achieving perfection in the car pushed him out in front of the rest.

Often aggressive on the brake pedal, Schumacher showed consistent performances which were hard and fast when it came to navigating corners and chicanes.

Schumacher once admitted he would have been happy 'fixing go karts' for a living and his personal fascination with cars and motorsport no doubt kept engineers on his toes.

But like any great champion Schumacher was not universally liked.

His desperate antics to preserve pole positions and race wins tarnish the legacy he left on track which was as one of the best race-drivers the sport has, and will ever, see.

The field was undeniably more competitive across Schumacher's career than it is right now for Hamilton and while neither can mirror the dangers experienced by icons Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna, they are without doubt the two fastest drivers of all time.

HAMILTON: Mercedes have without question been the pick of the bunch since the introduction of the hybrid engine in 2014.

No other team has gone on to lift a drivers' championship since then and Nico Rosberg the only blip in Hamilton's surging run.

Qualifying has become something of an art form for Hamilton which peaked this season in Singapore with what his race engineer described as 'the greatest lap in Formula 1 history'.

Eighty one pole positions is far and away the best the sport has ever seen and his target will no doubt be to take that number beyond a century.

With two seasons to go the remaining Schumacher records, whether that be race wins (Hamilton is 20 behind) or podium finishes (22 behind), it seems that nothing can stop the Briton right now.

Max Verstappen is ever improving and will be Red Bull's undisputed No 1 driver next year but Hamilton is producing performances that are poetry in motion while rivals falter around him.

SCHUMACHER: The German has the most titles in the sport's history and is naturally the benchmark.

His ruthlessness in the red overalls of Ferrari made him a fearsome character on the track as he used whatever it took to be standing on the podium and holding another trophy aloft.

Unlike Hamilton it was not all about excelling in qualifying for the Ferrari king.

Ninety-one race wins from 68 pole positions tells its own story.

Competition was arguably tougher in Schumacher's prime as he tussled - sometimes controversially - with Mika Hakkinen, Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill to name three.

With rookie drivers like George Russell and Lando Norris coming through next season and Bottas a willing accessory for Hamilton at Mercedes, it is tough to see who will come along to both halt Hamilton's charge and preserve Schumacher's now vulnerable records, in the process.

HAMILTON: Given his fierce battles with Schumacher during his career, it should come as no surprise that Villeneuve is in Hamilton's corner when legends are asked for the sport's greatest ever.

The 47-year-old Canadian, when asked by reporters ahead of Mexico, succinctly gave his thoughts.

'He's had his career always clean,' he said. 'He's never resorted to any questionable actions to win and he's always on top of his game. It's been very impressive.'

Much of the controversy that is attached to Hamilton has been for his antics off the track rather than on it.

His exuberant celebrations at the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix were heavily criticised after he sprayed grid girl Liu Siying in the face, before later issuing an apology.

In 2010 in Melbourne he was labelled a 'd***head' by local politician Tim Pallas and fined £288 for driving illegally near the track by 'burning out' his Mercedes sports car.

But while he has not been the bad boy on track like some of the sport's other great names, he does not have a squeaky clean report card. His biggest faux-pas came at the start of the 2009 season, as he began his title defence on a sour note.

Running fourth under a late Safety Car, Italian Jarno Trulli slid off the road and was passed (legally) by Hamilton for third. Hamilton slowed on the next lap to let Trulli back past under the Safety Car to reclaim third position, something McLaren had advised him to do.

But, speaking to the media after the race, he said he had received no instruction to let the Italian past again, insinuating Trulli had passed him illegally, which saw the Toyota man demoted to 12th. The case reopened at the next race in Malaysia where Hamilton continued to insist he had not been told to let Trulli past.

But with McLaren's radio communications proving otherwise, Hamilton was disqualified from the race, team manager Dave Ryan was sacked and McLaren was handed a suspended three-race ban for being 'deliberately misleading'.

Since then, Hamilton, on the track at least, has majorly cleaned up his act.

SCHUMACHER: Whenever a debate rolls round, as it often does following a milestone title win, about the sport's GOAT (Greatest of All Time) there is always a reflection on Schumacher's frequent use of underhand tactics.

While Hamilton simply has his rivals' number on sheer race pace, the German had his car marked on multiple occasions where he really did push the boundaries on what was considered 'hard but fair' racing.

The signs were there early from Schumacher. Looking back to the 1994 season, as he and Hill, who were separated by a single point pre-race, jostled in Adelaide for a maiden championship title, the German collided with the Briton, forcing both cars to retire on lap 36 which ensured the title went home with Schumacher.

Whether that was deliberate is a debate continuing to this day but three years later it was deja vu for race fans as Schumacher, again leading the title standings by one point, turned into Villeneuve on the inside.

He was stripped of his second-placed finish by the sport's governing body (FIA) and lost out on that season's crown.

Frankly, the list of controversial moments is exhaustive.

From the angry exchange in Belgium in 1998 where he almost came to blows with David Coulthard - who Schumacher accused of wanting to 'kill' him - to the qualifying fiasco in Monaco in 2006 where he parked up in a desperate bid to bring out the yellow flags and secure his pole position.

But the stand-out Schumacher controversy is arguably in Austria in 2002. Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello was ordered to slow down and he allowed the German past on the final corner to jeers in the crowd as he wrapped up the race win and the title.

The day that F1 died is how some cynics describe the incident. No doubt embarrassed by how it played out, Schumacher let Barrichello put his foot on the top of the podium and hold the winners' trophy.

Ferrari were fined £1m and warned to never have a repeat of the farce that brought the race into disrepute.

HAMILTON: The Briton has no appetite for a quiet life. In fact, you get the sense he finds the notion of one unpalatable.

Everything he has done since he first pulled on his McLaren overalls in Australia laid the foundations for the superstardom he has gone on to achieve.

The boy from Stevenage, as he consistently refers back to following championship successes, has seen his face on advertising boards across the globe from Times Square to Tokyo.

The 32-year-old is a freak of nature off the track, boasting an unrivalled social media presence across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram of 17.4million.

For reference, on Instagram alone, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel have a combined total of just 5.9m - two million behind the five-time champion.

He began the 2018 season with sponsorships worth £112m on his race suit – no surprise given he is the golden boy of the sport.

Add on his own £10m in personal endorsements and while on the track he is joint-second, off it he is far and away the sport's biggest ever success.

SCHUMACHER: While the pair share so many similarities on the track, off it they couldn't have been further apart.

Fiercely private and determined not to let his family become consumed by what he dubbed an 'artificial world' where fame and fortune went hand in hand, Schumacher had no burning desire for clothing lines or kick-starting a music career like Hamilton has.

In an interview in 2002, the Ferrari supremo insisted the idea of being regarded as a global superstar is one that does not sit well with him.

He said at the time: 'I don't want it, I have a problem with it. I'm just like everyone else.'

What Schumacher did to thrust Formula 1 into the spotlight came down to his ruthlessness on the track.

For Hamilton, his impact on the sport both as a racing and commercial asset is like nothing that has been seen before (and possibly will never be seen again).</s>At the end of the 2006 season, it seemed inconceivable that another driver would get close to Michael Schumacher’s record of seven drivers’ championships. Even the great man himself couldn’t emulate his own success when he returned with Mercedes, but as Lewis Hamilton celebrates yet another world title, it seems only a matter of when, not if, he will surpass Schumacher’s record.Even five years ago, Hamilton’s relentless run of success could not have been predicted. After four years of domination from Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, Hamilton found himself under pressure to justify leaving championship contenders McLaren for the untried Mercedes outfit. But after Sunday’s latest triumph, Hamilton now sits level with Juan Manuel Fangio, “the Godfather of F1” as he put it on Thursday, and he has Schumacher’s record – as well as his 91 race wins – firmly in his sights. This time around there won’t be the normal championship reaction often accompanies one of Hamilton’s title wins – the question of ‘why isn’t he loved more for his success’ that is asked over and over again without answer.Instead, this triumph asks what will his legacy be on the track long after he’s gone. It was Fernando Alonso who put Hamilton fifth in his top five drivers of all time. Schumacher, Fangio, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost joined him, and it’s pretty hard to argue against his list. Jim Clark has a case to be included, as does Alonso himself, but when the very best are taken into account, Hamilton has certainly put himself among the greats. Hamilton already has the most pole positions of any driver in history, and after claiming win No 72 in Austin, the smart money is on him chasing down Schumacher’s landmark by the end of 2020 given that he’s won at least nine races in every season for the pastfive years.Critics will point to there being far more races on the calendar now than in the Senna-Prost era or back in Fangio’s day, yet Hamilton’s win ratio stacks up among the best. Only Fangio, Clark and Alberto Ascari have greater percentages among drivers who have won more than two races, leaving Schumacher and Vettel trailing in his dust.Another part of Hamilton’s legacy will be his incredible ability to take his driving to the next level. His maiden title triumph in 2008 came with a final-corner move to snatch the championship away from Felipe Massa by the skin of his teeth, yet every one since has come with an increasing level of dominance that can only be admired. His job this season may have been made that little bit easier by Ferrari’s complete inability to maintain Vettel’s challenge, but throughout the second half of this season Hamilton has been simply untouchable – his fightback at Silverstone, taking the fight to Ferrari at Monza, the qualifying in Singagpore, his Japan drive.That’s why this one, for Hamilton, will probably taste the best. Yet it has also been the best to watch from an individual point of view, and having witnessed a driver who has been able to find ‘the zone’ more than any other driver before him, it’s safe to say Hamilton’s legacy has already been cemented as a true great.</s>Lewis Hamilton has won his fifth F1 World Championship, making him the joint second most successful driver of all time.

The 33-year-old becomes only the third man in history to win five world titles. He matches the haul of the Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio and is two behind all-time record holder Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton needed only to finish seventh at Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix to become champion, even if Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel had won - but the German could manage only second place behind the dominant Max Verstappen, despite a valiant and strong race.

It was a difficult race for the Mercedes driver, who battled tyre problems throughout, but his finishing position just off the podium, in fourth, was more than enough to seal the biggest achievement of an illustrious career.

At the end of the race, Hamilton pushed his car through a series of celebratory 'doughnut' spins in the track's stadium section, before waving to the capacity 135,000 crowd.</s>Lewis Hamilton secured a fifth world title only days after the death of his grandfather, but the Briton believes Michael Schumacher is Formula One’s greatest driver of all time.

Hamilton stood with his arms outstretched and draped in a Union Flag in Mexico City on Sunday evening after became just the third driver to have won five titles.

His success this season saw him equal Juan Manuel Fangio’s tally and move to within two titles of Schumacher’s record.

But the 33-year-old later revealed that his latest title triumph had been played out against the backdrop of a family tragedy, with his paternal grandfather, Davidson, having died three days before his coronation.

“This has actually been a really difficult weekend because my grandfather died on Thursday morning,” Hamilton said. “He was the godfather of the family.”

Davidson emigrated from Grenada to west London in 1955, taking up work on the Underground. Before he left the Caribbean island, he was known as the fastest man on two wheels following his passion for speed and motorbikes.

His death provoked Hamilton to pay tribute to his own father, Anthony, who worked four jobs to fund his junior career.

Lewis and Anthony, rarely seen in the F1 paddock these days, are slowly rebuilding their relationship after an acrimonious managerial split almost nine years ago.

“I will always remember and I will never forget the things that he did in order for me to be here today,” Hamilton added.

“I really do aspire to be like him, as a strong black man, as a father, and as a human being for doing what he did in the difficult times.

“All the work that he put in, my grandfather would be so proud, and I am proud to have the Hamilton name up there.”

The Mercedes star He has more pole positions than anybody else, and is 20 victories shy of Schumacher’s record win tally.

At the rate he is going, Hamilton could do the unthinkable and surpass the German by the time his Mercedes deal expires in 2020.

“Michael’s quite far ahead in terms of race wins so you have to say he is still the GOAT (greatest of all time),” the Briton added.

“Fangio is the godfather and always will be, but I feel very honoured to have my name alongside his, that’s for sure.”

Hamilton’s post-championship media briefing on Sunday was briefly interrupted by the fashion designer, Tommy Hilfiger.

In collaboration with the American, Hamilton has launched his new clothing range in all corners of the world, while producing some of the finest drives of his 12-season career.

“Naturally people will have opinions for and against the things that I do,” Hamilton continued. “I don’t do everything perfectly, and I don’t always say the right things, but one thing I do do, is I do me.

“Only I can live my life the way I live it, and it can’t be steered by anyone else. I try to do the right things in order to be at my best.”

Hamilton, awarded an MBE after his maiden championship in 2008, is not entertaining thoughts about another trip to Buckingham Palace.

“A knighthood is really not something that is on my mind,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate and very grateful to have met the Queen on a couple of occasions.

“When I’m on the podium I look back and see the Union Jack and I’m very proud to raise that flag. I’ll continue to do so, and hopefully try to make more and more Brits proud.”</s>Lewis Hamilton secured his fifth Formula One world championship at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday night after he finished fourth. The British driver only had to finish seventh or higher in the race, while rival Sebastian Vettel had to win to stand any chance of taking the title fight on to Brazil but came second.

Hamilton took his first F1 title for McLaren in 2008 in ony his second season but was not champion again until 2014, a year after he had switched to his current team Mercedes, a move many questioned at the time at the time but has since proved to be key to his domination.

He won 11 races in 2014, in a long-fought battle with Nico Rosberg, which was only decided with victory for the Mercedes driver in the final race of the season. Hamilton was able to secure his third world title the following year with three races still remaining to equal the record of the late Ayrton Senna’s three championships. Hamilton won his fourth title in 2017, a year after finishing runner-up to Nico Rosberg, in the process joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Vettel as drivers with four or more world titles to their name.

The champion is 19 wins behind Schumacher’s record of 91 grand prix wins and Hamilton has indicated he has no intention of easing off his quest for more honours, stating earlier this week: “I’ve still got more to do. There are so many different things that happened in that time and I waited a long time to get the second,” he said. “I could easily have stayed where I was and I wouldn’t be sitting here with the ones I have now. It’s been interesting, the journey and the different decisions I have taken, but I am very grateful for the route I have been on. I feel incredibly fortunate to be in the position I am in but I feel like I have quite a lot left to do.”</s>MEXICO CITY (AP) — Lewis Hamilton won his fifth career Formula One championship with a fourth-place finish Sunday at the Mexican Grand Prix, a race dominated by Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Hamilton's season championship was all but assured, and after brief bid for the lead off the start and a scary run off the track late, he finished off the title with a drive further into the F1 record books. The British driver is now tied with the late Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina for second most in F1 history. Only Germany's Michael Schumacher has more with seven.

The 33-year-old Hamilton won titles with McLaren in 2008 and with Mercedes in 2014, 2015 and 2017. He also clinched last season's title in Mexico City.

Verstappen earned his fifth career victory and defended his 2017 race win.</s>MEXICO CITY (AP) - Lewis Hamilton keeps climbing his way up the list of Formula One's greatest drivers.

The top now looks very much in sight.

The British driver won his fifth career F1 championship with a fourth-place finish Sunday at the Mexican Grand Prix. It was a race dominated by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, but one that will be remembered for Hamilton tying the late Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina for the second-most championships in F1 history.

At age 33, he can now make a run at something once previously unthinkable: The seven titles won by Germany's Michael Schumacher.

"Michael's still the (greatest)," Hamilton said. "Fangio is the godfather and always will be. I feel honored to have my name alongside his. If I stop today, I'll always have my name up there."

He's not stopping. Hamilton has won four of his five titles with Mercedes and this year extended his contract through 2020. His 2008 championship was with McLaren.

"I feel like I still drive with that fire that I had when I was 8-years-old," Hamilton said. "I'm here for a few more years, so hopefully I'll get close. I'll always be a fan of (Schumacher)."

Hamilton's fifth championship arguably ranks among his best. He had to fight off a strong challenge from Ferrari, which even Hamilton admitted often had the stronger car. Ferrari beat him Sunday with title rival Sebastian Vettel taking second and Kimi Raikkonen third.

"I always believed we could win this championship, but it was one of the toughest," Hamilton said.

Ferrrari also won the previous week at the U.S. Grand Prix. But it was a run of wins over the second half of the season that sent Hamilton to Mexico City all but assured of the championship. All he had to do was finish no lower than seventh, and even that would have required a Vettel win.

Yet he didn't get the leisurely Sunday drive he would have liked over the 71 laps in the high altitude at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

After a brief bid for the lead Sunday, Hamilton had a scary run off the track late. In between, he complained of car and tire problems, and had to fight to hold on for one of his worst finishes of the season.

"It was a horrible race," Hamilton said. "I was just trying to bring the car home."

It was a near perfect day for Verstappen, who earned his fifth career victory and defended his 2017 race win.

Red Bull had dominated qualifying to earn its first 1-2 start of the hybrid engine era. But pole-sitter Daniel Ricciardo was beaten off the line by Verstappen and Hamilton. Ricciardo's race ended with late engine failure, the eighth time this season his car didn't make it to the finish.

Hamilton could have let the Red Bulls ride off from the start, but he took a shot at the lead when by slipping into a gap between them. The straight line power of his Mercedes nosed his car in front until Verstappen cut under him at the first corner.

Verstappen wasn't giving any ground. He was angry Saturday when he was denied the chance to be the youngest pole winner in F1 history

"The start was the key," Verstappen said. "I was determined to win today."

Hamilton could afford to back off and his primary goal was to avoid trouble. Last year, a bump from Vettel at the first turn punctured a tire which relegated him to ninth.

A four-time champion himself, Vettel opened the season with a strong charge of two straight victories only to see Mercedes snatch wins while their own car faded for a long stretch. Hamilton wrapped up the season with two races left.

Vettel will have the small consolation of beating Hamilton in the title-clinching race, passing him about midway through on a run down the long straight in a test of power between F1's top two teams.

The team constructor's championship is still up for grabs between Mercedes and Ferrari.

"He drove superb all year. He was the better one of us two," Vettel said. "Five (championships) is something incredible. I asked him to keep pushing for next year to be at his best, to fight him again."

Ferrari hasn't won the driver's championship since 2007 and Hamilton gave a nod of respect to the season title fight with Vettel.

"He fought so hard this year," Hamilton said. "The pressure that he would be under ... that's a lot to ride on one's shoulders."</s>Mercedes driver Lewis joins Formula One great Juan Manuel Fangio to own five world championship titles; finishes fourth in Mexican Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth drivers' world championship on Sunday to draw level with Juan Manuel Fangio in the Formula One record books when he finished fourth behind a victorious Max Verstappen in the Mexican Grand Prix.

Hamilton's success — the third time he has taken the title without finishing on the race podium — elevated him to a supreme club alongside Fangio with only seven-time champion Michael Schumacher ahead of him. He was adding the 2018 crown to his championship wins in 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2017. The Briton's, 33, only remaining championship rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, who needed a victory, with Hamilton outside the top seven, to keep his hopes alive, finished second.

'Strange feeling'

He celebrated by executing doughnut wheel spins for the cheering crowd before leaping out of his car and into the arms of his team. After being congratulated by Vettel, Hamilton said: "It's a very strange feeling right now." After surviving what turned into a battle of attrition at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez he added: "It was a horrible race... I really don't know what happened. We were struggling both Valtteri [Bottas] and I and we had to just hang on and bring the car home.

"I've been with Mercedes since I was 13 and to complete this, when Fangio had done it with Mercedes, is an incredible feeling and it is very surreal to me at the moment. I just feel humble, of course I dreamed about this but I never thought I'd be standing here as a five-time champion."

'Schumi is the greatest'

Hamilton deflected all suggestions that he might be the greatest F1 driver of all time, saying that seven-time champion Michael Schumacher remains the man who most deserves that label. "Firstly, I could never personally classify myself as the best," said Hamilton.

"Obviously, within myself, I know my abilities and where I stand, but ultimately, as 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. "But Michael's still quite far ahead in race wins so you have to say he is still the GOAT (greatest of all time)."

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p>This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</s>Title rival Sebastian Vettel was among the first to congratulate Lewis Hamilton on winning a fifth world championship crown.

Hamilton’s fourth-place finish in the Mexican Grand Prix was enough to take him level with Juan Manuel Fangio and just two short of Michael Schumacher’s record seven titles.

Vettel broke off from a television interview to congratulate Hamilton on his fifth title and fourth in the last five years.

Former driver David Coulthard, who was conducting the interview with Vettel, took to social media to offer his congratulations, as did Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Bizarrely, actor Will Smith was heard congratulating Hamilton over the team radio shortly after the race had finished.

The race itself was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the team were quick to applaud the achievements of both drivers.

Many of Hamilton’s fans took to Twitter to suggest that the 33-year-old should receive a knighthood to mark his achievements.
In auto racing, Lewis Hamilton clinches his fifth World Drivers' Championship with a fourth-place finish at the Mexican Grand Prix. Hamilton ties Juan Manuel Fangio for second place in drivers' championships, behind only Michael Schumacher with seven.