Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton is coming off of the most dominant of his five championships in the 2018 Formula 1 season. He won the title by 88 points (408 to 320) over Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who was also competing to win his fifth career championship, in second place.
However, after joining five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher on the short list of drivers who have won at least five Formula 1 championships, Hamilton is set to face a challenge, perhaps many challenges, in the 2019 season, which is expected to be the most competitive season in quite a while.
Up-and-coming 21-year-old superstar Charles Leclerc is set to replace 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari as Vettel’s teammate following an extremely impressive rookie season driving for Alfa Romeo Sauber. He is a trendy pick to win the 2019 championship, and Vettel certainly has a good chance to do so as well. Without his numerous mistakes this past season, he may have forced his championship battle with Hamilton to come down to the wire.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing are set to experience potential reliability and power upgrades by ending their 12-year relationship with Renault and switching from Renault engines to Honda engines, a move that is expected to make 21-year-old Max Verstappen a championship contender. Pierre Gasly could also exceed expectations in his first season driving for team as Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement.
Finally, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas will be hungrier than ever to retain his ride with the Brackley-based team for the 2020 season and perhaps beyond after a disappointing 2018 season during which he had several potentially victories slip away from him before he ultimately had to settle for a winless campaign.
But even with all of this in mind, Hamilton is still the clear championship favorite. There is simply no way to justify calling anybody but the 33-year-old Briton the favorite at this point.
Hamilton has now won four of the last five championships, and he has won two in a row. He has won 51 races over the course of the last five seasons, an all-time record for a five-year span.
Hamilton’s 11 victories in the 2018 season, which tied his career-high win total for a single season, gave him his fourth career season of 10+ victories. There have been just eight seasons in Formula 1 history during which a driver has won 10 or more races, and no other driver has pulled this off more than twice.
Add to this the fact that Hamilton drives or Mercedes, the team that have dominated the V6 turbo hybrid era since it began at the start of the 2014 season. They have won all five constructor championships during this era, and they have yet to truly be closely contested.
Until someone proves otherwise — and not just by winning more two races in a row (i.e. Vettel to open up the 2018 season) — Hamilton is the driver to beat and therefore the championship favorite.
Do you believe that Lewis Hamilton will win his sixth career Formula 1 championship, his fifth championship in the last six seasons and his third consecutive championship in the 2019 season? If not, which driver do you believe will knock him off the throne as the sport’s top driver?
