Formula One: Four titles won, lifts Lewis Hamilton to another level

News24xx.com -  Formula One title lifts Lewis Hamilton to another level, who now ranks as the most successful driver.

Hamilton, one of just five men to have won at least four championships and the sole Briton, just revving up in terms of what he could ultimately achieve with a team that has won four constructors' titles in a row.

He has a record 72 poles and 117 front row starts and, with 62 wins, the 32-year-old is closing in on seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher's 91, a milestone once seen as lasting for the ages.

"Lewis is one of the greats of the sport," says former Mercedes technical head Paddy Lowe, now at Williams. "And his career is not done yet. He will emerge as one of the very greatest drivers of all-time."

The sport's brightest and most marketable star, taking grand prix racing to new audiences and with millions of followers on social media, has won twice as many races as his closest compatriot, the 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell.

The late Brazilian Ayrton Senna, Hamilton's boyhood idol and point of reference, also drops down the list.

"What Lewis and Mercedes have done is just amazing. He truly deserves to have won the world championship again".

"He's already one of the all-time great drivers," compatriot and 1996 champion Damon Hill told Reuters.

Hamilton secured his first title with McLaren by a single point after finish in Brazil in 2008, but he also missed out by a single point in his debut 2007 season.

This year he started in Australia, he finally got ahead of Ferrari's four-times champion Sebastian Vettel in September.

The man who grew up in social housing, the grandson of immigrants from the Caribbean, now has plenty of cash, hanging out with celebrities and travelling by private jet wherever the whim takes him.

He lives in Monaco, has a home in Colorado and spends much of his time in America.

News24xx.com/dev/red