In 2018, Lewis Hamilton beat Sebastian Vettel to become only the third drive in history, to date, to have won five Formula 1 Drivers' World Championships.
Lewis has always been acknowledged as a quick driver, aggressive when he needs to, and super smooth at other times. He's also known for being effective in over-taking, being able to drive around difficulties in a car, and also for wet weather driving and car-control.
It's always futile to compare drivers from different eras. I think Vettel is a good driver, but you always felt that Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were better on the track, and you get the feeling that they deserved more titles than Vettel's 4, so perhaps it is fitting that Hamilton now has more, whilst Alonso goes off to try to win the 'triple crown'. Hamilton always wanted to do his fighting on the track, he always wanted to prove he was the faster qualifier, the one who more often than not comes out in front in wheel-to-wheel battles, the one who is able to make the most out of difficult race circumstances. For that, you commend his attitude and his integrity, never one to look to cheat, always looking to prove his ability on the track by his driving alone. Not only is Hamilton tremendously quick, but his ability to get the best out of the car, the tyres, the engine and managing tyre-wear has been second to none, no matter what the weather, no matter what the circumstance that is in front of him.
Hamilton doesn't always show his world class driving every single weekend, his early career was littered with mistakes and even until recently, there were weekends you wondered whether he had really shown up. Always one to wear his emotions close to his sleeve, you felt what was going on in his personal life really affected how he went about his racing. These days, he's figured out his life/work balance, and is able to show up mentally, emotionally, and physically at his best each weekend. Nico Rosberg probably isn't as naturally gifted, but he used every bit of knowledge he had gained since they started karting together to beat Hamilton to the 2016 title. Perhaps for fear of Rosberg gleaning any information on Hamilton's driving, Lewis did not work as closely with the team as he ought and perhaps it didn't always mean he got the best out of the car or the team. But after Rosberg's departure, that inhibition was gone and both driver and team managed to extract the best performances out of each other against a resurgent Ferrari.
You cannot really effectively compare drivers from era to era, but in my opinion the 2018 version of Lewis Hamilton was at the peak of his powers and one of the best and most complete and mature performances in the history of the sport. For me, he thoroughly deserves the number of titles he has so far, and deserves to be included when discussing the greatest of all time.
2007 - McLaren MP4/22 - Fuji Speedway (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps (No Serial Number) |
The 2007 season saw an all new driver line up at McLaren, with double world champion Fernando Alonso joining from Renault and Lewis Hamilton given his debut season. The car was competitive, scoring more points than the previous campaign. Between the two drivers, they scored eight wins and finished joint second in the Drivers' World Championship, just a point behind eventual champion, Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari. The car featured a new "bridge" wing that went over the nose-cone and the rollover bar "horns". The season would be marred by Alonso's fall out with Ron Dennis over number one status and the surprising competitiveness of Lewis Hamilton, their rivalry cost both of them the Drivers' Championship. A mutual agreement was made that Alonso's contract would be terminated at the end of 2007. But further controversy found that McLaren had a 780 page document about the rival Ferrari car thanks to their departing employee Nigel Stepney and McLaren's Mike Coughlan. McLaren were fined a record $100 million and excluded from the Constructors' title, which they would have won. It was a shame that their first competitive season for years, where they could have won both titles, were marred by these events. Hamilton would secure his first victory at the Canadian GP, in only the sixth race of the year.
This Fuji Speedway special model is from the tail end of the season where Hamilton took a superb victory in wet conditions in a race where Alonso spun out and nobody could touch Hamilton. This nice model has been upgraded (both shape and textures) from the early season version and comes with wet tyres.
Score: 8/10
2008 - McLaren MP4/23 - World Champion Collection (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 530084332 |
Lewis Hamilton drove to his first World Championship in only his second season in F1. After an impressive debut season that could have easily seen him win the championship, his new team-mate was Hekki Kovalainen who was not as competitive as Alonso the previous year. Hamilton drove exceedingly well against the competitive the Ferraris. His skill was seen in wet conditions at Monaco, winning despite hitting the wall, and at Silverstone where he won in atrocious conditions. Known for being one of the fastest drivers to ever race in F1, with a particular ability to drive around the deficiencies of a car like no-one else, Hamilton deserved to be champion in 2008. However his season was marred by penalties and mistakes, crashing into the back of Raikkonen in Montreal in the pit-lane, passing Raikkonen too soon after letting him past at Spa, and other team errors meant the championship went down to the last race. Massa needed to win, which he did superbly, but Hamilton needed to finish in 5th place. Going into the last lap he was 6th, but the Toyota of Glock had gambled on staying on slicks when it was raining. The gamble failed, and Hamilton followed Vettel past the German to take the all important 5th place on the last corner of the last lap of 2008.
The World Champion Collection brings us an accurately updated to the Brazilian GP specification (mainly adding the nose horns and sidepod vanes) and sponsorship and shows Hamilton clenching both fists above his steering wheel. At the time, he became the youngest driver to win a World Championship, but has since been superceded by Vettel. He remains the first black person to win the Championship.
Score: 9/10
2009 - McLaren MP4/24 (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps B66960038 |
With the new 2009 rules and very different looking cars to the rest of the decade, McLaren and Ferrari were caught out having thrown lots of development into their 2008 contenders whilst fighting for the championships. Both teams could do little better than race in the midfield for the first half of the season. By the mid-point of the season, McLaren had only scored 13 points. But rapid development saw the MP4/24 gain in competitiveness and Hamilton won convincingly at Hungary. He won again from pole at Singapore and a pair of podium finishes at the end of the year saw McLaren finish the year in third place, just one point ahead of rivals Ferrari.
With the rule changes, the cars had much less complexity, which is reflected in the model looking a lot less busy than the previous model. This is the Mercedes edition of the standard model.
Score: 8/10
2010 - McLaren MP4/25 - Canadian GP (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 530104322 |
After a disappointing start to the 2009 season, the McLaren's had a race-winning car by the end of the season and with reigning World Champion Jenson Button joining 2008 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, the team looked to be strong challengers for Championships for 2010. The car was also the first to be designed with the F-duct, a drag reduction mechanism, that all teams would adopt by the end of the year, but subsequently banned. Button mastered changeable conditions to take victory at the Australian GP and won again in China. Hamilton looked good for victory in Spain but a wheel rim failure lead to retirement on the penultimate lap. The two battled with the two Red Bulls for much of the season, particularly at Turkey where the two Red Bulls collided and Hamilton and Button passed each other a number of times. Whilst Red Bull got stronger and quicker, McLaren were being caught and various mistakes meant their title challenge faded. Hamilton had a faint mathmatical chance of the title at the final race, where the Red Bull of Webber and the Ferrari of Alonso were the favourites. But it was Vettel in the Red Bull who would claim victory and the Drivers' Championship that year.
This model is from the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton has always been strong on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and in qualifying, Lewis produced a pole position lap. However on the way back to the pits the car ran out of fuel, which is against the regulations as you had to have a fuel sample left at the end of each session so the FIA could test against cheating. Lewis would be sent to the back of the grid for his efforts. You can see the disappointment in the body-language as Lewis sits on the side of his cockpit.
Score: 9/10
2011- McLaren MP4/26
2011 was not a good year for Lewis, who tangled with Felipe Massa several times and often seemed distracted by other things going on in his life. Though he proved faster than Button in qualifying, Button would engage Lewis in some fair battles, though the pair collided at the Canadian Grand Prix, and Lewis would finish behind 2009 champion, Button, in the Championship. So I never bought a 2011 Hamilton model, so there's no picture to show here, (I doubt you'll miss this ugly car anyway!)
2012 - McLaren MP4/27 - USA GP (Spark)
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| Spark S3048 |
Hamilton produced some fine drives in his final season at McLaren following a difficult 2011 campaign. The team let him down with pit stop errors and poor reliability when leading or in podium positions, otherwise he would have been challenging for the championship, at various points in the season with the fastest car. Hamilton won the Hungarian GP before the summer break, but was shunted out on the first corner by Grosjean in Belgium. He would go on to dominate the Italian GP weekend. He would have won the next race in Singapore, but retired with gearbox failure. Returning to America to the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas, Hamilton would battle and beat Vettel for the race win in an exciting race, which this model commemorates - his last GP victory for McLaren. In Abu Dhabi, he again retired from the lead, and in Brazil was taken out by Hulkenberg in a failed overtake attempt. It left Hamilton a distant fourth the in Drivers' title, 91 points behind Vettel.
Minichamps produced their first resin F1 car with McLaren in the Evolution series, though they also produced a regular diecast version too. But Minichamps never released the US GP, so I decided to feature this Spark version of Hamilton's final race win in a McLaren. The reason this model has significance to me is that I sold this model (pictured) to Zak Brown not long after he took the helm at McLaren. I've sent a few models to F1 factories before and others who had owned the real-life versions of the models, but this was the first famous sale that I had made.
Score: 7/10
2013 - Mercedes F1 W04 (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 410130010 |
The beginning of the 2013 season was dominated by aggressively degrading Pirelli tyres. Mercedes more than many other teams seemed to use them more heavily and struggled at certain races, but it was quick enough to take several pole positions early in the year. Rosberg and Hamilton locked out the front row at Monaco where overtaking was nearly impossible and drove at an incredibly slow place to complete it on a one stop strategy and score the teams first victory of the year. Rosberg would win again at Silverstone, after Hamilton's Pirelli failed spectacularly, and Hamilton won at Hungary after Vettel was caught up in traffic. The team finished in 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship.
This is the base model based on the Chinese Grand Prix was Hamilton's first pole position for the team, and his second podium finish. Minichamps also produced a Malaysian GP model where Hamilton earned his first podium finish the race before, but they never produced a model with an updated nose cone, where as Spark went straight for the later season model.
Score: 8/10
2014 - Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid - Abu Dhabi GP (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 410140644 |
With the new hyrid/turbo era of Formula One commencing in 2014, Mercedes gained a large advantage on its rivals in terms of horsepower, driveability and reliability. Not only did the works Mercedes team benefit, but so did Williams and Force India in particular showed increased competitiveness. But it would be the inter-team battle between Hamilton and Rosberg that would end up winning the title. Despite having more reliability issues and making more mistakes particularly in qualifying, Hamilton secured 11 wins to Rosberg's 5 and took his second World Championship and the team's first Constructors' Championship. The pair had a memorably battle at Bahrain, with Rosberg attempting several times to pass Hamilton, but in the end it was the Brit who won the race.
Lewis Hamilton won his first title with Mercedes with title decider at the last race in Abu Dhabi. Lewis dominated the weekend as Rosberg's fell apart. Lewis drove around with the Union Flag on the slowing down lap and this model shows him celebrating as he returns to parc ferme.
Score: 8/10
Score: 8/10
2015 - Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid - USA GP (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 417150544 |
Lewis Hamilton established himself as the dominant lead driver in 2015, often beating Rosberg in qualifying and in races. With the Mercedes W06 being more advanced than the competition, the team ran away with most races. However, some team and driver mistakes have cost the team three victories to the Ferrari of Sebastien Vettel.
Lewis clinched the title at the USA Grand Prix and celebrated with this pose on top of his car.
Score: 9/10
Score: 9/10
2016 - Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid - Abu Dhabi GP (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 417160744 |
Whilst the 2015 season ended with Hamilton as Champion, Rosberg was in fine form beating Hamilton regularly at the end of the year. Rosberg continued his winning streak at the beginning of 2016, with Hamilton struggling with the new manual start rules, as well as running into technical problems. The pair clashed at the Spanish Grand Prix when Rosberg overtook Hamilton at the start, but having been on the wrong engine settings, Hamilton attempted an overtake only to be forced onto the grass where he spun and collected Rosberg to the gravel pit. Hamilton then gained the momentum, seizing the Championship lead after the summer break. But more bad luck with reliability, engine changes, and bad starts let Rosberg win his first Drivers' Championship despite a strong late season charge from Hamilton. The team won its third Constructors' Championship in a row.
No title in 2016, but he fought hard for the title even up until the final race. Knowing that he needed to finish several places ahead of Rosberg, Lewis decided to hold him up in the tight in-field section so that other cars could close up, but the genius of it was that he managed to stay ahead in the DRS zones. Whether you agree with the ethical decision making or not, the execution was good, but in the end it didn't matter, because Rosberg held his nerve and finished in 2nd place to clinch the 2016 title, before retiring from the pinnacle of the sport.
Score: 8/10
Score: 8/10
2017 - Mercedes AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+ - Mexican GP (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 410171844 |
After 3 years of dominating the hybrid era, with only an inter-team battle for the championship, Valterri Bottas joined Lewis Hamilton in a competitive championship against Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes, in the right conditions, was clearly the quicker car, but it struggled to consistently get the tyres working properly with team principal Toto Wolff describing the car as a diva. Hamilton trailed Vettel in the Championship up til the half way mark, when 5 wins from 6 races after the summer break, and mistakes and reliability hitting Ferrari, Hamilton and Mercedes clinched both Championships before the end of the season. Hamilton had 9 race wins to Valterri's 3 wins, including his debut win in Russia, and Hamilton scored points in every round matching a Schumacher record. Hamilton was the 5th four time World Champion and overtook Schumacher for most pole positions ever.
This is of the Mexian GP where he clinched his fourth title. The race itself was a bit of a disaster, but he managed to gain enough points to secure a deserved title.
Score: 8/10
Score: 8/10
2018 - Mercedes W09 (Minichamps)
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| Minichamps 410180044 |
2018 was the duel between the two four-times World Champions, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, each seeking their fifth Title. Mercedes produced a race-winning challenger, but it was Ferrari who had a better handle on the Pirelli tyres and were more often than not quicker than the Mercedes particularly in the first half of the year. Whilst Bottas had lots of bad luck which turned into a downturn in form, Hamilton went from strength to strength, making less mistakes than in previous seasons, and producing world-class drives more consistently. In Italy, Hamilton challenged for pole position when Ferrari had a clear advantage. Starting third and ready for a fight, he passed Vettel into the second chicane, with Vettel spinning as a consequence, and then harried and passed Raikkonen only to be repassed. But his management of tyres was much better than Raikkonen's and Hamilton took an impressive win. His qualifying lap in Singapore was one of the qualifying performances ever. His ability to get the best out of the car in qualifying, his race-craft, his sheer pace throughout the race, coupled with his tyre-management were all in wonderful display that weekend. In the end, Hamilton and Mercedes had won both titles in 2019, with Hamilton joining only Fangio and Schumacher as having earned 5 (or more) World Championships.
Score: 8/10
Score: 8/10
Below are links to my other 2019 challenger career in models articles:
Max Verstappen
For more about World Champions, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/f1-world-champions.html
