After narrowly missing out on the championship in his very first season — losing to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by a single point — Hamilton continued his meteoric rise in 2008: winning five races and clinching the title with a fifth-place finish in Sao Paulo.

His ascent paused there, as McLaren fell behind from 2009. But a bold move to the unproven Mercedes team in 2013 reignited Hamilton’s successful streak.

The 2014 season brought a new set of rules, to which Mercedes designed a dominant power unit and chassis that remained the class of the field until 2020. Hamilton took full advantage.

His blinding pace and ever-improving racecraft meant that Hamilton out-thought and out-fought his friend turned team-mate and rival Nico Rosberg to world titles in 2014 and 2015. Even so, the best version of Hamilton was yet to come.

After losing out to Rosberg in 2016, Hamilton faced a resurgent Ferrari in 2017, where Sebastian Vettel was a serious title threat.

Hamilton left no stone unturned in his quest to win: managing tyres and his race strategy to perfection. Combined with his searing pace — most evident in qualifying, he added four more titles in consecutive seasons.

“I think he is the greatest of our era for sure,” Vettel later told media when asked if Hamilton was the greatest driver in F1 history. “I think it’s always difficult to compare, how can you possibly compare [Juan Manuel] Fangio, Stirling Moss to our generation? You can’t.

“But it doesn’t matter. There’s no doubt Lewis is the greatest in terms of what he has achieved. He’s equalled the championships [of Michael Schumacher], he has more races won, he has a lot more pole positions so I think he’s done everything you can ask for.”

Sebastian Vettel

2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Sebastian Vettel was Red Bull’s first talisman, and reigned supreme for four consecutive seasons between 2010 and 2013.

Having impressed with Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso, earning its first victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, he was promoted to the senior outfit in 2009 and claimed the same record, as he delivered Red Bull’s first grand prix win in China that year, finishing the season just 11 points short of world champion Jenson Button.

And then the Vettel era began: one that showed how much a gifted driver and an Adrian Newey-designed machine could achieve when in perfect harmony.

The RB6 with its blown double diffuser was the class of the field and its strong front end, coupled with a stable rear that Vettel could rotate with confidence on corner entry was perfectly suited to the protege.

Vettel became F1’s youngest-ever world champion at 23 — beating Fernando Alonso to the title by four points. The following year he replicated the same result, this time much more dominantly, as he claimed eleven race victories, secured 15 pole positions and finished no lower than fourth when he saw the chequered flag.

In 2012, Vettel showed the breadth of his repertoire, as he adapted his driving style to regulation and rule changes. Now, to achieve the stability created by the exhaust-blowing effect, he had to counter-intuitively accelerate mid-corner to cancel out oversteer.

The results speak for themselves, as in 2012, a late-season run of form — which included four successive race wins in Singapore, Japan, South Korea and India — saw him claim a third consecutive world title in Brazil, where he recovered to sixth after spinning at the start.

Then in 2013, Vettel and Red Bull team returned to record-breaking levels of dominance. He secured 13 grand prix wins in total, includingnine consecutive victories — a record that would stand until 2023 — to see out the season, and ensured a fourth world title at the Indian Grand Prix with three rounds to spare.

“His driving has gone from very talented but slightly raw at times in, let’s say, 2009, to incredibly well rounded now,” Newey later told the media. “In 2009 and 2010 you could occasionally criticise him for making slightly ill-judged moves and hence having accidents.

“You could criticise him, possibly, for not being able to overtake. You really can’t make those criticisms any more. It’s difficult to see a chink in his armoury. He learns all the time.”

“Like other great drivers he can drive while considering and planning what he’s going to do next, and then get out of the car and continue to analyse and learn what happened so that next time he’s got that tiny bit more knowledge.

“It is how you achieve it and how you conduct yourself and to me Sebastian thoroughly deserves to be considered one of the all-time greats because of that.”

Michael Schumacher 

1994, 1995, 2000, 2001 (followed by further titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004)

Michael Schumacher was a phenomenon on his F1 debut for Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying seventh and then being instantly poached by Benetton.

The factors that would make him a multiple champion were there for all to see, from his otherworldly ability to drive on the razor edge of the limit, to his work ethic, his fitness and his sheer determination.

His early accomplishments — which included a debut podium in Mexico City and a first race win Belgium — came under the dominance of Williams but 1994, saw Benetton and Schumacher rise to the fore and make a superb start to the year with six victories in seven races — a period that will always be remembered for the death of Ayrton Senna.

However, controversy was never far away from Schumacher; there were unproven whispers over banned driver aids on his Benetton and the British Grand Prix brought a display of the confidence — some say arrogance — that marked his career when he, with his team, failed to come in for a stop-go penalty then ignored the black flag that disqualified him for the race. It led to a two-race ban, which left him just one point ahead of Damon Hill at the season decider. So when the Williams driver was set to overtake, Schumacher cut him off, resulting in race-ending contact for them both and a maiden title for Schumacher.

He won again in 1995, then switched to Ferrari in 1996.

Little did anyone know just how resounding Schumacher’s success would be, as he and a close-knit Ferrari strived hard to return the team to glory. For former Benetton team-mate Johnny Herbert, Schumacher’s fitness and mental preparation stood out.

“He was a fitness fanatic,” Herbert told Sports Illustrated. “Always very heavily involved in stretching. He always reminded me a lot of Bruce Lee when he was doing all his acting. During meetings he would be exercising his finger on the table. Press ups against the wall, he’d lean on the wall.

“We’d be at the back of the stage waiting to be presented to the press at the start of the 1995 season in Italy, he was stretching and carrying on a routine he did every single day. That was something quite new. He changed the physical and mental side of how drivers prepare. He was always aware of the science that was advancing with fitness.”

In an era where Formula 1 transitioned from long stints to short sprints, Schumacher was able to handle the heightened physical load better than anyone else. All he needed next was the right car, and with Jean Todt and Ross Brawn at the helm in Maranello, it didn’t take long.

A tunnel-vision focus on extracting every possible ounce of performance from every member of the team eventually materialised into a streak of unrivalled dominance. From 2000 to 2004, Schumacher and Ferrari proved to be an unbeatable combination: winning five consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ world titles.

“The most important part of his success at Ferrari was Michael wanting to test every day,” added Herbert. When I started it was Williams, McLaren and Ferrari who did the tyre testing but as soon as Michael went to Ferrari, it was Ferrari and Michael who were doing the testing for everyone else but more importantly Michael!

“That’s how they knew they would beat everybody else. It was just flat out the whole way [in qualifying], a bit like the sprint races we have today. No-one had ever done that before and no other team could keep pace.”

Alain Prost

1985, 1986, 1989, 1993

In an era which contained the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost was the most successful F1 driver around, winning four world titles with two different constructors.

But while his, at times, blinding pace could equal that of any other grand prix legend, it was Prost’s calculating mind that often ensured that it was his name at the top of the drivers’ standings by season-end.

It’s perhaps partly from tactics he picked up from Niki Lauda, who beat Prost to the title by just half a point in their first season as McLaren team-mates 1984. In 1985, the young Frenchman returned with a vengeance: winning five races when the car was capable, and happily settling for podium finishes in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium when it wasn’t.

The result was a landslide drivers’ title victory, which he then replicated in the same style in 1986, despite increased competition from Williams.

In 1988 we saw a slightly new Prost: still calculating but fuelled by an intense rivalry.

Ayrton Senna had arrived at McLaren from Lotus, and posed an instant threat to Prost’s long-established place at king of the Woking outfit’s castle. The team possessed a considerable car advantage, courtesy of an engine partnership with Honda, and fireworks soon ensued.

“Ayrton represented more panache. I was the ‘Professor’, clinical. He was ‘mystic’ and people liked that,” Prost told Motor Sport. “When he impressed me I must say it was in qualifying sometimes, I don’t remember when exactly. Never in race conditions. Never. In race conditions, in the warm-up, most of the time I was quicker.”

Senna took the title in ’88, but in 1989 circumstances turned sour as Prost seemingly turned dark. Knowing that he could claim his third world championship if Senna failed to finish in Japan, he — at best — failed to avoid a collision with the Brazilian and the two made contact,

Prost retired and Senna rejoined the circuit, but was later disqualified, so Prost celebrated one last championship success with McLaren before moving to Ferrari for 1990 and then to Williams for 1993, where he inherited a cutting edge car in which he romped to a fourth world title.

“I do ask myself sometimes how I am going to be remembered,” Prost later told Motor Sport. “It sounds like a joke but I’m completely underrated! I know that. I can see. I don’t know why, but it’s my brand in a way.”

Juan Manuel Fangio 

1951, 1953, 1954, 1955 (followed by further titles in 1956 and 1957)

Juan Manuel Fangio was F1’s original dominant force, with five world titles with his name — four of which followed one after the other.

In the world championship’s early days, the Argentine driver made even the very best look positively mediocre with an unrivalled blend of clever racecraft, experience and mechanical understanding.

He would do only what was necessary: pushing a car when he needed to, resulting in victories that left his fellow drivers open-mouthed and wide-eyed, but otherwise sitting back and letting races come to him.

He also never remained loyal to any one outfit, which ruffled the feathers of team bosses. “Fangio did not remain loyal to any marque,” said Enzo Ferrari, “and he invariably used every endeavour to ensure that he would always drive the best car available.”

But as Fangio’s former team-mate Stirling Moss later pointed out: “Because he was the best bloody driver! The cheapest method of becoming a successful Grand Prix team was to sign up Fangio.”

He was already 39 when the world championship held its inaugural season in 1950, and after being narrowly beaten to the title by Nino Farina, he returned in ‘51 at the wheel of a dominant Alfa Romeo to take his first world championship — courtesy of three race wins and two podium finishes.

After a two-year hiatus, Fangio staged a comeback in 1954 with Mercedes — where he set the bar for success higher than arguably any driver had done before, or since. The Argentine driver claimed his third (1954) and fourth (1955) world titles by no less than 17 points and after the German car giant withdrew from motor racing, Fangio joined Ferrari for 1956.

Competition was rife; the first five races were won by five different drivers, but despite infighting and stiff competition from Maserati, Fangio’s title defence remained rigid.

Then, aged 46, he made one final and controversial move to Maserati for 1957, yet he continued to dominate the world championship. An unrivalled level of consistency and a meticulous feel for the demands of the car underneath saw him secure victory by massive margins in Argentina, Monaco and France.

But his saved his finest hour for last: winning the German Grand Prix, even after a botched Maserati pitstop had left him trailing the Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins by almost a minute. He gradually hunted the leaders down, at one point lapping 11sec faster than his pole time, and passed both Collins and Hawthorn on the final lap to claim victory and secure his fourth consecutive world title – his fifth in total.