Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes driver and five-time F1 world champion
A fifth world title to match Juan Manuel Fangio is a remarkable achievement, and perhaps Hamilton’s most important to date, coming in the face of what was undoubtedly his sternest challenge yet, as Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari pushed the Mercedes driver to find previously unseen levels of brilliance.
“To perform this way this year has been the hardest season for me. To keep raising the bar and racing against a four-time world champion in a really incredible [Ferrari] team who were so fast this year – most of the time faster than us – and to have pulled together as a team and turned it around has been a real collective effort.
“In general, I just feel content. I don't need anything. I just want to enjoy and harness the feeling. When you think of Fangio, who is for me the godfather of racing drivers, he had five world championships, and now I have five as well. It doesn't feel real.”
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari driver, 2018 drivers’ championship runner-up
Ferrari entered 2018 with a car truly capable of challenging the might of Mercedes, and for much of the season, four-time champion Vettel and his team tested the defending champions to the limit. Wins at the opening two races, Australia and Bahrain, allied to victories in Canada and Britain, put the German in the driving seat, but a cruel crash in the rain at his home race while leading and a post-summer break slide as Mercedes seized a performance advantage ultimately saw Vettel’s chances fade.
“You reflect not on one moment but the whole year: the work that goes in, the effort that goes in from the end of the last year until now. I think we had our chances. We used most of them, some we did not. But in the end we were not good enough.
“For me, the [crucial point] was Singapore. From there onwards we just didn’t have the pace to keep up with Mercedes for a couple of races. Other things happened on top that didn’t help and we couldn’t score the points due to mistakes we did, mistakes I did.”