LCH WINS AND TAKES HIS SEVENTH DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

LCH who clinched his record-equaling seventh world title with the win, had run at the back of the pack of early race leaders – at one point dropping to 24.063s behind long-time leader Lance Stroll, after the first round of pitstops – before he rose to the front, finding pace once the field switched from full wet tyres to intermediates.

In the end, he came home with a 31.633s margin of victory over Stroll’s Racing Point teammate Sergio Perez and was audibly overcome with emotion after he had crossed the line.

When asked about his reaction in the post-race press conference, Hamilton said: “Very rarely do I ever like lose control of my emotions and those last few, and obviously we were having that discussion about whether we were going to pit, and I was just telling myself: ‘keep it together, Lewis, you got this’.

“And I could feel it getting closer, also knowing ‘if I finish when I’m finishing right now, I’ve got this championship.

All these emotions were running through me and I was trying to stop it because I was thinking about all my whole career – from when I was five driving in go-karts and when we won our first British championship, driving home with my dad singing ‘we are the champions’ and dreaming of being here.

“And it’s right there, minutes away. That was a lot to take in. When I came across the line, it really hit me and I just burst into tears – I think that whole in-lap.

“Then I really couldn’t get out of the car because I just couldn’t believe it.

“For me, I’ve been very strong but I couldn’t have done it without the great man behind me, my dad, who on the days that I didn’t think I was good enough or wasn’t going to do well enough he stood me up and kept me going.

“I was thinking of him, I was thinking of my mum, my step mum, Linda, my brother – who have all stood by me through thick and thin.”