Mercedes F1 boss: Hamilton the best he has ever been in 2018
Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff believes Lewis Hamilton has driven better than ever in 2018 on the way to his fifth title and his fourth with the team
Wolff says Hamilton has become a more "complete" driver than previously, and has not made mistakes in the 2018 campaign.
"This is the best Lewis Hamilton I've seen in the last six years," said Wolff.
"He has driven better. He has been better out of the car. Very, very complete.
"We had times when the car was good enough to win and times when the car was not good enough to win, and he was very stable.
"His racecraft is great and that is always one of his strengths - this year that was definitely one of the key factors.
"We all do mistakes. Small ones. [But] he didn't."
Wolff believes that having matched Juan Manuel Fangio on five Hamilton can now challenge Michael Schumacher's record of seven world championships.
"You know whilst you are in a career, you never get to acknowledge greatness," he said.
"You get to acknowledge when a career is over.
"We need to somehow realise that there is a five-time world champion who has just equalled Fangio's record. There is not many among them out there.
"As long as he is in a good car and continues enjoying what he does today, there is more to come.
"But the reason he has won the fifth championship, is that he concentrates on the job in hand, and not look too far away.
"Before reaching seven, there is a sixth to win and we haven't scored a single point for that one.
"As long as we provide a car that is competitive and can win championship and he continues to drive like he does, this can be a relationship forever."
Wolff stressed that the team now has to focus on securing the constructors' title, having lost ground to Ferrari in Mexico to reduce its lead to 55 points with two races to go.
"We are very happy about the fifth drivers' championship because that is the most visible and most important championship, but there is a constructors' championship still out there that we want to secure," he said.
"It is not easy as you can see [in Mexico], and you can only count records once you close the book.
"And I don't see us closing the book at the moment, we enjoy what we do and that is why I am not looking at this at the moment."
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