How Hamilton won his seventh title

Here's an extreme close view of Lewis Hamilton's celebrations, courtesy of F1's official Twitter account.

BBCCopyright: BBC

On our Formula 1 pages we have a brilliant long-read piece for you, put together by Andrew Benson and our visual team describing Lewis Hamilton's journey from his karting days as a child to his seven world titles.

Read it all and enjoy here.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Lewis Hamilton clinched a seventh World Championship and became the most successful racing driver ever with a masterful victory in the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Mercedes driver equalled Michael Schumacher's achievement in terms of titles, after already surpassing the German's number of race wins last month.

Victory at a treacherously wet and slippery Istanbul Park track in a topsy-turvy race was the 94th of the 35-year-old Briton's career.

As he received the congratulations of his team, Hamilton was almost overcome with emotion in the car after the race, saying: "To all the kids out there, dream the impossible."

Once out of the car, he added: "Seven is just unimaginable but when you work with such a great group of people and you really trust each other, there is just no end to what can do together.

"I feel like I'm only just getting started, it's really weird."

Hamilton, who does not yet have a contract for next year, added that he would "love to stay" in F1 and wanted to continue to campaign for change when it comes to human rights, diversity and environmentalism.

As Lewis Hamilton secures his record-equalling seventh world title, BBC Sport looks back at his career in illustrations.

Earlier this week the calendar for 2021 was announced. Lewis Hamilton's current contract with Mercedes expires at the end of this season but now the title is the bag, maybe there will be a new deal announced very soon.

Surely he will be in Mercedes' colours for Melbourne in March. Surely?

We all have a week off next weekend before the season ends with three races in three weeks - two in Bahrain and one in Abu Dhabi to end what has been a remarkable 2020 season.

F1Copyright: F1

We have had 14 races of 17 and Lewis Hamilton has won 10 of them. His lead is an insurmountable 110 points with three races to go. He is on 97 pole positions as well and could still get to three figures in 2020.

.Copyright: .

Lewis Hamilton has just posted this on Twitter...

Lewis HamiltonCopyright: Lewis Hamilton

FIA president Jean Todt, who was Ferrari's team principal when Michael Schumacher won five of his seven world titles, writes on Twitter...

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Hamilton won a sixth world title in 2019 - and a third in a row - as an era of dominance for the Briton and Mecedes continued.

He finished the season 87 points clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Read our report from 2019

Max Verstappen will be regarding this race as one that got away. Fastest in all three practice sessions and the first two phases of qualifying, he started second and finished sixth.

Before today, his season had consisted totally of podium finishes or DNFs.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Hamilton became just the third driver in history to claim five world titles by winning in 2018.

It was another tough battle with Sebastian Vettel for the title.

The German won three of the first four races but mistakes in the second half of the season saw Hamilton eventually win it by 88 points.

Hamilton won in title in Mexico and Vettel broke off from his post-race interview to congratulate the Briton - the two men embracing at the conclusion of a titanic battle.

Read our 2018 report

Former Formula 1 driver and ex-Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi has raced against Lewis Hamilton since the early days and tweeted this...

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton became the most successful British driver of all-time in 2017 when he sealed a fourth world title.

He had seen team-mate Nico Rosberg win the driver's championship a year earlier before the German's surprise retirement.

Sebastian Vettel was Hamilton's closest challenger and the title was sealed at the Mexico Grand Prix - a race in which the pair collided.

Read our report from 2017

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth after he was passed by team-mate Sebastian Vettel on the last lap, speaking to Sky Sports: "I'm so angry with myself. I'm so disappointed.

"I was very happy with where we were with 10 laps to go, we were fighting at the end. On the one hand, I cannot afford to do a mistake when fighting for a position and fighting for second place - and today, I'm not on the podium because of these mistakes.

"But congratulations to Seb. It's been a very difficult season and I'm happy that he can show on track what he can do."

"On Lewis Hamilton's title win: "Congratulations to Lewis, it was more a matter of when and not if. He has had an incredible season and this weekend especially, he struggled massively, like everyone did, and then the race game and he was where nobody expected him to be. It's fully deserved."

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Hamilton won his third world title in 2015, backing up his win a year earlier.

It was clinched by winning a thrilling United States Grand Prix.

Afterwards he tossed a second place cap to team-mate Nico Rosberg who furiously launched it back to him.

Read our report from 2015