Hill, Brundle and Herbert agree: no stopping Lewis at the moment
Monday 11 July 2016 14:11, UK
Lewis Hamilton is in the prime of his career and on course to cement a prominent place in F1's record books, according to Sky Sports F1's pundits.
Hamilton won his fourth home grand prix at Silverstone on Sunday to move within one point of team-mate Nico Rosberg's title lead as he chases a British record fourth world championship.
The reigning champion said after the race he felt at his "strongest" and Sky F1's former drivers turned pundits agreed with the Briton's assessment of his form.
"He's 31 and I think he's absolutely smack in the prime of his career now," said 1996 world champion Damon Hill.
"Thirty-one, 32, 33. He's able to drive and think and make decisions, it's not all flat-out."
Martin Brundle agreed, suggesting Hamilton had spare mental capacity during races to deal with other issues.
"When he said in the press conference 'I turned my motor down, I've got to think of the rest of the season' while controlling the race, it's that sort of maturity and protecting those tyres [we're talking about].
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"A peak is 28-34 [years old] of experience, of youth and all the aspects. He's right in the middle of it."
Johnny Herbert added: "He's still got years on his side. As we know as racing drivers, when you have that confidence you feed off that and it sort of doubles every time you get in the car.
"With the car he's got, and the performances he's doing, it's no surprise he's dominating like he is."
Hamilton's fourth win in the last five races means he has now has triumphed 47 times in F1, just four fewer than Alain Prost who has the second most victories in history. The Mercedes driver is also fast closing on Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna's pole position tallies.
"He could only be halfway through his grand prix championship-winning career," added Brundle. "He wants to leave a high watermark wherever he can and he's heading towards that with pole positions already.
"He's already got four British GP victories, how many world championships can he win? Obviously other teams will come at Mercedes sooner or later - we hope, anyway."
For now, Mercedes remain F1's dominant force and are heading for a third consecutive world championship double in 2016. Hill added that Hamilton was still reaping the rewards of his bold gamble in 2012 to quit McLaren.
"The key with all of these drivers is to be in the right team at the right time and he took that decision to go to Mercedes at a crucial point in his career," said Hill.
"He left McLaren and he's got himself into the pound seats. That is the trick for the next three to five years - how long are Mercedes going to stay number one? At the moment, they look like no one can touch them."
Don't miss Wednesday's F1 Report at 8.30pm as Sky F1's Ted Kravitz and 1981 Silverstone winner John Watson join Marc Priestley to review the British GP and Lewis Hamilton's latest triumph
