Ranked: Lewis Hamilton's seven F1 titles

January 7th marks Lewis Hamilton's 40th birthday. 

If the seven-time champion wants to become an eight-timer, which he feels was stolen from him in 2021, he will now have to become the oldest champion since Sir Jack Brabham in 1966 into his 40s.

Only Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio along with Brabham have won titles in their 40s. 

WIth Hamilton turning the big 4 0, RacingNews365 takes a look at his seven titles to date, and have ranked them. 

Let us know if you agree with our ranking in the poll and in the comments!

7. 2015

Hamilton demolished Rosberg across 2015, with his victory in the Chinese GP in round three perhaps summing the season up. 

Rosberg complained that Hamilton was driving too slowly whilst leading, backing up him into Sebastian Vettel, thus jeopardising the one-two finish. Hamilton nonchalantly brushed that off on his way to one of 11 victories from the season. 

He was not pushed that hard by Rosberg, but after winning the title in the United States, eased off for the final three races, which proved a critical mistake as it allowed Rosberg to gather momentum heading into 2016, where he would also win the first four for seven straight wins. 

6. 2019

Much like 2015, Hamilton's sixth title in 2019 was a rather non-challenged affair that he had wrapped up pretty early. 

From the 12 races up to the summer break, he won eight of them, including six of the first eight, finishing second to Valtteri Bottas in the other two. 

He locked the title down early, especially after Ferrari's challenge faltered after its 2017 and 2018 title bids. Granted Charles Leclerc and Vettel had a fast car, perhaps some might argue too fast in the middle part of the season, but weren't able to piece together a title challenge. 

5. 2014

On paper, Hamilton demolished Rosberg with 11 wins to the German's five with Hamilton taking control of the title race after the summer break after a scrappy season up until that point. 

There had been rotten bad luck, especially towards the summer break with an engine fire in Hungary qualifying and a brake failure in Germany, but there were also clumsy mistakes such as hitting Jenson Button in Germany when passing and damaging his front-wing, only finishing third instead of second. 

He only took the championship lead when Rosberg's car had a systems meltdown in Singapore, but Hamilton's tour de force after the dressing down both received after their Spa collision made the title a formality - the hideousness of double-points in the Abu Dhabi finale aside.

4. 2020

Granted this was Hamilton's most dominant season with 11 wins from the 16 races he contested after missing the Sakhir GP due to COVID - it is the only race he has missed since his debut in 2007. 

Further granted, Ferrari's challenge imploded in pre-season, Red Bull was well off the pace and Bottas was just realising that no matter what he did, Hamilton was just a better racing driver and had him covered. 

But to show the level of dominance Hamilton did in 2020 does count for something as it is one of those rare seasons a driver does something truly extraordinary, as Verstappen did in 2023.

3. 2017

If the defeat to Rosberg in 2016 taught Hamilton anything, it was that he could not afford to leave points on the table and had to maximise everything, every weekend.

Sure he had an off-weekend with fourth in Russia and gave up a podium to be sporting to Bottas in Hungary, but otherwise, this was the beginning of 'peak Hamilton.'

The regulation changes gave Mercedes its first real challenge of the turbo hybrid era in Ferrari as Vettel mounted a challenge. 

Just as Hamilton got into his stride with a dominant win at Monza, Vettel lost his as the Ferrari challenge fell apart, but Hamilton's fourth title propelled him into the rare club of four-timers or more.

2. 2008

After the heartbreak of 2007, Hamilton was back in 2008 for the Brazilian showdown with Felipe Massa.

This was a different title for Hamilton. If the others have all been about destroying team-mates with speed, guile and experience, this was about mentality.

He tried to win the Japanese GP at Fuji at Turn 1 and cost himself points and could have tried an all or nothing lunge on Vettel in the Brazil rain in those final few laps. 

This was a mentality-based championship for Hamilton, who was still adjusting to the global celebrity status he would have to endure.

1. 2018

This, by every metric, was a title Ferrari and Vettel should have won. 

The Ferrari car was a better machine than the "diva" Mercedes for most of the season, but Vettel crumbled after legitimately going toe-to-toe with Hamilton.

The decisive race was the German GP where Vettel crashed out of the lead whilst Hamilton won from 14th - his lowest ever.

That was a 50-point swing in the championship alone, which coupled with further spins and incidents for Vettel, put his challenge to rest, and snuffed out the last drops of a title contender in him. 

Hamilton's victory at Monza was a stunning, underrated drive and is one of his finest, with the Singapore pole lap being one of the greatest of all-time.