Lewis Hamilton deserves his fifth world championship because of the consistency he showed across the season, according to Lance Stroll.

The Williams driver also believes the world champion is still improving.

“He’s just been consistent and he’s been getting better by the looks of it,” said Stroll. “I’m not at Mercedes, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes but you rarely see Lewis crash, you rarely see Lewis make silly mistakes.

“I think that the key to scoring a championship at the end of the day is just picking up points. If you’re third and the risk of overtaking second is high, it’s just about picking up the points at the end of the day. All those points add up. He’s proven that over the last couple of seasons in particular.”

Hamilton and Mercedes faced a stronger challenge from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari this year. Nonetheless Hamilton was again able to clinch the championship with two races to spare.

“It’s been great to see [him] alongside Sebastian in, I would say, an equally competitive car. Maybe it’s more competitive, maybe it’s less, I don’t know, you can talk in details

“But he’s just out-raced him and out-drove him and you have to respect that as a racing driver. Because a season like Formula 1, 21 races, it’s such a long year and he seems to just come in every weekend and get the job done which is easier said than done. Big respect towards him.”

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2018 F1 season