Lewis Hamilton's 'most impressive season' in Formula 1

[Lunix I]

After clinching his sixth world title, Lewis Hamilton talked in abstract rather than concrete terms about the scale of his achievement.

"I am working on a masterpiece," he said, "and I haven't quite finished it yet. I am trying to understand. It takes a long time to master a craft and while I feel like I am mastering it, there is still more to master, still more to add to it, still more pieces of the puzzle to add.

"There will be more ups and downs along the way, but I feel I have the best tools now to be able to deal with those."

Hamilton's achievement moves him ever closer to becoming the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time, as Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles is within reach next year.

It comes towards the end of arguably Hamilton's most dominant year, but that in itself raises questions about how to assess where it stands in his career.

Hamilton's 2019 has lacked the stand-out 'wow' moments so often associated with him, such as happened last year with his out-of-nowhere pole lap at Singapore, or his stunning race victory in Italy.

On the other hand, he has been more seamless, more remorseless, more consistent than ever before.

And inside his Mercedes team, they have no doubts about just how high a level Hamilton has reached this season.

Mercedes chief engineer Andrew Shovlin says: "It's perhaps not been his most spectacular season but in many ways it's been his most impressive season. Making mistakes, I can't really think of any things he's done wrong."

Technical director James Allison adds: "He's just been a points machine, getting them wherever. He's won a lot of races.

"[He's been] every bit as strong as last year, just not quite as flashy. It doesn't have that single stand-out appeal of the Singapore lap sort of plucked from nowhere, or the inch-perfect positioning of his car to force Vettel into a mistake in Monza. But go look at his Mexico race if you want to see a professional driver at the peak of his power."