Hamilton wrapped up his record-equalling seventh title in Turkey last month and picked up his 11th win of the season in Bahrain on Sunday. Mercedes have already won the constructors' title for an unprecedented seventh year in a row.
While 40-year-old racers were relatively common in the sport's early days, they are a rarity in modern Formula One with an increasing emphasis on youth.
The four times world champion is enjoying his best start to a season since he was at Red Bull in 2011, leading Lewis Hamilton by seven points after two wins and a second place from the first three races.
The Briton eased his Mercedes across the line 6.2 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, with Max Verstappen, who started 16th, finishing a surprise third for Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton pulverised the track record to claim pole position on Saturday ahead of a US Grand Prix that could secure the Mercedes driver's fourth Formula One world championship.
Hamilton's flying lap of one minute 22.188 seconds set a new record at Albert Park but was only 0.268 seconds in front of German Vettel, offering the tantalising prospect of a competitive championship after three years of domination by the Silver Arrows.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado will race for Williams again next season with Finland's Valtteri Bottas handed the role of reserve, the Formula One team said on Thursday.
Max Verstappen gave himself a perfect 20th birthday present by winning the last Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton stretched his Formula One world championship lead to 34 points.
Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg chalked up his seventh win in a row at the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday with team mate Lewis Hamilton fighting back from 10th on the grid to seal a Mercedes one-two finish.
The Mercedes driver, who fought back from last to second after being sent spinning at the third corner by Ferrari's Finn, had spoken immediately after the race of the Italian team's 'interesting tactics'.
Lewis Hamilton put Monaco misery behind him on Sunday with a controlled Canadian Grand Prix victory.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a wet and crazily chaotic German Grand Prix littered with crashes and safety car periods on Sunday with Mercedes' Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton failing to score.
Verstappen made a clean getaway from pole position and it took Hamilton all but the last four of the 70 laps to catch and pass the 21-year-old Dutchman. Mercedes got the strategy spot on, despite the Briton's reservations.
Lewis Hamilton emphasised his loyalty to Mercedes while leaving open the possibility that he might one day be tempted to race for Formula One glamour team Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic Russian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to take a huge step towards his third world championship after Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg retired with throttle failure.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole for Mercedes at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Mercedes's brilliant pitstop strategy spoiled the game for Max Verstappen in Hungarian Grand Prix, says Rediff's F1 columnist Raja Sen.
Stewards were investigating whether the Mercedes driver, who won from 14th on the grid, illegally crossed a line separating the entry from the track when he hurriedly changed his mind about pitting during a safety car period.
The Finn's lap of one minute 17.221 seconds around Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya was the second fastest of the eight days of winter testing and slower only than team mate Sebastian Vettel's best on Thursday.
Formula One said a tribute was in the works, with details to be confirmed. A minute's silence is likely before the race.
Hamilton has won half of the season's 20 races so far, propelling his team to an unprecedented sixth successive title double, but Brazil was a disappointing weekend with Valtteri Bottas retiring.
Formula One's clunky 'halo' head protection device, the most obvious novelty of the 2018 season, has divided opinion.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has insisted that his team must consult him on who would replace recently-retired world champion Nico Rosberg next season before also warning them against signing big names like Fernando Alonso.
Formula One is changing its scoring system to award a point to the driver who sets the fastest race lap, starting from this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Fernando Alonso would be top of the list for Mercedes if Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton fails to agree a new deal with the team beyond this year.
Champions Mercedes are chasing a sixth successive double, and Lewis Hamilton his sixth drivers' title, but the task looks tougher than ever.
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was handed a one-place grid penalty for the German Grand Prix following a breach of tyre rules in Saturday's qualifying session.
For the first time in F1 history, two four-time champions are on the same grid and vying for their fifth title.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and his team will take centre stage, hoping for another year of dominance after winning both titles for the past six years and ending up fastest in winter testing. Ferrari can be trusted to provide plenty of headlines with four-times champion Sebastian Vettel fighting to reassert himself at the team after being outshone by quick newcomer Leclerc, a double winner in 2019.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton soaked up the energy of a roaring home crowd to win the British Grand Prix.
'It is going to be a lifelong thing for me.'
Germany's Nico Rosberg won the Italian Grand Prix for dominant Mercedes on Sunday to cut teammate Lewis Hamilton's Formula One world championship lead to two points with seven races remaining.
Lewis Hamilton is planning to get plenty of rest over the next few days
Lewis Hamilton tightened his grip on securing a fifth Formula One world title by coming from nowhere to claim a stunning pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix in his Mercedes on Saturday.
The pole was the second of the Dutch 22-year-old's Formula One career and the first in Brazil for engine partners Honda since the late triple champion Ayrton Senna in 1991 with McLaren.
Ferrari had every hope of winning their home Italian Grand Prix for the first time since 2010 on Sunday and they blew it.
Nico Rosberg beat title favourite Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the decisive Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday as the dominant Mercedes team mates locked out the front row in qualifying.
Nico Rosberg seized pole position for the Russian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with world champion Lewis Hamilton joining his team mate on the front row in a perfect qualifying for Mercedes.
Vettel, now 17 points behind the Briton after starting eight ahead, led from pole position until rain caused chaos in the closing laps, with the German skidding into the barriers in front of his home fans.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, the Briton's closest rival, finished only sixth after an early collision with Red Bull's Max Verstappen left the German fighting back from 19th place.
