How Lewis Hamilton's new Mercedes contract puts him within reach of Schumacher-like greatness

Lewis Hamilton is already one of Formula One's all-time greats. A McLaren prodigy, he very nearly won the championship in his debut season, beating team-mate and two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the process. 11 years later, he now has four world titles, 65 race wins and 76 pole positions, putting him ahead of the names of almost everyone to have ever driven an F1 car.

Alain Prost, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and his hero Ayrton Senna have all been surpassed in one way or another. Should Hamilton win the drivers' title in 2018 he will match the five titles of Juan Manuel Fangio.

But there is still one name that sits above all others: Michael Schumacher. His numerical superiority - seven drivers' titles and 91 wins - is huge and may never be surpassed.

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With Hamilton signing another two-year contract with Mercedes - taking him until the end of the 2020 season - there is a chance that Hamilton could match or even surpass the German's once-seemingly insurmountable records.  There is some way to go but the 33-year-old is in the best possible position to find his way into sporting immortality and become the most successful F1 driver in history.

Committing his future to Mercedes, where he has been since 2013, is a solid foundation for challenging Schumacher. With no major regulation changes until 2021 it almost guarantees that Hamilton will be in a car capable of winning the championship for the next two years. It also secures his place in a team that he has won the three most recent of his four drivers' titles with.

The overall make-up of Mercedes is also important. With Valtteri Bottas his team-mate for one, possibly two, years it puts Hamilton in place as the de facto team leader. Bottas is a quick and improving driver but Hamilton will fancy his chances against the Finn, rather than Daniel Ricciardo or Max Verstappen, for example. As determined and driven as Bottas is, he will not cause the disharmony or play the mind games that Nico Rosberg did. That is partly why he was chosen.

The new contract also signals Hamilton's desire for longevity. His current contract would have expired at the end of 2018 and a new one had been referred to as a formality by Mercedes since the start of the season. It was the most likely outcome that Hamilton would stay at Mercedes but because of his growing interests outside of F1 it was not impossible that he would quit.

That he remains is good for the sport. Like him or not he is F1's biggest draw and one of its biggest characters.  And incredibly successful.  He brings things that no other driver can. Without him F1 would (and will be) be poorer. His desire for victory seems undimmed, even if he does have downbeat weekends. Just look at his reactions to taking pole and then failing to win at Silverstone.

After winning his fourth world title last season Hamilton claimed he had no desire to beat Schumacher's record seven titles. He did admit, though, that it would be "cool" to match Fangio's five and said that doing so was a goal. This may not have changed but what has changed is that being with Mercedes for another two seasons makes matching Schumacher possible.

Possible, though, does mot mean likely. Just how difficult would it be for Hamilton to take seven titles? It would mean winning in 2018 and following it up with another two championships in a row. That would take it to four in a row and seven overall.  A big ask.

Only two drivers have won four titles in a row: Fangio and Schumacher. If Hamilton is to match the latter by the end of his new contract, he will require some of the German's dominance. Now we know he will be in a Mercedes until 2021, it would be likely that he will line up as favourite in 2019 and 2020.

The biggest problem for Hamilton from now until the end of his new contract is Ferrari. In 2017 Vettel the Scuderia's improvement was masked by a mid-late season implosion in Asia, which handed Hamilton a superb opportunity for the title which he took.

This year the teams are even more evenly matched; Hamilton is eight points behind Vettel after 10 rounds but has a job on his hands to overcome the Ferrari driver and deny him a fifth title. Another unknown is Red Bull, who could pose a threat in 2019 and 2020, if their new partnership with Honda is as successful as they are hoping.

Regarding Schumacher's 91 wins, the task is of a similar magnitude. Hamilton has 65 victories. There are 11 races left in 2017 and probably around 40 in 2019 and 2020 combined. Let's say we have 52 races until the end of Hamilton's new contract.

To overtake Schumacher, then, he would need 27 wins. Or a win every 1.92 races. That's hard. But in the last four seasons with Mercedes (from 2014-2017) Hamilton won 40 out of 79 races - or a win every 1.97 races. A pretty similar figure.

A Ferrari resurgence has limited his number of wins in 2018 to three from 10. But factors outside of his influence have played a part. Winning positions in Austria and Australia were thrown away by poor strategy calls and reliability.

It is possible that Hamilton could win six of the next 10 races and with it the championship. It is perhaps even likely. 21 wins would then be required from the next two seasons. If he managed that, it would be almost certainly enough to take the three titles he needs.

The intriguing thing is that his closest rival this year and last, Vettel, also has four world titles and 51 wins. This season they are in competition to match Fangio. The next three they could be in competition to match Schumacher. One of them might do it. Hamilton looks the more likely.

Unfortunately, this is less likely as it would rely on Mercedes finding a performance advantage equivalent the one they had for three years from 2014. In other words: an advantage that has been eroded in the last two seasons.  Ferrari have now caught up with Mercedes and arguably have an equal if not better package than the Silver Arrows.

Still, if we take a more middling and perhaps realistic estimate on the next three seasons and say Hamilton wins two of the next three titles and 20 races in that period. This would leave him on six world championships and 85 wins.

Would it be that hard to tempt him for another a final, season-long shot at Schumacher's record?  To be the most successful driver of all time? It would be quite a poser. Could Ferrari even tempt him for a last-hurrah after eight seasons at Mercedes? And imagine if he managed it.

If Lewis Hamilton retired from F1 with just four titles to his name, it would be hugely disappointing. It would also mean that Vettel would have five, six or more.

The motivation then should be beating one current German Ferrari driver and taking the records from another. Would he then be regarded as the Greatest of All Time? Maybe. But there are cases to be made for a great many: Senna, Clark, Schumacher, Prost and Fangio, among others. The prospect of finding out is something to savour.