How good is Hamilton and how long can he stay in F1? - Q&A

McLaren's Lando Norris converted pole position into a race win at a wet-dry-wet Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday.

Max Verstappen came through the field to take second after starting at the back of the grid because of an engine penalty, while his Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar was on the podium in third.

Mercedes sealed the constructors' championship for the first time since 2021 at Interlagos following a fourth-place finish for George Russell and fifth for new world champion Kimi Antonelli.

Here BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions.

Lewis Hamilton has just completed his 400th F1 grand prix, with more than 100 of these races having him on pole position. There are drivers with a better pole percentage than this, so just how good is he and for how much longer can he stay at the top? - Clive

Lewis Hamilton is unquestionably one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers in history.

He's statistically the most successful - with the most race wins and pole positions.

He's tied with Michael Schumacher for the most championships with seven, and many would - and do - argue he should have eight, given the controversy of the mishandled final race of the 2021 season.

Greatness as an F1 driver is about more than raw statistics, but even so Hamilton has consistently proved to be at the very highest level, with a series of outstanding drives in races that will go down in history as some of the greatest ever.

Examples of those would be the 2008 British Grand Prix and the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, along with many others.

All of this should go without saying.

He's also won races in nearly all his seasons - the only exceptions being 2022, 2023 and 2025.

There is no question that, within the context of his remarkable career, Hamilton struggled relatively in the era of 'ground-effect' cars from 2022-25.

He was beaten by Mercedes team-mate George Russell in two of their three seasons together, and looked a shadow of his usual self against Charles Leclerc in 2025.

Those performances led some to question why a driver formerly famed and lauded for his adaptability did not seem as able to adapt to the driving style required of those cars.

And that, in turn, led to questions as to whether the fact he apparently could not was related to his age - he is now 41.

But with this year's cars, Hamilton is back in much more familiar territory, is performing extremely well again and is neck-and-neck with Leclerc.

Those questions about the four years from 2022-25 will remain just that, but there is no doubt Hamilton is sensitive to them. He has referenced them a number of times this year, including last weekend in Brazil, when the topic of his 400th race came up.

"I never ever thought that I would be reaching numbers like that," he said. "It's crazy because I still feel young, and regardless of the things that people say, you saw my pole last week, I still have the pace, I still have the speed and I still have the dedication, which is most important and the focus. For me, that number is kind of irrelevant."

Longevity in sport depends on many factors, and each athlete is different.

On the face of it, however, there is no obvious reason why, on an age front, Hamilton cannot continue for a good few more years - Fernando Alonso is 45 and is still performing at an extremely high level, as he proved yet again in Brazil at the weekend.

Hamilton has said he wants to race at least until F1 returns to Africa, which will not be until 2030 at the earliest, when he, too, will be 45.

For that, he will need at least one new contract, as his current one with Ferrari is believed to end next year.

Norris sparkles in Sao Paulo despite firework mishap

Norris brilliant in wet & Verstappen recovery extraordinary - driver ratings

We heard, and saw, a lot of 'yo-yo racing' in the first half of the season. This seems to have reduced. What has changed? - Ali

'Yo-yo racing' was a term coined at the start of this year for a new character of on-track battle in which cars swapped positions multiple times over a series of laps.

This was caused by the new power-units introduced this year, which have a near 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power and are fundamentally energy starved.

The operations of these engines included 'overtake' and 'boost' modes.

'Boost' is a facility for a driver to demand extra electrical energy whenever he wants, as long as the battery has charge.

'Overtake' mode gives a driver following within one second of a car in front an extra 0.5MJ of energy recovery and deployment capability per lap.