Luis Hamilton described Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio as the "father of the world" Formula One racing car and said he was crazy about his approach of equating his number with five titles.
Vanguio, until Michael Schumacher won seven titles, is the most prolific champion and the hero of the 1950s is still arguably the best in history and certainly in the period in which many drivers died on the track.
Hamilton can tie Vanguio's number on Sunday before three races at the end of the season as the 33-year-old Mercedes needs eight points ahead of Ferrari Grand Prix champion Sebastian Vettel.
"He is our father and one of the greatest drivers from the start and we will always be appreciated," he told reporters.
"I feel crazy about my number of titles."
Hamilton does not look enviously at the Fangio era, a time full of drivers' funerals and also quite different from the environment in which a grandson of a Caribbean immigrant came to England.
Hamilton broke the barriers in Formula 1 when he became the first and only mixed race champion and did so after coming from a modest family with no wealth or history in motorsport.
While Fangio dominated the tournament, Davidson was Hamilton's grandfather working in London's transport after arriving from Grenada.
"I do not know whether the fifties of the last century were particularly good or not, they were not good for blacks so maybe I could not be on the track if I lived in it," Hamilton said.
"I am grateful to be present in the present era and with existing technology and watching the development of cars."
Hamilton won 71 races in Formula One versus 24 for Vanguo, finishing second behind Schumacher (91), but the seasons that competed for the Argentine driver were six or seven races, compared to 21.
