Lewis Hamilton: The Best Ever?

[Thang Nguyen]

5 second time penalty for missing an option "I' not sure" =))

 

[Thang Nguyen]

Having the best car of the grid is one factor of Lewis' success.

 

[Enthilzha]

Having the best car of the grid is one factor of Lewis' success.

And Fangio, Clark, Stewart, Lauda, Senna, Prost, Mansell, Schumacher etc

 

[Dux]

He has usually had a half-decent car at least, but for periods of time in his career (at McLaren), far from the best. Despite that, he was always securing victories, podiums and pushing the better cars all the way. He almost always pushed a weaker car to it's absolute limit making it look much better than it was. Even though he doesn't have to do that right now with the car he has, I would argue that he is a better, more consistent and mature driver than ever.

Hamilton has always made teams better and the cars better by his presence - when he has joined, everything including the car has always improved, and when he has left, they have always declined - one of the marks of a great F1 driver (and one of Alonso's weaknesses despite his superb driving ability). I can only assume that Hamilton is particularly good at providing useful feedback on the car to his team.

If anyone made cars look better that is Vettel. Won with Toro Rosso, won with Red Bull and both teams never had victory before, especially RB being first team. Also won with Ferrari in only his 2nd race in days Mercedes dominated, and he just entered a team who was in very bad situation the year before.

Hamilton never had a bad car. He drove McLaren from day 1, and although he drove it and earned it on merit, he never had a bad car, that is a fact. He always drove a car capable of winning race or even titles, but really just wasn't able to pull out the maximum out of it, and it wasn't like they won a lot because of him, Button was winning regularly and quite frankly was much better in complex races that included rain, which is another criteria to measure drivers.

 

[Dux]

And Fangio, Clark, Stewart, Lauda, Senna, Prost, Mansell, Schumacher etc

No one to this extent.

 

[Enthilzha]

If anyone made cars look better that is Vettel. Won with Toro Rosso, won with Red Bull and both teams never had victory before, especially RB being first team. Also won with Ferrari in only his 2nd race in days Mercedes dominated, and he just entered a team who was in very bad situation the year before.

Hamilton never had a bad car. He drove McLaren from day 1, and although he drove it and earned it on merit, he never had a bad car, that is a fact. He always drove a car capable of winning race or even titles, but really just wasn't able to pull out the maximum out of it, and it wasn't like they won a lot because of him, Button was winning regularly and quite frankly was much better in complex races that included rain, which is another criteria to measure drivers.

I have never been that impressed by Vettel. Sure he's a decent driver but I would put others including Hamilton well above him.

I think Hamilton has always been able to make the most out of a car - whether good or bad, and has been excellent in all conditions (Button was amazing in the wet though).

I think we'll have to agree to disagree...

 

[Enthilzha]

No one to this extent.

I don't think that Mercedes have had a more dominant car than certain other manufacturers when they were at their peak to be honest... Lotus at times, Williams at points in the 80s and 90s, Ferrari in the Schumacher era, Red Bull more recently.

Most dominant car ever was the McLaren MP4/4 of 1988 with Senna and Prost which had 15 poles and 15 wins out of 16 races...

Point is, there have always been eras where certain teams have had very dominant cars - now is just the latest example although Ferrari's car at least has often been up with the Merc more recently.

 

[Rinzymaster]

Without Mercedes under his ass, he would won not that much. Best car always helps. But he definitely does not come in the row next to nigel mansell, ayrton senna, alain prost & michael schumacher. Hamilton is good, but does not belong to the best. Mercedes is 50% of his achievements. Other 25% is the mafFIA

 

[chrisracer]

Best ever? He finished second in a two car season when Nico won the title. This is a joke.

 

[Pawgy]

no. He may have the best car but not he best driver by far. Jim Clark is way ahead.

 

[dcully]

Best car nowhere near best driver.

 

[Dux]

I don't think that Mercedes have had a more dominant car than certain other manufacturers when they were at their peak to be honest... Lotus at times, Williams at points in the 80s and 90s, Ferrari in the Schumacher era, Red Bull more recently.

Most dominant car ever was the McLaren MP4/4 of 1988 with Senna and Prost which had 15 poles and 15 wins out of 16 races...

Point is, there have always been eras where certain teams have had very dominant cars - now is just the latest example although Ferrari's car at least has often been up with the Merc more recently.

It's not about the peak, it's about the time they dominated.

Almost every strong domination be it Williams year, McLaren year, Ferrari year or Red Bull 2011 year, they finished and followed a season with big uncertainty.

To put it into perspective, Mercedes are dominating for 6 years straight

 

[LTLGamer1]

The only way you can compare the greatest drivers of the sport, is if you put all of them in 'equal' machinery and hold a championship.

 

[Enthilzha]

It's not about the peak, it's about the time they dominated.

Almost every strong domination be it Williams year, McLaren year, Ferrari year or Red Bull 2011 year, they finished and followed a season with big uncertainty.

To put it into perspective, Mercedes are dominating for 6 years straight

Not exactly true. Plenty of teams have had decent stretches of domination. Ferrari in the Schumacher years and Red Bull with Vettel being the best recent examples.

 

[pemigris]

Take one type of car for all, take current and former world champions, let them do a race, at the end someone will win who even do not have a title.

Wait a moment....

It already happened, at the Nürburgring, 1984

 

[Turk]

He probably is the pinnacle of F1 driver to date. As much as we like the raw talent of the older generations the likes of Schumacher and Hamilton are another level of professionalism and Hamilton is the evolved version of Schumacher, he's just had longer with the benefits of science and experience than Schumacher had.

I think Max Verstappen seems to be the next stage in F1 driver and 10 years from now I kind of expect he'll have moved the game on again.

The current gen of drivers just have a level of education and understanding that didn't exist in the past. It's like comparing professionals to amateurs the gap is that large. So much engineering and science has happened in the past 15 years, I feel there's just a very large gap between modern drivers and previous generations.

 

[Dux]

Not exactly true. Plenty of teams have had decent stretches of domination. Ferrari in the Schumacher years and Red Bull with Vettel being the best recent examples.

I never said no one ever dominated. What I said is that no one ever dominated as much Mercedes, making it the most dominant team ever in the history, by a mile.

 

[bsmooth]

Better duck fast theres a lot of facts flying around ! Really not sure any one driver is the best. He would have to be the best in all conditions, and have that seat of the pants feel, which in modern cars must be hard.
I've seen videos of modern drivers driving older cars, and many of them have a new found respect for what that was like.
I think a lot of older drivers had a very good understanding of what was going on with the car, but it was harder then without all the Data modern drivers have, it was a lot of trial and error.
I would still have to rate the older drivers like Fangio, Clark and so may others higher. And no thats not a fact, just an opinion, like so many others.
My only wish is that the older drivers got the coverage and exposure the newer ones get, then again maybe that very mystique is what made the older ones so great.
They all earned a spot as great drivers, everyone that ever drove in an F1 car.

 

[motoliser]

He is one of the good F1 drivers. But the further we progress in the sport the lower is the driver contribution for the win.

 

[mesa]

"Lucky" Lulu Hamilton.