Lewis Hamilton - One of the Greats?

[delpinsky]

I voted YES, but he will never be the greatest until he will drive and win with a FERRARI

 

[LeSunTzu]

Beyond the 5 titles, Hamilton managed to get at least one pole and win at least one race in every season, even when he had not the best car of the grid between 2010 and 2013. That is more than enough proof that he truly is among the greatest.

 

[homecalendar]

Compared to the five titles of Fangio its just nothing. All these chupas chups babies can be great only in comparison with each other.

 

[paracletus]

In all fairness, to beat SV - a 4x world champion - who himself had a car more than capable of winning the DC certainly is a superb achievement in itself.
I would expect most F1 spectators with even a little bit of knowledge/intelligence can appreciate it. Meanwhile, there will always be a salty few fans whoever wins the title.

 

[UOPshadow]

If F1 is so predictable to you, why do you even bother watching?

I'm not him, but I don't watch anymore... it is boring as hell. The last time I gave up was when Schumacher dominated in the Ferrari.

I watch GT3, Indycar (great!), IMSA... basically everyhing else nowadays.

 

[gamer19]

I voted YES, but he will never be the greatest until he will drive and win with a FERRARI

Agree... he has to prove himself in worst car on the grid.

 

[Midnight⠀]

His talent as a driver is definitely remarkable and proved himself multiple times, however his attitude is rather unpleasant.

 

[danraz3r]

Ekhem, Alonso, Button and Rosberg, ekhem.

You know that doesnt includes Alonso . Several times i have seen some foreign newspaper telling who are the best f1 drivers in history and Alonso has been there and no mention of Hamilton, cuz they know that Hamilton only wins with the best car of the grid. As has been said a true champion has to win with no such advantage....thats why hamilton is not as good as Senna and friends.

Take some look:

https://www.thetoptens.com/best-formula-one-drivers/

Better arguments than mine:

"Up there with Ayrton Senna in terms of talent and race-craft, probably not as fast as Senna on a single lap, but I would say he is the most complete race driver ever because he knows how to handle pressure, he know how to get the most out of the shopping trolleys that they build him of late and he is utterly relentless! Similarly to Ayrton Senna, he has spent most of his career if not all of it without sitting in the best car. In a nutshell: Give him the second best package on the grid and he'll win you the championship"

 

[mrbungle83]

I think it's a daft question, the question should be is he the greatest of all time.

 

[danraz3r]

I think it's a daft question, the question should be is he the greatest of all time.

I supose the authors dont ask that cuz it doesnt need to be asked ...hahah.

In case of doubt: greatest of all time is Senna.

 

[Boby Kim]

STOP COMPARING! All drivers from the past had different conditions. Its compairing apples vs...other thingies...except apples. Remember drivers as they were in their time.. Only if Senna, Prost, Schumacher would be able to join the current F1 a comparison would maybe be in place...except for Max...of course...but you all understand...right...
Hereby i am the founder of Maxism

 

[Appie Kuipers]

Next year 2 youngdogs will bite, Ham has to battle, will see if he can!
There won't come a 6e, all era's someday will end!

 

[mrbungle83]

I supose the authors dont ask that cuz it doesnt need to be asked ...hahah.

In case of doubt: greatest of all time is Senna.

I didn't say he was the greatest, but how would he not be considered A great. BTW I disagree with you and put Michael Schumacher as the greatest.

 

[Copef1]

I supose the authors dont ask that cuz it doesnt need to be asked ...hahah.

In case of doubt: greatest of all time is Senna.

Wrong!! As everyone knows the greatest of all time is Jim Clark.

 

[Theodore 2019]

yeah you are right, no question of luck...

but is a bit related with best cars. But yeah he is a very skilled driver. And may be if you give a great car to kimi and make hamiltn go to ferrari may be kimi will win some champs and hamilton will know what is to handle with a frustrating car?

For me is the difference of car performance that is defining 80% of who wins.... sad but its the actual situation.

Offtopic, do you drive a Radical?

 

[Alex72]

In the golden days of brass balls - those guys were THE best - to the end of times. In today's era Hamilton is definitely an awesome competitor because he proved that through his record with a bucket full of wins.

 

[ZuneGuy]

Nothing wrong with being a Hammy fan and the guy is a good driver. But please stop the Senna comparison because its dreadful. You could go on forever about the differences in era's of cars. Senna could drive Hamilton well ...oh ya is the luckiest driver in F1.

The only thing dreadful is your dreadful opinion. You act as though Lewis was the only driver to ever have had the chance to drive the same cars that he drove. Now If I remember correctly Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, and Valtteri Bottas were all his teammates over the years. Lewis tied Alonso (a two time drivers' champion) in points his first year in Formula One. After his first year he had more points than every teammate he had except for one year, and that was Jenson Button, come on Jenson Button! Lewis could beat him with his eyes closed.

Anyone who is a fan of Hamilton's knows that was the year that he fired his father as manager, broke up again with his girlfriend, and he had to deal with racial hatred that year- something that no other F1 driver has ever had to deal with. My point? Every teammate that Lewis was partnered with had the same exact car, with the same exact technology and they could never do what Lewis was able to do in the car- period.
Now either you start to make sense or I'm going to start wondering how old you are...

 

[Andrew Harper]

Yes of course he will be considered one of F1's greats. The record speaks for itself.

The one issue though that will be raised of course is his records have been set when he was in the best car and in a situation whereby more often than not that one team had a dominant position in the championship.

It's not uncommon, you could use that argument with Mika Hakkinen, even Mansell who had a huge car advantage in '92.

However in modern motorsport that tends to be the situation. Whereas in the 70's and 80's you tended to have four teams (and eight drivers) fighting for the title. In modern F1 it tends to two teams and maybe two or three drivers (depending on the politics within the team for example).

Does that make his achievements less impressive. Of course not, it's just a different era.

Same with Schumacher. His record is partly because he had that team built around him, however his record now looks even more impressive because he achieved what Alonso and Vettel have so far failed to do, and that's make Ferrari a championship winning team.

I'm afraid I will never grow to like Lewis, I've never been able to like his personality since he's been in F1 (and as Brit I don't like saying that) but I admire his achievements and for sure he will be considered one of F1's greatest drivers.

 

[Tylda]

You know that doesnt includes Alonso . Several times i have seen some foreign newspaper telling who are the best f1 drivers in history and Alonso has been there and no mention of Hamilton, cuz they know that Hamilton only wins with the best car of the grid. As has been said a true champion has to win with no such advantage....thats why hamilton is not as good as Senna and friends.

Take some look:

https://www.thetoptens.com/best-formula-one-drivers/

Better arguments than mine:

"Up there with Ayrton Senna in terms of talent and race-craft, probably not as fast as Senna on a single lap, but I would say he is the most complete race driver ever because he knows how to handle pressure, he know how to get the most out of the shopping trolleys that they build him of late and he is utterly relentless! Similarly to Ayrton Senna, he has spent most of his career if not all of it without sitting in the best car. In a nutshell: Give him the second best package on the grid and he'll win you the championship"

Man I'm not defending Hamilton, I showed this guy when Hamilton lose to "worse" driver.

 

[billymitchell]

• McLaren's cheating taints his entry into F1 and lucky championship win over Massa.
• During the Redbull years, Button held his own against Hamilton and nearly won as many GPs.
• During the dominate Mercedes years, the car has been the hands-down winner, and Hamilton just had to outperform his teammate.

Hamilton is a brilliant qualifier, but he is totally dependent on his team to give him a winning car and manage the race strategy. He is purely a racer, and a formidable opponent in that sense.
Also, he's a better champion than Vettel ever was or will be.