Lewis Hamilton: The Best Ever?

[Kakusso]

Objectively the best ever is the driver with the best stats, everything else is subjective.
The driver with the best stats is Michael Schumacher.

 

[F_B]

Objectively the best ever is the driver with the best stats, everything else is subjective.
The driver with the best stats is Michael Schumacher.

Yeah…but we’re not robots, are we?

 

[PegaMixel]

Objectively the best ever is the driver with the best stats, everything else is subjective.
The driver with the best stats is Michael Schumacher.

And even then its hard to compare stats when things like races per season, points per race, etc is in an constant change due to the FIA changing the regulations.

If the FIA changes a F1 season for whatever reason to 3 races per season, one could become the statistical most successful F1 driver of all time by simply winning 24 Races.

 

[LeSunTzu]

Objectively the best ever is the driver with the best stats, everything else is subjective.
The driver with the best stats is Michael Schumacher.

If you look at the stats (not in raw numbers but in percentage), it is rather Fangio and Clark who stand out. Then numbers do not tell the whole truth because the sport was quite different at their eras.

 

[wombat999]

Yeah…but we’re not robots, are we?

At times I wonder about that!

 

[Dux]

did you even read your own comment or are you just triggered ferrari lost last year when they had the better car?

How do you know they had better car? I think the Ferrari was fastest car prior Spanish GP when FIA introduced tires which worked better for the Mercedes, and post Singapore, including Singapore, the Mercedes was ahead of everyone on the field by considerable margin.

Having the fastest car in, 4 races, while being pretty much even in another 7 and completely inferior in other 7 is not what I would describe as fastest car.

Plain and simple, the Mercedes was the fastest and best team for 70% of 2018.

 

[Miguel Batista]

Is "best ever" even limited to F1 - plenty of rally drivers would surpass F1 drivers IMO

Agree with this somewhat. I don't think you can have a GOAT discussion without Sébastien Loeb name in the mix. Shame they never gave him the f1 license. I mean, the dude was back to back 9x world rally champion... if that doesn't show he can handle a car, what does? And second place in Le Mans back in 2006 and a string of excellent records in all motoring sports he got himself into. Dude is crazy good!

Sure he looks a bit like the crying boy in the infamous crying boy painting but that is no reason not to give him an F1 racing license.

 

[Dux]

If you look at the stats (not in raw numbers but in percentage), it is rather Fangio and Clark who stand out. Then numbers do not tell the whole truth because the sport was quite different at their eras.

It is pretty much the circumstances. While Schumacher won many others did too. Won poles, podiums and races.

During these 2014 - 2019 times while Mercedes dominates, only three teams fought for podiums. Mercedes enjoyed special engine mode for qualifying achieving as much as 0.5 per lap. Having DRS while overtaking chances decreased become much more crucial than years before, it is all what makes his stats pretty much, lesser.

 

[Alex72]

Wonder what it feels like to know that you never have to work ever again at that age. And i dont understand some of my friends who go "omg if i didnt have my work i would die of boredom!". Oh re-he-he-heaaaally?! With that amount of cash i would buy race cars, tune them, drive them, race them and i would buy a boat taking a tour to warm White beaches with blue-green Waters. I would have so many projects that i could never be bored. I would have want to live normally first though Before getting that amount of Money to really appreciate them and not get them from birth.

 

[Terry Rock]

"Oh Jesus!...you've gone and done it now."
For the next few weeks, they'll be nothing but sparring in this thread.
There is simply no way to define the outright best driver in all of F1.
There's just been too many design changes over the years to call this one.
Going all the way back to the Jim Clark "tin-can, flying-bomb" era... the cars drove and handled completely different.
Much later, we got to what I affectionately call 'the power-play'era...with 1200-1400 hp 'monsters'...where you muscled the cars...sometimes with one hand, while shifting through a dog box....different still.
Now, you have the 'torque-snappers' electric glide era.
In Lewis's twelve years, he has certainly been consistent and is simply one of...if not the best in this current class.
Just go back and watch the start of his career till now.
He's been good in every single category and simply surprised Fernando in 2007
FA knew he was good but was still probably thinking Lewis was a 'newbie' he could easily dominate.
That simply did not happen... much to his chagrin.
You do have to give credit where it is due.

 

[GTR233]

Comparing drivers between different eras is just impossible as cars and rules are totally different.
I like Hamilton and he is a champion for sure...but is he really the best driver even today ?
I mean the only way to be sure : give the same car to all drivers and we will see which one is the best. To be champion in f1 the skill or talent is not enough as you also need to be in the "good" team with the "good" car : give a mercedes to vettel or ricciardo and we will see if hamilton is still ahead

 

[RobertGracie]

Senna is the greatest of all time without measure, Hamilton claims hes better than Senna, then yes but what has Hamilton done off the track to Stevenage, NOTHING, what did Senna do with Brazil he gave allegedly $400 million to charity over his life and the Senna Foundation was setup in November 1994 and thats why Senna is the greatest without equal ever!

 

[miko33]

Not in the top ten)!

 

[StefanoCasillo]

We'll never have a chance to prove either positions true or false.

Based on the available data I'd say 70% yes - 30% no... so I voted yes.... but it's literally coming out of my lower lower back pit exit.

 

[Enthilzha]

B) He always had winning car, but couldn't exploit it to the limits. Like Vettel did for example in 2011 & half of 2013

D) Except he had nothing with the engineering marvel that Mercedes was developing from 2012 for times that came which eliminated drivers influence by great extent (look at Renault , car giant manufacturer for 6 years now, or should I bring Alonso...) anyway it is more likely rather than not, it's Schumacher who made them what they are today.

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.

 

[Robin_NL]

Ken Block

To name but a few Vatanen, Mikkola, Blomqvist, Toivonen, Kankkunen, Burns, McRae, Loeb, Senna, Schumacher, Clark, Fangio...

But Lewis?

He definitely is the fastest rapper ever

Cheers
Robin

 

[snyperal]

I don't think he had the better car last season, I think he won because he broke vettel mentally. Powering in quali laps out of nowhere and almost constant pressure all season. The ramifications of which Seb is still dealing with today.

He's crushing Bottas this season too.

 

[Enthilzha]

My opinion, he is one of the best ever and that is it. You can’t compare different eras. However, I also expect that with Max in Bottas’s place he would run circles around Lewis (especially last 12 months Max). And that is all normal, every new generation should learn from previous ones and improve, that’s why records exist to see if sport is going forward or not.

P.S. I am not Verstapen fan boy, just to avoid confusion.

I have long thought that Max is the only driver on the grid up with Lewis in terms of pure pace - something they both have always had. Do remember that Lewis does not currently have to push as much as Max given their respective cars, but I am sure that if their positions were swapped, Max would not be having to push so hard, and Lewis would be right on the limit.

Where Lewis is currently much better than Max is his consistency, race-craft and in how few mistakes he makes. He used to be very like Max is now but has gradually turned his biggest weaknesses into his greatest strengths.

To be fair Max seems to have improved these areas alot in the last year, and if he continues to do so as Lewis has done, he could end up being very special indeed...

 

[Deleted member 205301]

Objectively the best ever is the driver with the best stats, everything else is subjective.
The driver with the best stats is Michael Schumacher.

If you want to talks about stats, then ok, but talk about real stats, and not only numbers of time.... Better win stat is fangio and ascari, better pole stat is Clarck ...etc.....so OBJECTIVELY, what were you sayin' ?
@++

 

[Thang Nguyen]

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