Daniel Brennan medal 5000 4 years 309 days ago (Last edited by
Daniel Brennan 4 years 309 days ago)
Hey, I'm Danny, and I'm the new social media guy for iGP Manager!
Every Friday I'm going to be posting a discussion topic here for the iGP community to talk about and the first is a rather tasty one...
Is Lewis Hamilton the greatest Formula One driver of all time? He has the most pole positions in history by far, he looks set to win his third championship in a row and his sixth title overall, and is well on his way to overhauling Michael Schumacher's total F1 race win record, which could conceivably be beaten within the next few seasons... but has he already done enough to warrant the title of the greatest driver of all time in Formula 1? Or does he need to beat all of Schumacher's remaining records, or indeed show something extra in your mind to be on the level of a Fangio, a Prost or a Senna?
I'm really interested to see what you all think!
Luciano Benevenuto medal 5000 4 years 309 days ago
A meu ver ainda não pode ter talento ser arrojado mas Senna a meu ver ainda é o piloto de todos os tempos muitos passaram na fórmula 1 todos tem história sua marca mas Senna era diferente um Deus das pistas Hamilton tá escrevendo sua história sua marca e lá no futuro ele tbm será uma lenda. Mas agora neste momento não
Fabian Gmnwsr medal 5000 4 years 309 days ago
Nooo!!!! He is the most OVERRATED F1 driver ever!
Of course he is a good driver but he has just luck to sit in the right car. With his car it's no problem to dominate the whole seasons. If Vettel, Verstappen or Alonso would sit in this seat they would be great too.
Additionally he says in every race he would have a 'problem' so that every F1 fan think something like that after the race: 'he is soo good. He solved the problems during racing'.
James Richards medal 5000 4 years 309 days ago
No. Very over-rated guy. Yes he wins championships and stuff but he isn't as nice as some other people.
If you can't even try to be nice off-track then just leave. Racing is way more than that.
Peter Man medal 5000 4 years 309 days ago
I have voted 'No' although I am a very big Lewis Hamilton fan! xD
I will explain a little :P I personally think drivers can only really be compared in their respective achievements, only after they retire (even then it is hard to compare due to the different eras) Lewis has years left in his career, so we will have to wait and see how he races these coming seasons :-)
For sure though, he is right up there with the greats of the sport.
Who I think is the greatest of all time is Michael Schumacher, with Ayrton Senna very close behind. The mark of the absolute greats is to see their performances when they have a sub standard car. Lewis could win with a average car (2009 McLaren), but Michael (1997, 1998), and Ayrton (1986, 1987) could challenge for the title with slower cars.
Difference for Schumacher though, was his absolute dedication and even obsession with improving the car and team. From building up the Ferrari team from 1996 onwards with Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Rory Bryne, to his commitment in testing..he was reportedly always one of the first ones onto the test track, and always one of the last to leave!
Bastian Ba medal 5148 4 years 308 days ago
No, he is the best driver of the last couple of years, because he is the only one who can make it with a difficult car to race. Vettel for example is really fast just if he has a car for what he has a good feeling, with that Vettel is Maybe faster. Hamilton performs with a hard to drive car as well so he is the best of the current time.
To be the Goat he has Not only to beat Schumachers Records he has to beat them by a big Margin, lets say in sum 9 Title, how Schumacher did it with the previous records for 3 Reasons.
1. the sport become psycholigical way easier, because it became way safer during the years, when was the last big injury or death? these days it is more likely to get injured in the gym than on the track. Examples:Schumacher lost a title, due his broken leg, Lauda lost one because of his accident.
2. the technological progress, it is physical way easier to drive the cars, every year, so it is possible to perform with a way higher age what you can observe at kimi
3. the scientific progress in health, leads to longer Life and longer peak performance phase a 40 year old now has the same performance like a 30 year old in the 50s or 60s.
All these factors make it overall hard to compare different drivers, from different Time periods but what we can see it became easier over time. So the further the achievements are back in time the more they are worth.
Gert Rose medal 5557 Super Mod 4 years 308 days ago
Stats and records don't say everything. If you are competing in an era with seasons of more than 20 races and 25 points for the winner, it's of course easier to beat win/pole/points records of people competing in seasons with 16 races and 10 points or even 10 races and only 8 points.
So no, for that and many other reasons not the greatest driver all time in F1, but definitely the greatest attention w**** all time in F1 ☺
Dave Benton medal 5000 4 years 308 days ago
We will almost certainly never be given the opportunity to find out. The Mercedes AMG Petronas has been invincible since turbohybrids were introduced, winning all 10 titles, 5WDC and 5 WCC. This dominance is unprecedented and begs the question, could any midfield runner of takent win given that mechanical advantage? Might, for example, Nico Hulkenberg or Sergio Perez have won four of the last five WDCs if they were MAPs no1 driver? It is, in my view, quite probable that they would.
Added to that is the remarkable fact that Lewis Hamilton, alone amongst F1 current drivers has never driven a car that didn't make the WCC top 3...so, on the rare occasions he wasn't in the best car, he was close to it.
The mark of a great is not in wins, but in wins (and near misses) that they had no right to get...think Vettel in a Toro Rosso, Schumacher in the Benetton, and for sheer outperforming his machine, Senna in that Toleman. Hamilton has never had to do that, we simply don't know if he could. So...it is a leap of faith to say he is the greatest. One I am not prepared to make.
It would be a similar leap of faith, in the opposite direction, to give the accolade to my personal racing hero...Gilles Villeneuve drove some awful Ferraris but often managed, most famously at Jerez, to do things with the car that were beyond others. Alain Prost, the thinking man's champion, said that Gilles was 'the fastest of them all'. That accolade is enough. The greatest...never saw Clark or Fangio, great respect for Senna, Prost, Mansell and Alonso as drivers, but for the whole package, Michael Schumacher is the greatest of my own viewing time.
Neil Kumar medal 5000 4 years 308 days ago
Not the GOAT IMO, definitely in the top 10 drivers of all time though. He could have a case if he leaves to sort of Renault or RBR, develops them, and wins championship in those cars before he retires. I've no doubt about the fact that he has a great skillset but he has never been in a really weak car. If he would've been in a true midfield/back of the midfield car at some point in his career, it would have been easy to make a decision, regarding his status. But in the current grid, mentally and skill-wise, he is the best rn.
Antony Pugh medal 5000 4 years 289 days ago
I say no. he is a great driver and proven that his team mates in the same car can't knock him off easily. but his car does a lot for him. he is however a driver that will go down in history with the greats.
M S medal 5860 4 years 288 days ago (Last edited by
M S 4 years 288 days ago)
I'm one of the biggest Lewis Hamilton fan but to be fair and to be honest the answer to the topic question is NO. Simply because Hamilton is the best driver on the grid currently as he has been the best for the last few years. But is he as good as Michael Schumacher or in same league as Ayrton Senna, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark? It's too soon to say. To judge and award that status we must wait till his career comes to an end and a bit longer after that period to really see what he achieves in his full career. After that still it will be tough to truly say if he is the best as differrent drivers in differrent eras in differrent machines with different formula is hard to judge. Many people say Lewis is only so successful because he has the best car and so he is overrated etc but if that's true then that's 100% true for majority of the rest of the great drivers of F1 as well for instance Sebastian Vettel we can say same about him he only won 4 world championships because Red Bull car was superior than rest of the field. We can say same about Fernando Alonso in 2005-2006 as Renault had the best car with best tyres overall better package than rest of the field. We can say same about Schumacher as Ferrari had best car from 2000-04 Same about Senna and Prost with McLaren Honda etc etc.
Senna had strong competition inter team and outside his team as well, Schumacher barely had inter team battle or challenge, Alonso only came against Hamilton as strong inter team challenge and lost out to Hamilton, Vettel came against Ricciardo and lost and currently struggling against Leclerc, Hamilton has had much tougher inter team battles against strong drivers such as Alonso, Button, Rosberg who he beat majority of the times and externally he beat Vettel in a strong car. Hamilton is the only driver to have won minimum a race in each season he has been racing even though he didn't have the best car for all his career. He has great speed which clearly shows in his Qualy laps - with most poles that's clear. He has great wheel to wheel racing and race craft which is clear and he has proved it time after time. He is the rain master again and again he has proved to be fast and staying on the track unlike many good drivers crashing out. Some say Verstappen as good driver in rain he has only been in few rain races and they completely ignore how many rain races Hamilton has had and the great performances he shows in rain.
Overall he is a great racing driver and one of the best to have raced, we should be happy to see someone like him live in our current generation with out own eyes. Mark my words in future once he retires many will see him as one of the greatest and in coming generations wish they could have seen him race live and how lucky the people were who saw him race. We have a gold mine on our hands but some struggle to distinguish a diamond in the rough in between many stones. Will he be THE GREATEST hard to tell right now but he is definitely ONE OF THE GREATEST!
Firas Renaldo medal 5000 4 years 287 days ago (Last edited by
Firas Renaldo 4 years 287 days ago)
One of the greatest? Yes. The greatest? No, he is not.
Tbh it's too difficult to tell who is the greatest driver when all of them drove different machineries. We could only tell and compare if all of them drive on the same car, on the same grid for several seasons, which is impossible to happen. No denying he is the greatest of his era, but as Button said, he is still a man and beatable.
