With Lewis securing his 7th title last race, the inevitable question keeps being asked, and it is as annoying as it is pointless. Ive seen so many Facebook threads and forums that are just littered with people blindly arguing, all knowing theyre right, about a question that cannot be answered effectively. Firstly, people have different views on what constitutes greatness. If you judge it by the risk and bravery, then itll be the guys from the early days of the sport. Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewart, etc. If its purely based on statistics, then its Lewis, Michael and Fangio due to his win ratio. If its purely driving talent, the act of driving a car completely on its limit, then it would be Senna, or Gilles Villeneuve. You could make a case for Hamilton and Verstappen there too. My point is, greatness is defined in a variety of ways, so there is no right answer.
My second point is that f1 is not the same sport as it was, even 20 years ago. So how can you compare Jim Clark to Lewis Hamilton? Its like comparing a downhill skier to a ski jumper. People will argue that the cars were harder to drive then, and in some ways they were. But in other ways modern f1 cars are more difficult to drive. The speed difference alone, and the g-forces that come with that, along with a 1000bhp engine and no traction control.Theres no way theyre easy to drive, even if the drivers make it look that way most of the time. Ive always said that if you put a modern driver in a 60s f1 car they wouldnt drive absolutely flat out because theyd have a code brown moment. Thats not a criticism, its just that theyve been brought up in a world with a greater emphasis on safety. The guys of the time didnt know any better. On the flip side, if you could bring back a 60s driver and put him in a Mercedes w11, he wouldnt be able to think fast enough for the speed of it, and he wouldnt be able to do more than a lap or two before his neck snapped ??
There are greats of their times, and they should all be put together at the top and appreciated, rather than all out war between supposed f1 fans, who are basically arguing about which one is their favourite. Its so childish
I thought Id share my thoughts here, what do you think?
