Hamilton F1 GOAT discussion rolls on
Apr.9 - A trio of Formula 1 personalities say the jury is out on the true greatness of seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The British driver could become clearly the most successful F1 driver of all time with an eighth title this year, but Jacques Villeneuve says that alone is not enough to prove that he is better than Schumacher or Senna.
"I do not know," the 1997 world champion told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"Michael and Ayrton sometimes won with cars that shouldn't have won, and in complicated situations without the support of the team.
"Lewis, on the other hand, has always dominated with the best equipment and internal support. I would like to see him win without those two things."
However, Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko praised Hamilton for managing to beat Max Verstappen in Bahrain, even though the Mercedes was not the fastest car.
"What Hamilton has more of than Max is incredible consistency," he told formel1.de.
"You could see how tactically Hamilton drove," said Marko. "How he changed his lines and all of that.
"Apart from that, they don't differ much from each other," the Austrian continued. "At some point, Max will have as much experience as Hamilton."
Finally, Daniel Ricciardo suggested that Hamilton has not always been pushed as hard as he might have been by a fully competitive teammate.
"I think Lewis isn't the only one that could win races in that car," the McLaren driver told Square Mile.
"That's obviously my opinion and I think that George Russell, in a way, showed the possibility of that by pretty much beating Valtteri in his first race.
"So you could argue that just maybe Lewis doesn't have the strongest competition," the Australian added.
However, Ricciardo said 36-year-old Hamilton still deserves full respect for his achievements.
"I think, where we can't be too aggressive or disrespectful to Lewis is that, do a few of us believe we could beat him? Yes," he said. "I'm quite sure of that.
"But none of us have ever been in the hunt for a title. None of us have dealt with that pressure. None of us have had that year after year.
"Yes, he has the best car, but he's also expected to win all the time," Ricciardo added. "And if he doesn't, it's, 'ok, what happened to Lewis?'"
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Jacques Villeneuve was a so-so racer in his time but take his father Gilles out of the equation and no one would have heard of him. Hamilton's talent, among many others, is keeping his car out of trouble and running at its mechanical peak without breaking components, something JV was seldom able to do. I point this out simply to suggest that JV may not be best qualified to comment on Lewis' talents.
yes no one, even in 97 ffs
Neither are you
Simply pointing out that JV won the 1997 wdc so im pretty sure hes a bit more than a so.. so.. racer, plus his indy wins, soooo.. to my original point that i think people would have heard of him regardless of his dad and finally as a very successful racing driver and wdc why shouldn't JV comment on Hammy, i am not offering my own opinion of LH regarding this article , just validating the opinion of JV
Do try and keep up....
97, JV won with Frentzen in the same car, quality team mate, lol, he only won one race the whole year, just how often does that happen. So-So racer comment seems appropriate.
Villeneuve, as a former racing driver isn't qualified to speak or have an opinion, but we, the f1 fans are???
If he was to make the same team change at the same time in his career like Michael Schumacher did and win a championship or do better than Michael did then Lewis could be said to be the GOAT.
We saw that for the race that Lewis was out (Bahrain) George Russell (a relatively inexperienced driver) did very well in #44.
A car with such a performance advantage as Mercedes has had to dat, wins 80% of the championship, while the driver is 20%.
George Russell proved this beyond doubt.
Sure George Russel proved beyond doubt that Hamilton has the better car on the grid, but surely, it takes more than one race, in near perfect conditions for a Riussel to become a Hamilton. Would Russel in the same car have won the Bahrain 2021 race or the Turkey 2020 race?
YES, I believe so
I believe he would have. If he didn’t, it would have been because he stayed within the track limits like most of the other drivers.
You apparently seem to be the only ones who believe he can. It is clear that Mercedes AMG does not believe he is yet at that level, else it would have been easy to replace LH with GR and even enjoy some cost savings as well. Why do you think racing teams keep on going for experienced drivers You guys exhibit the same unfounded optimism that your mates have about Max who ends up losing races (like the two I mentioned above) that he should have won easily, with the right talent and experience, which neither Max nor George Russel have got, at least not at the present time.
sorry but this is so easy , obv merc like to win so potentially having LH win an 8th title will be good marketing and secondly the budget cap wasnt in the deal for this year and Merc therefore didnt need to save the cash, and so to your last point, drivers with no/enough talent, obv Toto seems to disagree with you on that point ....and im glad to read your comment about the "Car" Its amusing that Merc dont seem to receive the same adoration and praise about there efforts , from the public as LH gets, perhaps the public are sheep, would go well with him classed as a goat at least .
Hamilton will NEVER be a goat until he can win in another car that is not head & shoulders above the rest of the field & has a competitive teammate last time he had a competitive teammate Rosberg wiped the floor with him!
Richard,10 wins to 9 and winning the wdc by 5 points, mmmm not saying your wrong but " wiped the floor with him is a bit strong", but i agree with your first point.
You conveniently forget that Hamilton was not teammates with Rosberg for only one season. Maybe if you can remember what happened in the 2013-2015 seasons, you would have no basis to state that Rosberg bettered Hamilton. It is like stating that because Justin Gatlin beat Usain Bold in a 100m race once in the many years that they ran against each other, he is better than UB. Also, why do you think that Rosberg ran away with his tail between his legs, when he had just won the WDC? Because he knew it would never again happen and he worried about his mental health and the relentless pressure of competing with LH.
lol man im rosberg fan, but rosberg didnt wipe floor with hamilton, but nevertheless their battle was fun and they both had similar speed at almost all races with tiny margins deciding the winner... its just bad that it all happened in hybrid trash era, so no one will ever watch it and be woow those were the times what a fight those 2 had like with msc and v10 era...
I am bored now, ... forget 13 that still rb Era , but 14 and 15 he finished runner up, and 16 he beat him so not a bad result really beating "the goat" in his 3rd year against him, regardless of breakdowns Rosbergs result stand up.
But bringing athletics into it, where there arent team mates and it isnt a team game, not to mention saying he quit because of the fashionable mental health issues that surround us , but like i say im bored now so thank you and good bye.
I have no comment this time around but do find what you published from
others interesting indeed!
Thank you
Oh the master class of the great one Sir Hamilton with his tyre management skills. Oh the poor LH haters constantly ranting "it's the car it's the car" lol. I remember when Vettel was the darling till he flopped and is no longer fashionable. Now here comes the new great hope that is Max to topple Hammy from his perch. So if Max flops like Vettel, who's gonna be the next hopeful; Leclerc? Maybe the new sensation MIck Scumacher?
I'm salivating for the end of the 2022 season when I'm gonna laugh the haters to scorn when Sir Lewis will officially be deemed the G.O.A.T. And no 2022 was not a typo!
Y'all should do yourselves a favor and accept reality, respect the talent and stop bitching because you don't like his personality(or color). It'll do wonders for your psyche.
And to the MS fanatics, who did Lewis replace at Merc again?!
You do remember how close SV championships were right?, yeah course you do ,in that case you must just be winding us all up.
Y"all dig me bro ..... lol
Closer because Vettel is not as talented as Sir Lewis lol. Oops, I forgot....."it's the car ...the car".
You make it real easy.
Jax , i cant weigh you up , closer yes BECAUSE the cars were closer in performance !!!, if any of the top 6 drivers were in the hybrid merc, theyd have won wdc as displayed by Ros and VB coming 2nd so many times, im not and never have said its JUST the car , LH is a good driver no ones disputes that but the public can still have an opinion 1. as to hes whether hes the goat, and 2. if they actually like him as a personality, and regarding personality it might actually be nice if he had one !!, as a brit i couldnt care less what colour LH is, but i do care when he pushes his opinion on others who perhaps didnt grow up in the LH so named " Slums of Stevenage " ... i think you get confused with goat and goading ... Thank you..
Oh jeez. Where's a hand on the forehead emoji when you need one?! This is exactly the problem. So blinded by dislike you and others can't acknowledge exceptionalism. It's not about could any other driver win in that car, it's the average deficit or margin of his victories and losses!!! That's the difference between good and exceptional. It's the fact that he "wipes the floor" with the others, to borrow a quote. Vet, Ros, Ricci, even Bottas all good enough to win a championship or two in a Merc, but not with the margins that an xceptional driver achieves. Lewis, Max are in a league of their own, with Lewis the current leader of this league. Lewis has surpassed his idol Senna by learning from his mistakes. Senna was a hothead, which caused his demise. Sir Lewis is a complete driver. Talent with consistency and wisdom! These are what make him exceptional; hence, the G.O.A.T. What a coincidence that Merc started winning races when Lewis joined the team. What a coincidence that Rosberg won a title when he got Lewis's garage crew in a swap that year and Lewis still only lost by 5 measly points despite several car failure related DNFs. Another mark of top tier driver is car development due to solid feedback.
Max may get there one day, but that remains to be seen. Micheal Jordan isn't the greatest NBA player because of stats. It's his completeness as an athlete that made him transcend his sport.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. Furthermore, not accepting greatness because of a petty dislike makes one seem....simple minded. But to each their own. Go nuts.
" any of the top 6 drivers were in the hybrid merc, theyd have won wdc as displayed by Ros and VB coming 2nd so many times" except in 2017 and 2018 when LH won the wdc and rosberg didn't finish 2nd. Your vendetta knows no bounds except correct facts.
Good Im happy you respect and accept another persons opinion .
russel actions were abysmal should be fined for that hitting bottas on head albeit a helmet --no need for spoiled brats and as for blaming bottas whne toally hos fault totally wrong