It Cannot Be Denied, Lewis Hamilton IS An All-Time Great
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| Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren Mercedes at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne |
When compiling lists of the greatest ever the names of Fangio, Schumacher and Prost are usually up there alongside the mercurial Ayrton Senna. Senna's death in the third race of the 1994 season left him on three titles, and when Michael Schumacher won the title (his first) later that year he admitted that he always thought that 1994 would be Senna's 4th championship. Had he lived, it is impossible to say how many more he would have won and no-one doubts Senna's place as one of, if not THE greatest driver of all time.
Retiring at the end of this season is Fernando Alonso, whose two titles in 2005 and 2006 woefully undersell his talent. Alonso is still widely regarded as one of the fastest drivers out there but his unlucky (or poor, depending on your point of view) choices of teams over the course of his career have let his statistics down. Since rejoining McLaren in 2015 he hasn't featured on the podium, let alone won a race and four seasons in an uncompetative car have seen him leave the sport, probably for good.
The biggest criticism people have when it comes to the likes of Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton is that they "had the fastest car" so they were bound to win. That is true to a certain extent, but their team-mates also had the same car and didn't produce the same results. Schumacher received help from team-mates at times, but it was their outright speed and talent that took them to their titles. Nico Rosberg proved as much in 2016, by beating Lewis Hamilton in the same car. Vettel has constantly outperformed Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari since joining in 2015, Raikkonen is himself a World Champion. It isn't just about the car, as much as it obviously helps! Alonso had the best car in 2005 and probably 2006 too at Renault, although Ferrari ran them close in the latter. Arguably in 2007 Alonso (and Hamilton) had the best car at McLaren, yet Raikkonen won the Championship for Ferrari. It's not always about the car.
Although Mercedes have had a clear advantage since 2014 in the turbo-hybrid era, in 2018 it was Ferrari who had the better car in the first half of the year. So Ferrari, with the fastest car and four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel represented the toughest of challenges yet Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have turned the tables. Mercedes have developed their car to have an advantage over Ferrari, Hamilton has been near faultless in the second half of the season and the Vettel/Ferrari combo have made several mistakes which have ultimately led to Lewis Hamilton becoming only the third ever 5-time World Champion.
I remember the cool-down lap at Silverstone this year; Hamilton had been punted off on the first lap of the race but drove an incredible recovery to finish second to Vettel's Ferrari, who gleefully broadcast over the radio "We won in their back yard!". I thought to myself at the time that it was a little too early in the season to be gloating despite giving himself an 8-point lead, or attempting mind games against Hamilton who has a history of coming back stronger after a setback. The next race was in Vettel's back yard, and with Hamilton 14th after a power failure in qualifying and Vettel on pole the odds were firmly against the Englishman. But on race-day, radio-message Karma played a bitch of a role!
With rain around and Vettel comfortably out in front, Hamilton timed his pit stop perfectly and began chewing his way through the field. Whether or not Vettel felt the pressure is conjecture, but suddenly he made a mistake and slid wide, then off, into the barrier, out of his home race. Meanwhile Hamilton kept carving through the field and found himself in a lead which he didn't relinquish and retook the lead in the Championship. Vettel's radio call from Silverstone was "We won in their back yard", but he looked incredibly foolish in his own back yard, and his rival won too. It marked the beginning of a shift in this year's championship. While Vettel won in Hungary, Hamilton won in Belgium, Italy (Ferrari's back yard), Singapore, Russia and Japan before clinching the Championship in Mexico City. Two years in a row the Ferrari challenge fizzled out in the second half of the season.
No driver has made fewer mistakes in the last 5 seasons than Lewis Hamilton. No driver has been as clinical, similar to how Michael Schumacher was between 2000 and 2004 but even the German had his moments between those years. Hamilton, especially in 2017 and 2018 has been outstanding. He is now out on his own with the most Pole Positions in the history of F1. Vettel as a four-time World Champion will go down as one of the greats regardless of whether he adds to those four or not, but his 2018 season has been littered with errors which have been highlighted by Hamilton's supreme driving. We've mentioned the crash in Germany, but add to that the spins in Italy, Japan and the USA for Vettel and the fact the winner of two of those was Lewis Hamilton and many suggest that Vettel's star is fading, which is far from true.
Hamilton has more pole positions (81) than anyone else in history, Michael Schumacher is next with 68. Hamilton has 71 race victories to his name, only Michael Schumacher is ahead with 91. He has the most points ever scored in F1, granted the points have changed over the years of F1. He is the only man to have won races in every single season he has raced in F1 and when you take into account that the 2009 McLaren was a dog of a car and the 2013 was the third best (at best) car on the grid that is no mean feat. Lewis Hamilton is already an all-time great of the sport and is now a five-time World Champion. You wouldn't bet against him getting a sixth or seventh and equalling the all-time records. Would you?
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