Hamilton: ‘Older drivers have a bee in their bonnet about me – maybe one day they ‘ll get over it’

2020 Eifel Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says he won’t speak about the next generation of drivers the same way he feels past Formula 1 stars have criticised him.

On Sunday he joined Michael Schumacher as the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1 in terms of race wins. Speaking afterwards, Hamilton said he still “gets knocked by many people, particularly older drivers.”

“They still have a bee in their bonnet,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know why. Maybe one day they’ll get over it.

“But I have so much respect for the past legends, even those that do continue to talk negatively about me all the time. I still hold them in high regard because I know it was so difficult, a different time in history. It was incredibly tough for them. And they remain the legends that they were then.”

Last week Jackie Stewart, a three-times world champion and former holder of the record for most Formula 1 victories, said it was “hard to justify” calling Hamilton the greatest driver ever because his Mercedes team are so dominant.

Hamilton, who scored his record-equalling 91st career win on Sunday, said it is difficult to define ultimate greatness in any sport.

“There’s a lot of talk in all sports about ‘greatest past and present’,” he said. “I think it’s almost impossible to compare people. I just think it’s different times. We are evolving as human beings.

“If you put us all the top drivers that have been the most successful in the sport and put them in the same season and in the same cars, wouldn’t that be something?

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“There’s all this talk of ‘who is’ and ‘who is not’ and it’s not important to me. What’s important is the journey and this time. While I’ve been here I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do, have navigated through. I’ve definitely made lots of mistakes but that’s life. We all do that.

“Yes, you can be definitely remembered for having the most [wins] and that will definitely be something special to have. But as I said, it’s the journey, it’s what we’ve done along the way. It’s things like the obstacles you faced. Everyone’s got a different journey and a different way of doing things and I don’t think you should knock anybody for the way they do things.”

Hamilton promised not to criticise anyone who may rival his records in the future.

“In 20 years’ time, whatever it is, when I’m looking back, I can promise you this: I will not be talking down any young driver that’s coming through and succeeding.

“Because our responsibility, I think, as an older driver, is to shine the light as bright as possible and encourage those. There’s going to be someone else, whether it’s Max [Verstappen] or whoever it may be, who’s going to be chasing the record that I eventually set.

“It’s the wrong kind of characteristic and approach to be hoping he doesn’t break it. You should be encouraging them, hoping they to their full potential. And if that means them getting to that record, that’s amazing.”

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99 comments on “Hamilton: ‘Older drivers have a bee in their bonnet about me – maybe one day they ‘ll get over it’”

  1. Maybe one day F1 will be remembered as rich people’s plaything that made a mockery of sporting competition via money and technology. You will get over ‘F1’ Lewis.

    1. The night nomad
      12th October 2020, 18:16

      Lol F1 was always an elitist’s sport. It began with rich aristocratic gentlemen racers. If you want motorsports with grass roots beginnings, go watch NASCAR.

    2. Is Lewis Hamilton the best? Well, are his main rivals fighting with the same equipment? No. So when they were, how did he do? Well we have to go back to 2013 and the years before that when Hamilton was driving cars of roughly equal pace to his main rivals – Alonso, Button, Webber and Vettel. Well, in those year’s Hamilton finished no higher than 4th in the WDC. And that’s ALL you need to know. Hamilton without Mercedes = 1 X WDC. This is simply a fact.

      1. Nothing has been has never been equal in F1… in 2013..
        Ok in 2012 McLaren finished 3rd and Mercedes finished 5th….
        Lewis left and Joined Mercedes in 2013
        McLaren finished 5th and Mercedes finished 2nd …..

        Nuff Said..

        1. I’m not sure Hamilton would have only won one WDC but highly unlikely he’d have more than 3.
          The older drivers know talent as they have experienced F1. They are more than likely correct.
          For Hamilton to insinuate they don’t like him as the reason is childish.
          The thing is, when a driver has a car as great as the Merc and little competition, his true talent cannot be measured.

  2. Lewis is inevitably going to beat Schummy record by some margin. Twenty years from now maybe we get three races a weekend with 30 event a year and someone beat Lewis record in just in two years driving a dominance car. Seb could be the biggest Lewis records defender by then.

  3. What a mature gracious person

  4. Lewis Hamilton has a good heart

  5. Dave (@davewillisporter)
    12th October 2020, 18:33

    Well said by Lewis there. Jackie still trying to be relevant because he can’t strut at race weekends. Legendary driver but he’s had a problem with Lewis his entire career. Mansell was much more supportive. Also well said by Lewis was not comparing drivers of different eras, because it’s not possible.

    1. Yeah, but the thing Jackie forgot is that he isn’t on that list, either. No matter how special he thinks he is.
      And I rooted for him when he was driving. It’s too bad his alligator mouth ran over his rabbit fanny just like Rosberg. who was too chicken to defend his fraudulent title because he knew he couldn’t beat Hamilton again.

      1. to defend his fraudulent title

        you lost every inch of credibility with this remark.

        1. I’m not sure there was much left to lose after “rabbit fanny”.

          1. @oweng I’m kind of in agreement with @iceblue, but that made me laugh out loud.

        2. geoffgroom44 (@)
          13th October 2020, 10:00

          perhasps it would be wise of us to defer judgement until history gives us the full facts about the ‘strange oil failure’ that demolished Lewis’s engine that season, huh?

      2. You rooted for Jackie Stewart when he was racing? No offence but your comments don’t suggest that you’re that old!

    2. Spot on mate

  6. He’s obviously right there’s no way to know who is GOAT. There’s just a collection of drivers who are in the conversation, and that’s as far as it will ever get.

    One thing I would like to see is putting current drivers in some of the past cars of previous greats, and have them drive on tracks those cars raced round (that haven’t changed since when they were originally raced – if any exist?). Then see how their times on hot-laps would compare once they’ve had a bit of practice in those cars.

    Not as a scientific exercise to compare greatness, since it still wouldn’t prove anything, but just to see if they could match or better those from previous eras in at least one aspect.

    1. Simon – Do you think a, for example, 50 year-old racing car could be made to perform as well today as it did when new and set up and operated by people who knew all of its ins and outs?

    2. José Lopes da Silva
      12th October 2020, 21:10

      Recently, Alain Prost talked about chatting with Max Verstappen. Prost said that at 18 years old, Max knew all the tricks of the business, something that Prost himself would learn much later in his career.
      Prost didn’t start karting every weekend since 3 years old like Max did.

      I’m pretty sure that modern drivers would beat old drivers lap times. Yet, you can’t compare because it’s not fair.

      Since Senna, every super champion must start karting since 3 or 5 years old. Since Lauda, every super champion must be highly analytical – no more Hunts or Villeneuves. Since Schumacher, every super champion must be Schumacher-like. Hamilton fits all this. Less titles in underdog cars, but also less cheating and with harder intra team competition.

    3. @simon999 Unfortunately that can never happen because those older generation cars are incredibly unsafe. Even if they modified the circuits and had modern levels of run-off and safety barriers the cars themselves are too dangerous and any accident could result in serious injury or worse. So like for like comparisons will never be possible.

      Even if you could, it wouldn’t mean much tbh. I’d expect the current generation to have massive advantages because they’ve been karting from a very young age, and probably have more racing experience by the time they’re 20 than some previous generations had in their entire careers. Also training, fitness, nutrition and coaching have all moved on massively allowing current drivers to get much closer to their ultimate potential. The likes of Fangio, Moss, Ascari etc probably barely considered some of these things, unlike the finely tuned athletes of today.

  7. Nicely said Lewis.

    I detest the entire GOAT nonsense.
    Every driver is a product of their times.
    I could say negative things about every WDC there has been since I started watching F1 back in the 70’s but every single one of them has genuinely risked their lives to win.

    There is not and never will be a GOAT. Just Champions.

    1. Montréalais (@)
      13th October 2020, 2:38

      @nullapax definitely +1

      1. @nullapax Yeah well said. We do know for sure that GOAT is subjective and there are many varied opinions amongst fans based on many varied experiences of fandom throughout the years and the chapters to F1.

        What I do think is that if there is a GOAT it is someone from the past who, as LH points out, had it so difficult and raced in much tougher times. That’s the overwhelming one for me. Are the current drivers really performing great feats compared to drivers in the past who were in much less safe cars and who had to do so much more race management on their own, just them and the car once they left the pits?

        LH is among the greats, that goes without saying, and the numbers ensure that. But of course numbers don’t tell the whole story, and I consider the feats they achieved physically and psychologically in the past. And I’m pretty sure that’s all the ‘older drivers with a bee in their bonnet’ are saying too. Today’s drivers are far more coddled, helped far more to manage their races, are far safer and therefore have far less playing on their minds psychologically. I’m not blaming the likes of LH for that, as he is just racing in the era he was born into, but wrt these older drivers I do think it is understandable that they can appreciate and respect a current driver while also highlighting how it used to be. It seems Jackie Stewart is the main older driver we are speaking of, and everything I have read of his comments about LH show that he does respect his talent and his achievements. He just wants to remind everyone of how it was, which is what caused him to be known as the F1 safety guru and pioneer that he was, from seeing too many friends die at the wheel.

  8. Free advice for Lewis: being crass and disrespectful is not smart. These older drivers might just do better than you in the car you’ve got.

    1. Sorry did I miss something? How is he being crass and disrespectful?

      1. Hamilton is just being passive aggressive here. It’s something but not much. Same goes for Stewart’s comments. Something but not much.

        1. Ofcourse Lewis realises his tally is not representing his skills, which are huge by the way. 4 WDC would be more realistic. His margin on team mates just isnt making him the greatest, but certainly one of the best.

          1. Actually, Mayrton, 8 WDC would most likely represent Hamilton’s skills. Probably Schumacher’s too.

          2. yes !!

    2. Also bold of you to assume that he gives a hoot about whether “These Older Drivers” can do better in his car

      Fact is they most likely will never get the opportunity and this particular driver seems to obsess over decrying Lewis for God knows whatever reason. Its so tiring

    3. I’ll show you crass @Rodber.
      They’ll be dead soon Lewis don’t worry yourself about it.

    4. Nell (@imabouttogoham)
      12th October 2020, 22:32

      I really doubt that Rodber.

      For one, Jackie Stewart is 81; putting him in an F1 car is sending him to an early grave.

  9. you know Jackie stewart
    (Note I don’t confer him any respect by also calling him “Sir”) is a very bitter and frustrated man who is consumed with INSANE jealousy over Hamilton surpassing all the records of the greats that Stewart raced against. He always trys so OSCAR WINNING hard to discredit Hamilton’s achievements in any interview he gives when asked what he thinks about Hamilton.

    He usually puts Hamilton’s success down to his car, as if the car drives by itself. He never mentions the fact that Fangio, Michael Cheatmarcher, Clark, Vettel and Prost all won their title with dominant fast cars.

    Stewart is very careful not to mention this to the public. But when it comes to a brilliant mixed race guy called Hamilton of course he mentions the fast car. I wonder why he persecutes Hamilton so much above other drivers?

    1. Yes I’m suspicious too. Of course Lewis turned down the supercilious offer to be coached about driving smoove, made it worse.

    2. I think you should listen to the podcast referred to in the article. Stewart had plenty of nice things to say about Lewis. And as for respect, you realise F1 still exists pretty much due to his unpopular push to improve safety after he nearly died in a crash?

      1. @tommy-c
        Jackie is like a clueless blacksmith… he thinks heating up iron, and beating it as hard as he can, while occasionally cooling it down, he thinks he is beating/punishing the iron… only thing is that he doesnt know he is making it ever more stronger… :) he still doesnt get it…

    3. Not to forget that according to Mercedes heads, it’s Hamilton’s motivation and input that helps the car be as good as it is. So the fact that the car is so fast and the team so motivated is actually a result of them Having Hamilton.

  10. Stewart was just giving his opinion.

    There’s a lot of truth to what Stewart said. Hamilton’s closest rivals over the past 7 years have been the much lower paid driver on the other side of the pit garage.

    Schumacher only had two seasons (2002 and 2004) where his teammate was his only real rival. The rest of the time he was fighting the might of Williams, McLaren, then Renault.

    Much tougher to win a championship in that kind of ultra-competitive environment. Bottas is almost always put on the same strategy as Hamilton and never a contra strategy so races are very straight forward for Hamilton.

    1. JP (@jonathanproc)
      12th October 2020, 20:50

      2017 says hello

    2. Nell (@imabouttogoham)
      12th October 2020, 22:39

      1995 was also a runaway year for MS.

      For Lewis, the Rosberg years are easily forgotten because it was mainly intra-team competition. Seb led large amounts of the 2017 and 2018 seasons

      The only runaway seasons for LH have been 2015 and 2019 IMO, this year too if he wins it. So that’s three, just like Michael’s 1995, 2001 and 2004.

      1. 1995 the Williams was the superior by quite a margin. Schumacher made up the difference.

        If you don’t agree you weren’t watching

        1. 1995 season was a landslide for Benatton

      2. Also, as has been discussed, Vettel was only ahead in 2017 and 2018 because of Mercedes and Hamilton blunders in the early part of those seasons. When Vettel or Ferrari made mistakes it is held against them, but that doesn’t apply with all drivers.

        There’s no way a prime 30 year old Schumacher doesn’t easily win those championships against Rosberg if they’re teammates in the most dominant car of all time. A 43 year old Schumacher matches Rosberg 10-10 in qualifying in 2012.

        1. It’s clear that Rosberg became a better driver as the years went by and was probably at his best from 2014 to 2016. He upped his game because of who he was next to and what was on the line. Who knows what would have happened between prime Schumacher and prime Rosberg? Contracts, reliability, questionable on and off track tactics. These speculative comparisons and what ifs are tiresome and futile.

        2. yes but gets destroyed by Rosberg on championship points…

  11. These older drivers are spot-on, and Lewis is just plain wrong in everything he says (but that is the norm we’ve grown accustomed to). Lewis is not deserving..pure plain and simple…the facts are all that is needed to see that. Driving for a team that dominates the “formula” (the rules) means you have a much easier task than any other drivers. Winning with what is clearly a better machine, is nothing like trying to finish in the points, for a bottom dwelling team. Let’s see Lewis drive a Haas or a Williams to victory this year…then, I’d be impressed. Otherwise, not impressed. Sorry.

      1. That’s a complete surprise to many of us, I’m sure.

        1. @david-br
          Oh did I hurt your wittle sycophant feelings by agreeing with the other man about your golden boy? Here, have a Black Lives Matter mask and you’ll feel better.

    1. Name one driver who won multiple world championships in a car that wasn’t dominant, just one!. And people forget the Rosberg years, those were the most difficult championships Lewis won

    2. He had a 50% chance every year, for the past 7 years, to become WDC. Those are nice odds

  12. Lewis has benefited from better technology(engines don’t fail as much as they did then) driver safety, and the length of the season. I want to like Lewis, a great talent behind the wheel. he has to realize that not everybody going to love him, just like every other World Champion has had to deal with.

    1. I think he knows!

    2. It swings both ways though. If other people’s cars fail it would also help Hamilton win championships.

  13. I think JACKIE has a thing or dislike for Hamilton when during one of those canadian grand prix races where Jenson Button squeezed hamilton into a wall forcing him to crash out.. stewart was talking loudest that Hamilton should have been penalised for dangerous driving. etc etc.

  14. Oh the irony. Lewis passive aggressively gaslighting Jackie as having a bee in his bonnet, when Jackie was just speaking the truth.

    Lewis is becoming more and more of egomaniac with each passing weekend. Anyone who doesn’t shower him with praise or do exactly what he demands must either be a racist or have something against him. It never enters his mind to try and understand what they said in context, as it would force him to tone down the self idolization he’s so fond of.

    1. If that’s what you got from this statement then you need to take a long hard look in the mirror because that’s where the problem lies, not with Lewis.

    2. It’s like he expects adulation and when he doesn’t get it, then he does get quite passive-aggressive.

  15. I have to wonder if Max Verstappen was Lewis’s teammate instead of Valtteri Bottas how may win Lewis would have.
    Lewis always had a better car than 99.9 % of drivers. I’m not saying he a great driver but certainly not the GOAT. It’s too hard to say who the best ever is….technology has changed everything in car racing today.

    1. @mobilemedia If only Verstappen was able to motivate the team and provide feedback to improve the car like Hamilton does. Maybe then Verstappen would also be winning races and his deluded fans wouldn’t be so jealous of what Hamilton actually achieved rather than the dream of what Verstappen might achieve.

      1. Oh cmon, are you crediting the extremely dominant car being so good to Hamiltons ability to develop the car? xD is there anything this guy can’t do?! What a demigod

    2. @mobilemedia Hamilton would still have beaten Verstappen as we’ve had no proof that Verstappen can sustain the level required to be a champion over a season, much like we’ve seen with Hamilton’s rivals over the years. Even with a 48 point lead at half time in the season, Rosberg still needed multiple mechanical issues for Hamilton in the second half of the season to narrowly beat him in 2016.

      Verstappen is a great driver but there is more about winning titles that raw speed. You need to also master consistency, risk aversion, knowing which gambles and fights to take on, maximise every opportunity, handle the pressure. Verstappen has some of these qualities but we’ll only know if he has the full package when he actually achieves a WDC.

      Hamilton has already won a title in a car that wasn’t the best (2008) so it’s not all about the car.

  16. Jackie Stewart Samantha it’s hard to justify that Hamilton is the greatest driver ever, which just seems like an obvious, sensible, logical thing to say considering all the things that can’t be compared between drivers and periods (different demands from car and tracks, shorter careers, smaller number of races per season, not always lucking into a good car, etc..).

    And everyone is offended?

    1. *Jackie Stewart said that

      1. No…you had it correct it the first time.

  17. They can’t stand him because he’s not a gentleman racing driver like literally every other world champion, he’s a ‘celebrity’.

    Sadly, it’s as true as it is cringe-worthy.

    1. And Senna wasn’t a celebrity? Hunt?

      1. I think its because Hamilton is more of a Kim Kardashian type celebrity

        1. Yeah, this.

          I don’t mean to take anything away from Hamilton’s talents or success. It’s just Hunt and Senna were charismatic and meaningful men, not vacuous celebs. I’m not even saying that Lewis is one of them, he just seems to like surrounding himself in that kind of thing and it, well, cheapens him.

  18. Elegant response from Hamilton to Stewart’s rambling attempts to put down his achievements yet again for reasons known only to himself. Whatever. Hamilton left Stewart behind years ago in terms of motor racing achievements. Compare and contrast with Stirling Moss who never had any problem recognizing Hamilton as a worthy member of the F1 pantheon and with whom he had a friendly relationship. It may be relevant that Moss had Jewish ancestry and suffered antisemitic bullying at his (private) school. Like Hamilton, he said he used that experience to push himself forward.

    1. @david-br I guess Willy Ribbs knows what the problem Stewart has with Hamilton comes from.

  19. I’m guessing when Lewis is referring to older drivers, he is referring to Jackie Stewart? haha. Frankly, I dont see anything wrong with what Jackie has said, it is hard to justify, thats pretty much what Lewis says in the later half of the article above.

    I may be wrong, but how many other older drivers have NOT been complimentary of Lewis and his achievements?

    To be honest, why does he care? Are we not allowed to question, criticise, debate or analyse Lewis? I mean, there seems to be thing stigma around saying or questioning anything associated with him.

    I dont care if he is the greatest. All I know is that he is a bloody good racing driver who has made use of the tools at hand, done the job he’s paid to do very well and consistently.

    1. You’re probably looking at only Jackie’s recent comments. But a quick search for the stuff he’s said about Lewis over the the course of his career shows that he’s rarely ever said anything positive about him. Some of the stuff is so cringeworthy but I’d imagine some people won’t see it that way – obviously.

  20. To be honest, why does he care? Are we not allowed to question, criticise, debate or analyse Lewis? I mean, there seems to be thing stigma around saying or questioning anything associated with him.

    @jaymenon10 I refer you to @joshgeake ‘s comment above as an example. You think it’s just all innocent ranking based on racing merit?

    1. @david-br

      Who are “they” ? How many older drivers have questioned Lewis achievements? I’m not being funny, I honestly don’t know.

      1. @jaymenon10 That was going to be my question to @joshgeake too. But I didn’t really expect any coherent reply so didn’t bother asking. Mansell used to make some ‘off’ comments in the past but seems to have gone quiet. Montoya is happy to badmouth almost anyone in Formula 1 so doesn’t really count. I presume ‘not a gentleman’ is code for something else. Same with ‘celebrity’. But it’s a bit wearisome having to point out the same issue all the time. I watched the Stewart interview twice and I thought it was quite clear how he was searching for some reason, in his own mind, why Hamilton wasn’t worthy of being identified as a F1 ‘great’. Obviously he is. I’m happy to put Alonso there too, and even Verstappen despite not winning a championship yet. Err towards generosity, why not? It would be so much easier for him to say, as so many others have done, of course he’s one of the great drivers, no buts, prevarications, provisos, caveats. But no. Stewart has to search and search for them. I don’t think it’s just me who sees this, seems fairly clear if you picked up on the reports of the story even before Hamilton’s reply.

      2. Who has said other drivers have questioned his achievements? Even Hamilton said in reply it was impossible to compare across the ages. Hamilton said bee in their bonnet about the way they knock anyone for the way they do things.
        Usual the good and the greats of the past promote their sports, explain the skills on display, and applaud the new breed of champions coming forward. Moss and Lauda were probably the best example of that approach in F1. In F1 today we get bitter old men like Stewart, JV and the numpties who front Sky forever pulling the sport and its competitors down. Although its a breath of fresh air to see Rosberg explaining to the ill informed such as croft why something that croft has little understanding off is actually pretty amazing; and why he should be applauding the driver concerned.

  21. 7 time World Champion, plus all the records he’s broken along the way.

    Must really be painful to Stewart and the rest of the Hamilton haters.

  22. The notion that Hamilton isn’t justified as the greatest is independently fine, except old Jackie is a known and established racist old man. That’s the fundamental root of it all. Lewis knows this obviously but can never say it.

  23. Any thoughts here on what Lewis will have to accomplish before he gets to be called ‘Sir’ too? Compared to other athletes it seems long overdue. Why would that be?

    1. Ignore my question. Everything has already been said, I just discovered: https://www.racefans.net/2019/12/30/why-hamiltons-lack-of-a-knighthood-should-come-as-no-surprise/

      1. Some things I would add that I got it from an online discussion. The charity work is a no brainer. He is one of the biggest sports charity givers in the country, a UN Ambassador, and has an armed forces and royal seal of approval for his work with disabled vets.

        Unlike others in motorsport he hasnt just had a plucky win, or been relatively good. He has been the best in his field for a generation. Arguably the best ever in his chosen sport, and will one day soon be the most successful F1 driver of all time. As far as Brits go I can only thing of Hoy and Redgrave that might tick that box.

        As for Stewart he was very much a part of the establishment with his weekends in the country for the great and the good, his friendship with Prince Andrew, and doing a bit of part time driving instructing for certain royals. Basically he wasn’t going to embarrass the ‘establishment’. Same with the Williams family; another safe option as very much part of the establishment. And I doubt whether motorsports old guard would be pushing for Hamilton to be honoured. I believe it was Dave Richards who did put Hamilton forward.

        So he maybe thrown a lesser honour some time in the future.

        1. He’ll get a knighthood, just when he’s 50

    2. geoffgroom44 (@)
      13th October 2020, 10:05

      I hope if it is ever offered, that he politely refuses it on the grounds that it is a pretty meaningless ‘award’ compared with his other achievements. But then, as far as we know, he may have already refused a few times. I mean, when has the ‘elitist camp’ failed to cash in on someone’s popularity?

  24. geoffgroom44 (@)
    13th October 2020, 10:03

    it is said it is not possible to compare drivers of different generations because of the hardware.Perhaps. But, Mr. J.S, your arrogance is far less of a winning trait than Lewis’s humility.
    How’s that for a comparison?

    1. The words “Lewis Hamilton” and “humility” should never be put in one sentence unless connected by a “has no”.

  25. I don’t get the cricticism on Stewart on this. Stewart is basically stating facts, this era is completely different from before. The Mercedes dominance is something never seen before, not because of the gap to others but because of the duration of dominance (7 years now). And taking this in account is hard to assume Hamilton is the best driver ever. He didn’t say Hamilton is the best or not, he only says it’s hard to assume that.

    Some people believe Hamilton is the best, some people like Vettel still think Schumacher was better, probably some others prefer Clark, Senna or others.
    The best is something that is not countable and will always be based on the opinion of each one.

    Looking to the numbers, I can conclude only one thing, Hamilton is by far the best Mercedes driver of the last 7 years.

    Maybe Stewart don’t like Hamilton, I don’t know, and I don’t care, what he said is perfetcly logic on this. Claiming he is trying to stay relevant is ridiculous, we are talking about a 3 time world champion, and one of the very few who won races as a driver and as a constructor.

  26. Definitely impossible to empirically stage one driver as the GOAT, but Lewis’ driving and racing ability is second to none. Such an exciting for river to watch. Very clean and doesn’t drive with a teammate whose hands are tied behind their backs.

    To me, as a fan of Lewis Hamilton the hardcore rainy drover, he’s the best of all time.
    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  27. Im sure he loves being called a brown hip hop lover !!!

  28. Well Im having second thoughts about Hamilton. According to what Im reading and hearing on twitter Stewart has said Hamilton has at least 22 races a year (Bit unfair he has more races than the other drivers), Bottas was beating Hamilton handsomely until his engine failed this weekend(did Sky doctor the feed and show Hamilton passing Bottas from another race?) and that he was signed by McLaren at 8 years of age so always had an advantage. Ron and Lewis kept that one secret from us. Signed 5 years earlier than we all thought. And despite Stewart saying exactly the opposite at the time it seems Stewart knew that Mclaren were failing and Mercedes were rising with the biggest budget of any team. ( so no brainer for Hamilton.)

    1. geoffgroom44 (@)
      13th October 2020, 14:10

      and MS had 40 more races before he scored 91 wins, including during the Ferrari 5 year dominance of F1.

      1. Schumacher finished in 2006 with 91 wins from 250 races.

        So better ratio than Hamilton despite never having cars as dominant as the Mercedes 2014-20.

        1. Schumacher had number 2 contracted teammates since day1. If Lewis had the teammates Schumacher had he would have bagged 10 titles and 130 wins and that’s not even an exaggeration. If you look at Hamilton’s career from 2007 to 2018, Hamilton had it much tougher. When he had dominant cars in 2014-2016 he actually had a great teammate to beat, unlike Schumacher in 2001,2002,2004. Fr 2007 until 2013 Hamilton faced much much tougher competition that Schumi faced in the 90s, Lewis was up against 2 or 3 different teams whilst Schumacher was consistently battling against just 1 team. Then when you compare them in their prime, Hamilton was much less error prone than Schumacher. In 2018 Hamilton made no mistakes all year to beat Vettel in a stronger car (as Di Montezemolo admitted) whilst Schumacher made plenty both in 2003 which was arguably His weakest year and in 2000. I’m not surprised that half of Schumachers teammates went on to admit that Lewis is better.

  29. Stewart is a bitter Scot, so full of himself and his marvelous accomplishments as the most successful British F1 driver, until Hamilton easily over-accomplished him. Stewart was a prime mover of racing safety and an excellent ambassador for the sport, but he cannot now accept that another Brit, particularly the son of a lowly immigrant, should own the sport’s greatest records.

  30. Well said from Lewis, although I don’t really think Stewart was really trashing Lewis. Even Lewis acknowledged you can’t fairly compare drivers from different eras. The statistics don’t tell the full story.

  31. Win rates (over 50 race entries)
    Fangio 46%
    Alberto Ascari 39.39%
    Lewis Hamilton 34.87%
    Jim Clark 34.25%
    Michael Schumacher 29.55%
    Jackie Stewart 27.00%
    Ayrton Senna 25.31%
    Alain Prost 25.25%
    Sebastian Vettel 21.03%
    Nigel Mansell 16.23%
    Niki Lauda 14.12%
    Fernando Alonso 10.19%

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