Norris: ‘Hamilton’s car should win every race, he only has to beat two drivers’

2020 Portuguese Grand Prix

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Lando Norris said Lewis Hamilton’s record-breaking achievement in the Portuguese Grand Prix was a matter of him “doing the job he has to do” in a superior car.

Hamilton scored the 92nd victory of his career on Sunday, which moved him ahead of the former record for most Formula 1 wins previously held by Michael Schumacher.

Asked for his view on his fellow Briton’s achievement, Norris said: “I’m just happy for him, nothing more.

“It doesn’t mean anything to me, really. He’s in a car which should win every race, basically.

“He has to beat one or two other drivers, that’s it. Fair play to him, he’s still doing the job he has to do.”

Norris ran in close company with Hamilton early in the race while team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr took the lead.

“We had an amazing start, both of us, as a team,” he said. “To see two orange cars first and third was pretty cool. It didn’t last very long. But we had a really good start and we put our car in the right position and we drove well. So I’m happy for what I did as well.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Autodromo do Algarve, 2020
Norris ran behind Hamilton early in the race
Norris finished the race out of the points after being forced to pit following a collision with Lance Stroll, which the Racing Point driver was penalised for.

“We suffered a bit with the graining on the front tyres, we dropped quite quickly,” said Norris. “And then we had the incident with Stroll.

“From what I did, I feel like I did a good job. We just got unlucky with other people doing stupid things.”

Norris added his congratulations to Hamilton in McLaren’s post-race press release: “Congratulations to Lewis on achieving a record 92 wins, it’s a great achievement.”

Update: Norris subsequently issued an apology for “things I’ve said lately in media and interviews”

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2020 Portuguese Grand Prix

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    196 comments on “Norris: ‘Hamilton’s car should win every race, he only has to beat two drivers’”

    1. Agree with Norris.

      1. And I agree with you.
        It has been said on another comment section that the current field counts about 100 wins (ex Hamilton) .
        50ish of those are Vettel’s. Another 20ish are Raikonnen’s. Verstappen has 9, Bottas, 7.
        A 92 wins record is nice but we should not disregard that there is only a car and a half with winning chance on the grid.
        Prost had 51 wins, while his 4 main adversaries got more than 120.

        1. @Gusmaia

          What a strange way to use statistics. You compare Hamilton’s total against the current field (which of course excludes Rosberg, Button, Alonso, Webber etc) but compare Prost’s throughout his career.

          If you did the same with Prost then actually it would be very similar. At the end of 1993 he had 51 wins; Senna had 41, Patrese 6, Berger 3, Hill 3, Schumacher 2, a few others. Basically the sum of his competitors in 93 was slightly more than his alone, same as Hamilton now.

          If you want to compare their whole careers then Hamilton won 35% of races entered and Prost 25%. Your odd choice of statistics suggests Hamilton’s win rate was 2-3x that of Prost, which it clearly isn’t.

          So I’m very unsure what point you’re making in a very lop-sided comparison.

          1. I agree why do people not give Hamilton the respect and credit due to him 🤔

      2. Well, he’s wrong—apart from 2020 and 2014-2016, of course Hamilton has had to beat more than 2 drivers to get his wins

        2007- had to beat Alonso in the same car, Kimi and Massa in an evenly matched Ferrari
        2008- had to beat his teammate, Massa and kimi in an evenly matched Ferrari, and Kubica/Heidfield in a first half competitive BMW
        2009-2013- Brawn and RB were class of the field..
        2017-2018-had to beat his teammate and a very evenly matched Ferrari. Let’s throw in races where Rb were quicker than Merc e.g Singapore 2017
        2019- Ferrari had quicker car in Canada, Bahrain, Russia etc yet Hamilton took the wins

        Norris is a silly, naive kid

        1. @amam he has a point, tho, as you say he had to beat the likes of Alonso, Kimi, Massa, JB, Vettel early in his career, but as the F1 channel on youtube showed today, where they showed all 92 wins, he was only at win number 20 by the time he went to Mercedes.

          He basically won 10 races every year from 2014 to 2020. That’s a lot. By no means it’s not a great achievement or he doesn’t deserve it, but to reach 92 wins that fast needed certain circumstances, like constantly having a car that is not only capable of winning races but dominating in what looks like effortless fashion most of the time. Even in the years where Ferrari got their act together, the team as a whole was head and shoulders over the others. It’s a very similar situation to Schumacher in the early 2000s, every other team looked like they had to make an herculean effort to beat them. There’s the constant sense that they are just better and it all has to fall in place for the others to win. These days we don’t even have that…

          1. even in the years where Ferrari got their act together, the team as a whole was head and shoulders over the others.

            you mean Hamilton was head and shoulders above his competition

            I really don’t agree. Apart from 2014-2016 and 2020 Ferrari and RB have often had the pace to challenge for wins

            1. Let’s phrase this differently then. On any given Saturday if a Red Bull or a Ferrari has an off day in all these years they’re supposedly competitive, they’re at the back of the top ten or even not in Q3 at all.

              If a Merc has an off day, they start third on the grid.

              Does this mean Hamilton isn’t in amazing form? Of course not. Does it influence all these record breaking stats? Of course it does.

            2. Aiii (@aiii)

              Ferrari had the best car on the grid in 2018 and near equal to Merc in 2017, the difference was often Hamilton not making mistakes and winning on tracks where Ferrari were quicker e.g Singapore 2017, Germany 2018, Italy 2018 etc

            3. @amam

              you mean Hamilton was head and shoulders above his competition

              He was never considered head and shoulders above the competition pre 2014. In that era, Alonso was considered the reference driver in the paddock while a lot of people tried to diminish that using Vettel’s statistics which were insane at the time and Hamilton wasn’t even in that discussion and you can’t suddenly become the GOAT at 29 years of age.

              I really don’t agree. Apart from 2014-2016 and 2020 Ferrari and RB have often had the pace to challenge for wins

              You’ve just said it, challenging for wins and not for championships. Renault, Williams & McLaren did also have the pace to challenge for wins in 2004 :)

            4. @tifoso1989
              Alonso’s never been “the reference driver”.
              It was just some of you ferrari’s tifosi which considered him to be it, because you always think the drivers in red suits are demi-gods.
              Of course, they become cr@p as soon as they leave the Scuderia.
              Hamilton has always been a better driver than Alonso, from his very rookie year in F1.
              We can discuss for ages about MSC-Senna-Clark-Fangio-Hamilton comparisons, but ALonso is out of the equation
              Deal with it.

            5. F1 metrics: ALO best 11 years, HAM 2 years, deal with that

            6. @liko41

              You just have to look at the drivers rating on this very site to understand who was the reference driver on those years . Alonso was voted by his colleagues as the best driver in seasons like 2010/2012 when Vettel was the world champion and that has nothing to do with the tifosi who still have a lot of respect for him btw even after he left. Apparently you have a better view than most of the F1 community at the time which includes drivers, former WDC, journalists, experts, team principles…

              We can discuss for ages about MSC-Senna-Clark-Fangio-Hamilton comparisons, but ALonso is out of the equation
              Deal with it

              Alonso used to finish higher than Hamilton in the championship when the latter was driving a faster car, he used to take him to school in wheel to wheel racing. Below are the examples which you probably never watched :)

              Canada 2013 : How not to get DRSed : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj1xWHDOfzE
              Spa 2013 : KERS for dummies : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OmnjYNypB4
              Spain 2011 : Start for dummies : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02L56rD0aaE
              Spain 2013 : Start for dummies too : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiVDyDkasS8

              Enjoy ! and just deal with it :)

            7. @tifoso1989 @melanos
              Alonsistas, you are the ultimate joke of auto racing, LOL!
              32 wins, half of them originated by retirements of the leading driver.
              Your messiah is definitely the most overrated driver in history.
              Enjoy and deal with it

          2. “but to reach 92 wins that fast needed certain circumstances”

            I’m sure his detractors would point out that Schumacher actually reached 91 wins in fewer races. Oh wait, that must mean…

          3. I think your analysis is quite right. I am not taking anything away from Lewis because he has done the job he was asked to do. But he has always had the best car since 2014, or joint best at least.

            He has always, with the exception of one year, beaten his tea mate quite comfortably though. So he is definitely much better than average.

            1. Yes but he also took the risk of going to Mercedes and was good enough to keep his place for all these years

            2. He was beaten by Button, Rosberg, and tied on points with Alonso.

            3. Good point, tired of reading that he beat Alonso for what it matters. It was a tie or inconclusive at best, in a season he lost by himself.

            4. He has always, with the exception of one year, beaten his tea[m] mate quite comfortably though

              Not entering if beating (by a hair’s breadth, when the team was “racing Alonso”, RD dixit) ALO in 2007 was quite comfortable or not, Jenson smashed LEW in 2009 (GOAT? hahahaha) and ROS (not quite so comfortably) in 2016. That makes two.

          4. I think Norris and some you should take in what Verstappen said about it not being the impressive pace as much as having been so relentlessly consistent in being there most every race, which allowed Hamilton to win every year of his career, and allowed him to rack up the wins once he had the car to do it. Norris certainly hasn’t shown that level yet. Schumacher did, which is why he got the previous record and 7 WDCs (okay, possibly also relentless w some cheats, but relentlessly hard working at getting wins surely).

            1. I think…
              most of the average or just above drivers on the grid would and could be as consistent with a dominant car like that driving on p1, with nearly any pressure from the back
              Those drivers are in my opinion: Verstappen, Leclerc, Vettel, Ricciardo, Sainz, Norris, Hulkenberg, Perez, Gasly, Russel and maybe Bottas (who’ll crack under a little pressure)

              I am not saying Hamilton isn’t a very good driver, he is the one in the Mercedes because he earned it in the past, that is how the best drivers get in the best cars…. but with the absolute dominance of the Mercedes all of these drivers could get p1 and be consistent, I think

          5. Lewis had 21 wins with maclaren

        2. Absolutely A M….Norris looked like a spoiled temperamental little brat as he went too pout, and slump in that chair. When his car broke down in the last race.

          1. Norris needs to stop playing the joker get his head down and concentrate on becoming as consistent, determined and dedicated as Lewis me thinks.

        3. It’s really pathetic to hear him play down LH’s achievements;didn’t expect that from him

          1. I dont regard it as downplay, rather putting things in perspective. I dont get why HAM fans get so upset about this. I am a fan of HAM too. He is great. But his tally is wildly influenced by the Merc dominance. A car he drives because he deserves it and is the best. But nevertheless… a bit of loat rather than goat (l=luckiest)

            1. @Mayrton
              Try to ask yourself why mercedes keep paying Hamilton those hefty sums every year, if they could win with every other driver on the grid.
              Suggestion: it’s not because he has a nice face.

        4. Noris is just stupid let them build a winning car with him and his maclearen team, he doesn’t even know what it meant to drive against a two time World champion and trash him, he should first learn how to drive and wins against saniz your team mate you are no where near Hamilton greatness even with Mercedes car you will never be a champion

        5. Yes, Noris is really a naive silly kid as you said. How many cars did any champion really had to beat for their championships? Schumacher, villinueve, hill, hakkinnen, raikonnen, even prost, mansel and Senna. It’s just plain silly Noris trying to do a Jackie Stewart on Hamilton

        6. Come on, be realistic… ever since the Turbo hybrid era, he only has to beat his team mate and Vettel in a Ferrari in 2 years I think, then Max on Redbull and that’s it… So Norris saying he only has to beat 2 other drivers is accurate. Ferrari or Redbull never built a car that matched the Mercedes in the Turbo era… NEVER… Their car are always winning on a particular circuit but was never strong enough to match if not beat the Mercedes for the whole season. I still think the last competitive F1 season is 2006 to 2008. 2006 is Alonso vs Schumi is a very well matched cars… then in 2007, Ferrari and Mclaren are matched as well and again in 2008… But after that it is all about the cars, Brawn had a dominant car in 2009 with the diffuser, and in 2010 Ferrari challenged Redbull but after that the 1 sec a lap advantage of the leading team started… 2011 to 2013, RB 1 sec a lap faster, then 2014 till 2020, Mercedes is 1 to 1.5 second a lap faster.

        7. Just looking at your examples from 2019 shows how delusional you are.
          Bahrein: Leclerc had an engine failure after leading by like 10 seconds so Hamilton got a gifted race win
          Canada: The stewards took away Vettel’s race win after giving him a bs penalty
          Russia: Vettel had an engine failure which triggered a VSC so Hamilton got a free pit stop and jumped Leclerc out of pure luck, then Ferrari pitted Charles again to put him on the soft tyres which cost him another position to Bottas
          And just because Ferrari had the pace to win 6 races overall last year it doesn’t mean that Hamilton really had to fight them for the world title. Mercedes was basically good enough to win every race last year, Ferrari was only capable on 6 tracks (Bahrein, Canada, SPA, Monza, Singapore, Sochi) and even there they ran into reliability issues. And when they didn’t have the pace they were really rubbish and almost got lapped like Hungary or Melbourne. So you can’t win a championship with a car like that.

          1. Your right there, Norris is a really nice guy but has not got the experience needed to analyse such amazing achievements Lewis has made , Norris has a lot to learn. Lewis was making records at McLaren, let’s see Norris do the same now his car has improved, the car plays an important part the same as all the team, the driver plays an important part getting it over the finishing line in one piece and 1st as often as possible.

          2. @JB22
            That’s exactly the cr@p one would expect from e JB groupie, lol!

      3. I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you.

      4. Me too. Legends are made with adversity. Hamilton has not had much adversity in the hybrid era.

    2. He’s right.

      1. If Mercedes had Vettel and Bottas, ego would lead the WDC? Probably Verstappen. The Mercedes is a great car, but Hamilton is formidable and he makes it look easy. But it isn’t.
        Anyhow I enjoy domination in sport, like Federer and Nadal or Phelps or Regrave. That is part of being champion. Not winning sometimes, but most of the time, as faultlessly as possible. Most F1 fans do not feel that way, and would rather see a different winner at every race. To me the results look boring and incredible at the same time. What I find exciting is the continued excellence.

        1. @learon I don’t think that’s true (Vettel has proved often enough that he is very comfortable driving away from the field at the front, as Hamilton does so well), but even if it is, then it doesn’t detract from the central premise, which is that a car of the quality of the Mercedes should be winning every race.

          If you look at the two races they didn’t win so far this year, Silverstone-2 was down to poor tyre management and Monza was down to both drivers making errors (Bottas making a poor start, Hamilton entering a closed pit lane) – without the errors they’d have a clean sweep so far this year. So I think Norris is right in what he’s saying.

          1. “Mercedes should be winning every race.”

            How many times has a dominant car won every race in a season in the 70-year history of the sport?

            1. Not for this many consecutive seasons. At least mix it up a little

          2. There for your reply – I mostly agree with you. Do you think Bottas would have won all the races bar Silverstone and Monza of Hamilton wasn’t racing and Bottas was at the front all alone like Verstappen is? (That doesn’t detract from the fact that the Mercedes is a faster car than the Red Bull).

            1. First of all, I think it’s clear that Norris never implied if Hamilton should make a clean sweep of the season or he wasn’t doing a good job. Secondly, Bottas would certainly have won almost every race if he wasn’t desperately trying to beat his teammate in the same car. He struggled during the race and was still a pit stop ahead of Max for a long period in the race.

            2. Without Hamilton, if mercedes only fielded one car and Bottas was the driver, he would have won 6 of 12 races this season based on the positions and occasions he finished 2nd to Hamilton. Perhaps 8 in 10 had it not been for his tire failure in Silverstone which was an unusual circumstance and for his engine failure in Eiffel GP That is very dominant. That would be the same amount as Hamilton has now. So really yes Hamilton has to just worry about Bottas.

        2. @learon – Well, Bottas is second right now. So either Bottas would be leading or whoever was in the other Merc if they were better. This is a weird hypothetical given the Mercs are 1-2.

          Also weird given that (I think) most would put Verstappen above Bottas skillwise yet Bottas is leading.

    3. He’d be leading Carlos if it was that easy :-)

        1. Actually I’d love to see what he does in a Merc against Alonso Rosberg and Bottas before he makes such an immature comment and quite rightly he should comprehensively beat his team mate first!

          1. Next year against DR will be quite interesting at Mclaren… I suspect it may end up being as one-sided as Max vs Albon. For Lando’s sake, I hope not…

            1. I think that Norris is better than Albon at the moment @sebsronnie. And Ricciardo can hardly hold a candle to Max (Or Lewis) currently

            2. @bascb

              And Ricciardo can hardly hold a candle to Max (Or Lewis) currently

              That infamous Baku race had Max and Ricciardo swapping positions constantly. They looked pretty even to me when it came to close racing and tenacity. Sure Max was faster on one lap speed. However I think Ricciardo was near enough in the races to be serious trouble for Max, which compared to Albon and Gasly is a whole universe of difference.

      1. When you start from the front row every race it’s much easier to avoid trouble than someone in the middle of the pack.

      2. Where exactly is Norris quoted as saying he was better than Sainz?

        All Norris said was “that car (Mercedes) should win every race.” and for Hamilton to be successful, all he has to do is beat his teammate in the other Merc, and the only other viable challenger, Verstappen. The Merc is the dominant car, no question.

        No one is claiming that winning a championship is easy, they’re just saying that Hamilton has a relatively easier task compared to his only likely rivals.

        Hamilton’s task to WDC:
        1) Make no mistakes.

        Bottas’ tasks to WDC:
        1) Beat his faster teammate.
        2) Make no mistakes.
        3) Fend off attacks from a faster driver in a less competitive car. (Verstappen)
        4) Deal with second choice at strategy. (meaning if HAM is on same tire, BOT is unlikely to get a strategy to overtake)

        Verstappen’s tasks WDC:
        1) Drive a slower car above it’s potential.
        2) Make no mistakes.
        3) Have no help from a teammate. (to take points of a rival, holding up for undercut, etc)
        4) Beat both Merc drivers.

        Hamilton just needs to make no mistakes, which he rarely does, and avoid trouble, which is relatively easier when your start on the front row almost every race.

        Bottas and Verstappen have to make no mistakes, beat a faster drive or a similar driver in a faster car, avoid trouble, and be close enough that IF Hamilton makes a mistake, they are able to take advantage.

        1. Norris didn’t say that, but it’s inferred by logic.

          1. No it’s a strawman.

            1. You’re a straw man.

        2. I like this analysis. Respecting Lewis’s quality while pointing at the added challenges for the others.

        3. János Henkelmann
          26th October 2020, 21:32

          “3) Fend off attacks from a faster driver in a less competitive car. (Verstappen)”

          Bottas only has to do that because he’s not up there with Lewis.

        4. I would put one more point on Max’s list:
          5) deal with historically poor reliability from Honda or Renault engines (at least compared to Mercedes engines).

        5. ancker Sorry, that’s just daft. Hamilton has to make no mistakes and be faster than Bottas or else he’s the one having to fend off Verstappen and deal with second choice on strategy. The fact that he’s usually faster isn’t some kind of given! Otherwise you might as well say, ‘Hamilton just has to be Hamilton, pretty easy huh?’

        6. @ancker
          At least, as a Verstappen groupie, you didn’t write that Verstappen has to beat his teammate.
          Because never in his career he’d had one with the same equipment as his.
          Which is by itself a nice record.
          Before driving a dominant car, maxiboy should prove he is able to sustain an inter-team battle.
          I’ll wait.

          1. That’s not possible that verstappen never had a team mate with same equipment, take 2016, he was the new one in the team, there’s no reason he instantly got better equipment than ricciardo.

      3. But Lando Noris hasn’t shown that he is any where close to what Hamilton did in his rookie days matched with world champion …

    4. So easy you cannot beat ya teammate Lando mate

    5. Thank you Lando. Please mention it next time you’re guesting on Sky.

    6. Somebody is reacting poorly to see a countryman being so lauded.
      Somebody who couldn’t even win the F2 championship with a car capable of that, by the way.

      Kids these days…

      1. Kids these days…

        They only read the headlines, amirite?

    7. Bottas should win more races, he only has to beat one driver.

      1. Yes, he should. He’s been performing rather poorly this season (and poorly for a driver in a top team all seasons with Mercedes).

    8. This is literally the ‘it’s true but he shouldn’t say it’ meme.

      1. @rocketpanda
        It’s more the “it’s totally wrong and, if you can’t realise it, I have bad news for you” meme.

    9. I like Lando but a bit of a sweet comment with a sour after taste to me.

      1. It’s just the truth

    10. The fact that Sebastian Vettel is the third most successful driver of all time is the ultimate evidence that statistics in Formula 1 are fundamentally meaningless.

      In order to rack up incredible stats, you basically need two things:

      1. outperform your teammate (Bottas or Webber or whoever)
      2. have a dominant car

      Lewis Hamilton has driven more dominant cars than any other driver in history and his teammates in those seasons were Rosberg and Bottas. Therefore his success simply isn’t that surprising.

      1. There’s a third factor.

        3. The FIA impose a development system where teams who are slightly behind in performance have little chance of catching up because:
        a) There’s almost no testing. (Hope this upgrade isn’t a step backwards, if it is, you’ve just lost a ton of points.)
        b) The token system allows the incumbent to stay ahead. (You spend 1, they spend 1, they’re still ahead.)
        c) Limited power units per season means incremental upgrades instead of “B-spec” swaps.

        For the lot of the hybrid era, it’s known Merc is the team to beat with no chance of that changing until the new regulations come into effect for 2021 (now 2022).

        1. Spot on Ancher

          Also the fact that Merc Budget is the largest on the grid together with Ferrari …

          I was suprised by the Race Fans report form last season showing that even RedBull Budget is 100 millions down on Merc …. i’m surprised they can put a leaste some fight for the second place (Verstappen vs Bottas) with such limitation ….

          1. Toyota burned 500 Million a year and did absolutely nothing in F1

        2. @Ancker True

      2. I wouldn’t qualify the Mercedes as “dominant” for 2017 and 2018. It was possibly the best car on the grid (and when a car is possibly the best, it’s not dominant). Even for 2019 it’s arguable (to a certain extent, for a part of the season at the very least).

        Rosberg was absolutely no slouch, and Bottas… well, Bottas is quick, just a bit lacking in the driving/management department.

        And Lewis took over from Schumacher, who won championships with even worse teammates as a whole (I can accept Bottas being equal to Barrichello, with Rosberg being better than both), unequal cars within team and more blatent team preference, so in a way, you’re absolutely right that beating your teammate and having a dominant car are the two things needed to tally up records.

        1. You won’t convince Kingshark.

        2. @mxmxd
          All those advantages you listed for Schumacher are more than outweighed by the fact that Hamilton drove four dominant cars (2014, 2015, 2016, 2020) while Schumacher only drove two (2002 and 2004). I would consider both 2001 and 2019 to be half-dominant.

      3. Dave (@davewillisporter)
        27th October 2020, 0:48

        It’s a team sport. Mercedes are the best team. Lewis is a team member. Lewis went to Merc when they had only won one race in 3 years. They grew together into one of the most successful teams in history. Lewis credits Merc and Merc credits Lewis. I doubt anyone one here can convince anyone else of anything, however when person after person involved in F1, involved in Merc says the same things, I tend to believe them. When past and present team mates of Lewis say the same thing, I tend to believe them. Nikki Lauda knew what Merc needed was Lewis. Ross Brawn knew what Merc needed was Lewis. I believe them. He has contributed to the continued dominance of the team as an inspirational team leader and he has helped develop this amazing car that so many bemoan. Lewis took a risk and the risk payed off. Let’s not forget Merc were after Max but he chose Redbull because they would immediately give him a seat in Torro Rosso. Max didn’t take the risk.
        So moan about the most dominant car and that somehow makes the stats irrelevant. What you cannot in good faith deny is that Lewis has played a crucial role in that dominance and is deserving of the rewards that follow.

        1. I was tryimg very hard to put together the words! But you did!
          Thank you.
          It’s exactly how I see it!

          His move to Merc could kave gone horribly wrong, but it didn’t.

          The greats have always dominated. In all sport.
          And sometimes for a very very long time.

          Still I rise! Go Lewis!

        2. @davewillisporter Well said indeed.

      4. @kingshark Blatantly obvious, but says a lot that this still has to be pointed out. If it was Vettel who moved to Mercedes 2013, he would undoubtedly have broken Schumacher’s record even earlier than Hamilton did, and the same people who now are hailing Hamilton for his driving and not the car, would with 100% certainty say the opposite and how it all was a meaningless statistic.

        1. vettel vs rosberg, I’m not so sure vettel would have it his own way not against rosberg

        2. @balue Vettel would have been destroyed by Rosberg. Just as badly as he was by Ricciardo and Leclerc.

          That’s exactly the point. Vettel does not have the consistency, the race craft, the racing mindset, the constant improvement that Hamilton has. Instead Vettel blunders away 2009, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Not by just one poor race, but by about 5 to 8 blunders per season.

          Like people say that Button only won because of the car in 2009 and easily winning 6 of the first 7 races. The reality is that Vettel crashed out of the points for 3 of the first 7 races. Plus Vettel was unable to overtake cars while Button was. Button started half of those races behind Vettel.

          1. @f1osaurus Good too finally see a Hamilton fan admitting that one doesn’t much skill to win titles in F1.

            1. @balue True even a driver like Vettel can win titles, if the car is superior enough and his team mate has his wings clipped.

              Still, Hamilton had to fight against Alonso, Rosberg and Bottas. So that’s already quite a step up.

      5. Yes but at least Hamilton has beaten some of the best drivers in f1. He beat Alonso which is one of the best, Button, Rosberg all great drivers. Vettel beat webber in a team that heavily favored Vettel and the slow Kimi who looked horrible against Alonso in the Ferrari. Vettel is proof that the best drivers don’t always end up in the best car, but Hamilton kinda proves that theory with him being one of the best

        1. Yes, there’s no doubt f1 is a sport where the car hugely inflates your numbers if you have a dominant one for a long period, and let’s say hamilton deserves his 90 + and vettel his 50 + wins, in that case verstappen and leclerc should have 90+ too (and so should old drivers such as prost, clark, ascari, fangio) and certainly ricciardo should have over 50 too.

          I keep seeing people bring arguments such as “vettel > leclerc or ricciardo or verstappen cause he has 4 titles and 50 wins and they have no titles and a handful of wins”, it’s like it doesn’t matter at all that vettel had a rocketship for 4 years and that those drivers would’ve won the same or more in the same circumstances.

          At least I think hamilton deserves the credit that he’s still driving at a high level, and even when he didn’t have such a good car (cause it’s easier with that car) he wasn’t horrible, even in 2011 which is considered his worst season by many, vettel hasn’t exactly driven well lately, this season I’d rank him below top 15 if correcting for the car.

    11. The silly boy doesn’t know what he’s talking about

      2007- had to beat Alonso in the same car, Kimi and Massa in an evenly matched Ferrari
      2008- had to beat his teammate, Massa and kimi in an evenly matched Ferrari, and Kubica/Heidfield in a first half competitive BMW
      2009-2013- Brawn and RB were class of the field..
      2017-2018-had to beat his teammate and a very evenly matched Ferrari. Let’s throw in races where Rb were quicker than Merc e.g Singapore 2017
      2019- Ferrari had quicker car in Canada, Bahrain, Russia etc yet Hamilton took the wins

      Norris is a silly, naive kid. Hope Ricciardo hands his ass to him next season

      1. @amam

        2009-2013- Brawn and RB were class of the field..

        He was unable to finish any higher than 4th for five consecutive seasons when he did not have the best car.

        Does that not prove the point that Hamilton’s inflated statistics are largely a product of the car he’s driving?

        1. We’re talking about wins here—every win between 2009-2013 he was needing to beat his teammate, Brawn/and or
          RB and/ or Ferrari

          1. @amam
            And I’m pretty sure that Lando is talking about the current state of Formula 1, not what happened in 2009 or 2013.

            Right now, Hamilton only has to beat Bottas. He has zero actual competition.

          2. @amam Between 2010-2013, Hamilton won 11 races. His teammates won 10. He never mounted a serious title challenge without the fastest car, which Alonso, in a car that was slower than the ones Hamilton drove, managed. Hamilton is an all-time F1 great, maybe even the greatest, but it would be laughable to suggest that he would dominate F1 like he does without the fastest car. All he has had to do for six seasons (bar 2018) is just beat his teammate and he would basically be crowned WDC. And neither Rosberg or Bottas would be in anyone’s top 10 list of best drivers in F1 history. Not since 2013 has there been a time when his car was incapable of finishing on the podium (few exceptional circumstances excluded).

            1. never mounted a serious title challenge without the fastest car, which Alonso, in a car that was slower than the ones Hamilton drove, managed.

              wrong. 2010–in a McLaren less reliable than the Alonso’s Ferrari–and slower

              https://www.racefans.net/2010/12/13/2010-in-stats-part-three-car-performance/

              All he has had to do for six seasons (bar 2018) is just beat his teammate and he would basically be crowned WDC

              wrong

              2017 Ferrari challenged and Vettel led for nearly the entire season

            2. Exaclty just for the sake of comparasion between 2010 and 2013 Hamilton was beaten 4 times by Alonso when driving cars that were either evenly matched or superior to the ones alonso had ….

              2010 = Mclaren and Ferrari were evenly matched = beaten by alonso 252 x 240
              2011 = Mclaren was clearly a better car = beaten by alonso 257 x 227
              2012 = Mclaren had arguably the fastest car that year together with RedBull = beaten by Alonso 278 x 190
              2013 = Mercedes was in my opinion better than Ferrari, but even if we consider both cars as evenly matched he was beaten again 242 x 189

              Of course Hamilton is a good driver and a very professional one, but believe his domination is up to hist talent (instead a vastly superior machine) is kind of a dellusion …

              Sorry … english is not my first language

            3. jeanSilva02

              2010 = Mclaren and Ferrari were evenly matched = beaten by alonso 252 x 240

              Ferrari had a better car than Mclaren–in fact, considering Hamilton lost loads of points to reliability, while Alonso had the benefit of Massa gifting points through team orders, Alonso really should’ve beaten Hamilton by a larger margin—perhaps that’s why Keith and the readers on here felt Hamilton had done the better job?

              https://www.racefans.net/2010/12/22/2010-f1-driver-rankings-part-four-3-1/

              https://www.racefans.net/2010/12/29/lewis-hamilton-voted-best-driver-of-2010/

              2011 Alonso was better

              2012 Hamilton actually made less mistakes than Alonso, was just as good. Hamilton was beaten by his own car and team, rather than Alonso. Car breaking down often, slow pitstops etc

              BUT…..THE BEST/MOST ACCURATE MEASURE IS IN THE SAME CAR—- AND HAMILTON BEAT ALONSO IN THE SAME CAR!

            4. Mclaren had the fastest car in 2012.

              https://www.racefans.net/2012/12/03/2012-f1-car-performance/#:~:text=McLaren%20overtook%20Red%20Bull%20as,Here%27s%20all%20the%20data.

              “Hamilton was beaten by his own team” the same idea can be applied to Alonso in 2007 in this case ….

              Oh and you forgot 2013 ….

            5. 2012 McLaren had the fastest, but it was also pretty unreliable and poor strategies were their undoing. Indeed that led to Hamilton leaving.

            6. “HAMILTON BEAT ALONSO IN THE SAME CAR”
              If by beat you mean tied (109/109), then yes. Hamilton was placed in front on countback.

            7. @amam The Mercedes was much better than the Ferrari over the course of 2017. In the 2nd half of the season, the Mercedes pulled clear of the Ferrari. The Ferrari was generally only quicker in really hot conditions or tracks where downforce was king. Bottas finished the year 58 points off Hamilton (12 off Vettel) despite having 1 more retirement, which just shows how good the Mercedes was that year. Also, in 2010, the McLaren was not worse than the Ferrari, and the only mechanical retirement Hamilton had was in Hungary, when he was only running 5th. The Ferrari only came good after Hockenheim, the McLaren was head and shoulders better in the first half of the season.

            8. @amam
              No need to look at the stats for the 2010 season to decide which car was faster. In 2010 RBR have the fastest car by far. However it was unreliable and some mistakes from Vettel & the internal war with Webber made the season interesting.
              The MP4-25 was the only car to rival the RB6 on the high downforce circuits such as Barcelona, Turkey… You seem to forgot that the MP4-25 was the only car equipped with the F-duct since the start of the season. Ferrari won 5 races that year which were all down to Alonso being exceptional at exploiting every opportunity and no victory was down to the pace of the car even Monza where Ferrari & McLaren were eventually matched pace wise :

              – Bahrain : Vettel’s engine failed when he was leading
              – Hockenheim : Good start + team order
              – Monza : Good strategy
              – Singapore : Great qualy lap + RBR didn’t went for the undercut
              – Korea : 3 safety cars, he overtook Hamilton in the 3rd restart and Vettel retired with an engine failure

              In 2010 Hamilton lost the WDC by his own mistakes when he threw away 2 possible 3rd places in Monza & Singapore when he retired due to collisions with Massa & Webber

              2012 Hamilton actually made less mistakes than Alonso, was just as good. Hamilton was beaten by his own car and team, rather than Alonso. Car breaking down often, slow pitstops etc

              I don’t think so, In Valencia Alonso won from 11th on the grid while Hamilton crashed with Maldonado
              In 2012 Alonso was far superior than any other driver on the grid by the admission of all the F1 community drivers, journalists, experts…

    12. From my limited experience, younger F1 fans I speak to think Hamilton is boring and winning because he is in the best car. Norris is just saying what a lot of people are thinking.

      1. The silly boy doesn’t know what he’s talking about

        2007- had to beat Alonso in the same car, Kimi and Massa in an evenly matched Ferrari
        2008- had to beat his teammate, Massa and kimi in an evenly matched Ferrari, and Kubica/Heidfield in a first half competitive BMW
        2009-2013- Brawn and RB were class of the field..
        2017-2018-had to beat his teammate and a very evenly matched Ferrari. Let’s throw in races where Rb were quicker than Merc e.g Singapore 2017
        2019- Ferrari had quicker car in Canada, Bahrain, Russia etc yet Hamilton took the wins

        Norris is a silly, naive kid. Hope Ricciardo hands his ass to him next season

        1. Well in 2019 ferrari had faster car but unreliable . Bahrain as example also Canada was lost due to vettel s mistake and Russia was again lost due to bad luck and timing of VSC. Besides having fastest car you also need the team to perform and support the driver

        2. I would be inclined to listen to someone that actually drives a F1 car.. what he is doing is putting things in perspective. I dont get why HAM fans get so upset about this. I am a fan of HAM too. He is great. But his tally is wildly influenced by the Merc dominance. A car he drives because he deserves it and is the best. But nevertheless… a bit of loat rather than goat (l=luckiest). As in : would not have been possible without the Merc dominance which is getting absurd

      2. Younger fans have total access to not only close ups, slow motion, and in car footage of the drivers; but the best simulators to race on. I think younger fans have a greater appreciation of what each driver can do; and the skills they display, than their older counterparts. Plus they don’t get hung up on the past or rely on a few minutes of grainy footage from 50 years ago to declare A N Other is the best ever. Or argue why driver A doesn’t deserve this, but driver B deserves that
        If they are into F1 they almost certainly have spent far more time looking at it from a drivers perspective than as a spectator from the sidelines. There’s a reason the Hamilton generation wanted to be MS in the F1 game; and the latest generation pick Hamilton or Max. Its about wanting to be the best. And you can bet they don’t get hung up on winning as Max or Ham.
        Maybe that’s why Norris said what he did; its about the gaming and he’s not been invited into Hamilton’s Call of Duty team. :)

    13. This means very little coming from Norris. He hasn’t shown he’s hot stuff, can’t beat Sainz and will most likely be soundly beaten by Ricciardo if he continues in this form. I mean if you want to throw shade on a great driver’s achievements, at least make something of yourself first in comparison.

      1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
        27th October 2020, 8:12

        +1

    14. Hamilton and his team mates have amassed 136 race wins by my count.
      Alonso – 4 (2007)
      Kovalainen – 1 (2008-09)
      Button – 8 (2010-12)
      Rosberg – 22 (2013-16)
      Bottas – 9 (2017-20)

      Hamilton has 92 race wins which means he has won 68% of the races in which the car he is driving has won.

      1. Alonso for comparison is at 84%.
        32 of 38 wins.

        Fisichella – 2 (2005-06)
        Hamilton – 4 (2007)
        Nelson Piquet Jnr – 0 (2008-09)
        Massa – 0 (2010-20
        Raikkonen – 0 (2014)
        Button – 0 (2015-18)
        Fisichella – 2 (2005-06)
        Hamilton – 4 (2007)
        Nelson Piquet Jnr – 0 (2008-09)
        Massa – 0 (2010-20
        Raikkonen – 0 (2014)
        Button – 0 (2015-18)

        1. You are missing Truli here.

          1. I am indeed, good spot.

        2. 32 of 39.
          82%.

          Trulli – 1 (2003-04)
          Fisichella – 2 (2005-06)
          Hamilton – 4 (2007)
          Nelson Piquet Jnr – 0 (2008-09)
          Massa – 0 (2010-20
          Raikkonen – 0 (2014)
          Button – 0 (2015-18)

        3. Schumacher
          91 of 107 at 85%.

          Various – 0 (1991-1994)
          Herbert – 2 (1995)
          Irvine – 2 (1996-99)
          Barrichello – 9 (2000-05)
          Massa – 2 (2006)
          Rosberg – 1 (2010-12)

          1. These are brilliant statistics, thank you

          2. Great stats @aussierod – thanks!

          3. These are interesting statistics, but they are heavily influenced by how fast the drivers’ teammates are. Personally, I think Alonso or Hamilton probably have the fastest set of teammates.

            A few years ago, I remember working out how many points each driver since 2011 had scored and how many their teammates had scored, then finding the percentage that each driver had of their teammates’ points. Apart from the drivers who had scored points while their teammates had not (Bianchi and Wehrlein, with an infinite percentage), first place went to Felipe Nasr with 322% (29 points in 2015-16 to Ericsson’s 9), who was most likely not the fastest driver since 2011.

          4. Just to be pedantic :-)
            Irvine won three races at Ferrari but only one when he was teammate to Schumacher and (this race was gifted.
            by Schumacher).

            1. He won 4 – Australia, Austria, Germany and Malaysia – but Salo was his teammate for Austria and Germany. In Australia Schumacher had mechanical problems and finished 8th, in Malaysia he let Irvine past to win.

        4. @aussierod Stats like that don’t really work when there is a second driver clause at play.

          1. That depends on what you are looking for. I would say they do work in Schumacher’s case because it highlights exactly the point you are making.

          2. @f1osaurus

            Before I continue, I’d like to point out that I was never a Schumacher fan at any point.

            Irvine and Barrichello maintain to this day there was no second driver clause in their contracts. Irvine has gone on record multiple times saying that Schumacher had the support at Ferrari because he had the better chance of winning, and that if it was the other way round, Eddie would have had more support…proven by what happened in 1999.

            Gary Anderson’s break down of Eddie and Rueben in the season finale (part 1) of Bring Back V10s sums it up perfectly. Eddie was the perfect teammate to Schumacher; because he wasnt necessarily trying to beat Schumacher, he just got on with it, persistently kept trying to improve his performance whereas Ruebens had designs on beating Schumacher.

            Gary also ranked Irvine, Barrichello and Bottas in the same category of driver: competent.

            1. @jaymenon10 Yet they moved over and always were used as pawns for Schumacher.

              Herbert wasn’t even allowed to see his own telemetry after he happened to be faster than Schumacher in free practice.

              Verstappen drove Schumacher’s car and he remarked it was totally different from his own.

              Sure his colleagues were also poor drivers

            2. “Herbert wasn’t even allowed to see his own telemetry after he happened to be faster than Schumacher in free practice.”

              Making up your own stories again?
              “In 1995, Herbert recalls setting a faster lap time than Schumacher in a qualifying session in one of the early races of the season. From that point on, Herbert was barred from looking at Schumacher’s telemetry data”

              He wasn’t allowed to see Schumacher’s data, he was allowed to see his own. Anyhow, how is that any different from Alonso? During his complete Renault-time, his teammates weren’t allowed to see his telemtry. Hence his displeassure when Hamilton was allowed.

      2. Vettel is 78%.
        53 of 68.

        Bourdais – 0 (08)
        Webber – 9 (09-13)
        Ricciardo – 3 (14)
        Raikkonen – 1 (15-18)
        Leclerc – 2 (19-20)

      3. Interesting angle for analyzing driver performance. Surprised i haven’t seen it used before. Before people scream, of course there are many stories the numbers don’t show such as that the metric doesn’t weight how good/bad the opponent is and other factors, but the same can be said for almost every metric out there.

      4. Yeah interesting statistics @aussierod

    15. Yup. But if you give a driver like Hamilton the opportunity, he will take it. Hamilton is doing the job that is expected of him, and maintaining and improving his level of driving and ‘completeness’.

    16. Lando is too young to understand that this is F1.
      Technological Marketing is way more important than actual sporting competition.
      Budget cap and development handicap will restrict some of it.
      Just enjoy whatever little sport there is.

    17. We were reminded in Germany, when Bottas was in the lead, that all it takes is one small mistake to relinquish the lead to whomever is chasing you. Bottas slipped in T1 and lost the lead to Hamilton. That’s something that Hamilton seldom does (except in Portugal, though he made up for it)

    18. I don’t think Lando’s comment is very well phrased. It does come across as a little petulant and jealous even.

      He does have a point though. The thing is that Lewis has certainly in the last 7 years, since 2014 always had access to the best machinery available. However, he has nearly always achieved everything asked of or expected of him on a very consistent basis. You don’t get to 92 wins by not being something a little special or superior to those around you.

      It’s his ability to be so consistent which is one of the marks of a great champion.

    19. There is only one reason Norris said what he did, and that’s because he believes if he was in Hamilton’s shoes he would be be doing the same or better. And I would expect that every other driver on the grid thinks the same. Otherwise they wouldn’t be there.
      And conversely this new breed of entitled rich kids wouldn’t countenance the idea that they only got to the front of the queue in the first place because of daddy and mummys multi millions, but got there solely on talent. As Norris said about being in the top 500 of richest families in the country worth in excess of half a billion and having his own staff in F3. ‘We are not that wealthy compared to Stroll’.

      1. Wow, it’s funny that it is never mentioned. A quick google shows that his father is indeed part of the .0001%. There are ways to make racing much more of a meritocracy, but there’s no incentive for anyone to do the grassroots work and putting the infrastructure in place to do it. So, we’ll really never know how many best-evers are floating around who will never turn a wheel in their life.

    20. Another Jackie Stewart disciple probably?

    21. 1. It’s true, a Mercedes should be winning every race. Though of course the unexpected happens. 2. Taking his performance against his own team mate as a parameter, Norris would stand as little chance as Bottas against Hamilton in the other Mercedes.

      1. Except that Sainz is a hell of a lot better than Bottas (just maybe not in qualifying)

        1. w0o0dy, I guess we’ll see how good Sainz really is next year when he drives against Leclerc. But if his one lap pace isn’t as good as Bottas, then I can’t see how he’d get to beat Hamilton ever. Norris meanwhile will be up against Ricciardo. Good luck. He’ll need it. He’s going to get obliterated.

    22. Still, Hamilton secured nearly half of his victories against teammates who had the same equipment, the same treatment and the same team support as him – against Alonso, Button and Rosberg. Hamilton was fighting them while fighting for the title as well.

      The same cannot be said of Schumacher or Alonso. Barrichello was completely at Michael´s disposal, Fisichella in Renault & Massa in Ferrari were as well. Alonso lived in competitive team conditions for half a season before announcing his move back to Renault, Schumi experienced it against Rosberg – but the two were hardly fighting for victories at that time not to speak of titles. So, that for me is the main distinctive characteristics of Hamilton career – one that, indeed is at risk of going away alongside Bottas. The 2017-18 fight with Vettel/Ferrari helped to diminish that risk, but only temporarily.

      1. “Still, Hamilton secured nearly half of his victories against teammates who had the same equipment, the same treatment and the same team support as him – against Alonso, Button and Rosberg. Hamilton was fighting them while fighting for the title as well.”

        Bottas gave up his win for Hamilton at Russia 2018 and routinely had his strategy destroyed to play rear gunner. Still hasn’t paid him back for Russia.

        Schumacher paid back Barrichello for Austria 2002 at Indy 2002. He also sacrificed an easy win at Malaysia 99 for Irvine. Hamilton has never had to move over and hand a win to a teammate like Schumacher was forced to.

        1. MovE oveR aND hAnd a WiN To a TEAmmatE LikE SCHumaCHeR WAs FOrCED TO.

    23. yes he is right. but a car that can win every race can be 0.5s ahead of the field driven by bottas, or can be 1s ahead of the field under hamilton, vettel, alonso or maxs hands. see lando, if you replace hamilton you are gonna find yourself losing to bottas every race and even to max so you aint winning any race even with that merc.

    24. Absolutely correct Lando.

      That’s the unfortunate reality of Formula 1, particularly now.

      1. Now? Are new here?

    25. I completely agree with everything Norris says…but there is a ‘but’…

      Any England football fan will remember the 2006 and 2010 world cups where we showed up with world-class teams on paper before shortly humiliating ourselves. Lewis has world-class machinery but he’s worked to get it to that level and it’s well suited to him (not Bottas). His big skill is he rarely cracks and brings home the wins. He’s patient and knows how to win rather than spin out.

      He’s been beaten by Rosberg and Button but he’s improved and found his comfy spot and he’s utterly dominating because of it.

      I just wish he wasn’t such a **** on social media.

      1. That’s my take on it as well. I have to avoid all of his social media as its painful to watch a grown man behave the way he does, so I just appreciate his driving. Last Sunday was one of his best IMO.

    26. Landon’s take is funny for three reason:

      1. He had a championship winning car in F2 but didn’t win it.
      2. He can’t beat his current teammate
      3. If he was in Bottas’ car he’d get completely trashed by Lewis.

      1. There are two and 1 types of Drivers in f1.

        1. The seriously good ones, annihilators. Lewis, Daniel
        2. The empty vessels, lots of noise and no substance. Max, Norris.

        3. Others.

        1. rot troll

    27. No multiple WDC has won without the best cars. Fangio won 5 WDC with 4 different teams. Always jumping to whichever team had the BEST car, sometimes jumping into his team mate’s car in the middle of a race. Yet no one tried to diminish his success. Hamilton is undoubtedly the best of his generation and definitely one of the best champions ever. To deny or diminish his achievements is to deny the history and DNA of the F1.

    28. Literally every critique of Norris in this thread is people willfully or unintentionally taking his quote out of context. We’re seeing people say Norris implied Hamilton should make a clean sweep of the season or he’s not doing his job, that Norris implied Hamilton’s only had to compete with one or two drivers for wins DURING HIS ENTIRE CAREER rather than meaning just this season, etc. It’s basically partisan rancor.

      1. Norris is not one with reality. You will never have 20 guys going for 5he win race in race out.

        Back then when msc and Vettel were dominating, they didn’t even have to race their team mates. Hamilton is way way better than this kid and any of the pretenders.

        Nandos should stop crashing into racing point rather than talking about the GOAT.

    29. Anyone shortchanging Lewis does so at their peril. He has to beat Verstappen and Bottas this year. Both are championship caliber drivers. He has had to beat a lot of great drivers, especially Seb and Alonso and Nico and Jenson. He put himself in that position. He took the leap of faith to do so and the team appreciated that. And he reaps the reward. Is he the best ever? I Don’t know, but he is right up there.

      1. yep and not only is he beating them hes obliterating them isnt it. good drivers in a merc will edge bottas but great drivers will destroy bottas.

    30. Lando was actually exaggerating: there aren’t 2 drivers for Lewis to beat… it’s only Bottas. Max is just a nuisance, and he can be managed, especially by Lewis.

      1. @gechichan Correct. He was really being generous. Didn’t stop the Hamiltonians from attacking him.

    31. Another useless kid that will never win a race. Lol.

      1. rot troll

    32. Lets see Norris change his tune if he gets a car that he’s expected to win races in. The difference with Hamilton is its not about simply beating the other drivers, its about pushing himself constantly to always be better than his current performance in every area. That’s what drives his consistency and High performance level, its ruthless drive and preparation (ironically though, failing twice this year for penalties resulting from not understanding specific event rules).

    33. If Alonso was Hamilton s team mate in a Merc Hamilton would not have six / seven world titles Hamilton has always been the pampered driver at every team , and not denying his tallent but the lack of competition for him is minimal when you have a car that laps most of the field half way through a race that tells you how unevenly matched the cars are ,if you were to put Hamilton in a mclaren and a George Russell in a Merc l bet with all his skills Hamilton gets laped and beat , Schumacher is one of the greatest but Alonso beat him twice for his championships why ,Alonso has got skills but Renault at that time had a good car ,you can only win with all the skills if you got the car for the job ,

      1. @Madmann

        Is this the same Alonso that Hamilton beat in his first year? Are you a casual or new to F1? If Hamilton handled Alonso in 2007 he sure as hell could handle him in years after.

    34. Instead of being upset about Hamilton having the best car, which has really only been the case since 2014 lets look that the fact that no team has managed to develop a car that has even been close to the Mercedes and the reasons why.

      RBR – initially it was because their PU supplier was so far behind and made no real progress but is a lot closer now
      Ferrari – well they have the budget but they’re…. well they’re Ferrari which probably explains everything
      McLaren – probably should have stayed using the Mercedes PU instead of heading off on the Honda size zero path – had they done so then it should have been a straight “development” fight
      Williams – no budget, have the right PU but that’s about all
      Renault – haven’t seriously invested and have just been waiting for the budget cap to arrive in the hope that they might end up being more competitive then
      The rest – no real budget in terms of being competitive

      By my reckoning, there should be 2 teams, possibly 3 that need to hang their heads in shame for not doing a good enough job. Conversely Mercedes has so Kudos to them and to Hamilton for maintaining his consistency for so long.

    35. The fact that Lewis doesn’t need to beat the entire field each week doesn’t mean he wouldn’t. He has the best drive because he is the best driver.

    36. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      27th October 2020, 1:53

      I’m not sure I get this. Does anyone complain that Ronaldo has been able to score 116 goals in Champions League only because he plays for the best teams that make it to the Champions League? If he played for Segunda, he’d never have scored in Champions League. The reason Ronaldo was at the best teams is because he’s the best player along with Messi.

      The same thing goes for Lewis. He’s the best so he’ll of course be driving the best car. You don’t have the worst drivers driving the best cars. Otherwise, my wife and I would be driving both Mercedes cars to take our children to soccer practice. How does that make any more sense than what Lando said? He only has to beat 2 cars cause he’s the best. After all, the greats usually only to beat 1-2 high caliber players to win – that applies to tennis, darts, snooker. I think only Nalbandian has beat the 3 top players including Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer at a tournament. That’s 3 Lando but it’s only happened once :-) Federer doesn’t have to beat ALL 63 players at a tournament individually to win it?

      1. I dont agree that he only has to beat 2 cars. If there are 20 cars on the grid then he needs to beat 19.maybe the 19 other cars need to up their game to be more competitive against Lewis in the merc… Or maybe Lewis should drive with a cramp, 3 wheels and something in his eye every race just so that the 19 others could be in his mirrors. I do wonder what happened with Norris that he spoke lime that.

    37. The comment section is a laugh riot. Fanatics all around.

    38. I am disappointed with the comments here. Hamilton’s fandom is slowly turning toxic. The man is a 6 time champion. He doesn’t need to be defended. Relax fans.
      More importantly, very few people here are interested or are discussing about Lando’s comments per se. Every second comment is on questioning Lando’s character and his performance.
      If only the best of the best can comment or even speak their minds, then the entire world would be a silent place.

      1. @webtel So when Norris is talking Hamilton down about how easy he has it, how can you not expect people to point out that he himself should then easily be beating Sainz?

        1. @f1osaurus
          I’ll concede this–i dont understand how Lando’s comments instantly become a metric for his performance vs Carlos.
          His words are along the lines of ‘Hamilton’s job to do is to beat one or two other drivers and he is still doing the job that he has to do’. (One or two being Bottas and Max)
          Now as per his own statement, Lando isnt doing his job. Fair point.
          But that doesnt mean he had no right to make this comment. I see no reason even for Lewis to be upset about this. Deriding Lando to make Lewis’ achievement speck-free makes little sense; Hamilton’s achievements speak for themselves.

          Poor chap has apologized for his comments already !!

      2. Hamilton fandom is turning toxic?

        And the anti-Hamilton hate?

        1. Yes, I note that the plethora of ‘Mr Reasonable’ we have on here lately are strangely absent when the anti-Hamilton bile is flying.

          1. Imagine how many comments they have to pretend not to see before feigning outrage over the other side?

    39. He is just stating facts, no need for everyone to get upset about it, who cares!

      1. i would agree if it came from leclerc, or max, but not from norris whos inconsistent and getting beaten by his *teammate* himself more often than not.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          27th October 2020, 12:17

          Neither of those drivers would make such a frivolous statement. They know how hard it is to beat a single driver over a season, let alone 2. Champions are always fighting 1-2 competitors. There is no sport where a person is competing against everyone – Phelps only needed,to beat the 2 best swimmers. The rest couldn’t touch him – they were swimming with slow bodies just as Lando is driving a slower car. There’s a reason for it.

    40. Oh and also, all F1 world champions have won in the best car, Its just what F1 is. People need to get over the fact that Lewis only has Won because he has had the best car, which is exactly what it is and has been since the start of F1

    41. Nothing new here. The Mercedes is the fastest car on the grid by far and away, Hamilton just needs to beat 1 driver (bottas)

    42. Don’t care one bit for any of the F1 drivers. The cars are amazing, the drivers are inconsequential.

    43. Mr Melvin Nightingale
      27th October 2020, 7:44

      The fact that Hamilton has 92 wins just goes to show that the playing field is far from level. Hamilton has always been in a car that was totally competitive. The same happened with Schumacher when Ferrari ruled for 7 years. Moss won races in a lotus that was not the best car in its day.

    44. Childish views from Noris and myopic analysis from detractors. The same folks will tell you that Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time without considering the type of team mates he has in FC Barcelona that made it possible. Over and over again Lewis has proved that he can win without the best car on the grid.How do u certify a biased critic? Impossible task.

    45. 100% accurate assessment.

      Crazy that a young guy like Norris can maturely assess the situation, while tons of Hamilton fans lose their minds as soon as anyone points out the facts.

      1. @dale which fan lost gos mind in their response? And how did they do it?

    46. Ok.
      Here is my take:
      How many times has Hamilton won a WDC with a team mate in second. Or finished second with a team mate as WDC?

      Now, compare that to all the other greats.

      This is not a final verdict or anything like it, Lewis is one of the seven all time greats. But this should be part of the discussion.

      1. @magon4 True, because it shows Hamilton has a team mate that’s actually capable and allowed to go for it himself too. Not like some of the other greats where the #2 driver was a poor driver outright or severely hampered by aiding the #1.

        1. Let’s have a look at Bottas.
          I would put him in a list with:
          Barrichello, Massa, Webber, Ralf Schumacher, maybe Nick Heidfeld; maybe slightly under 00s Kimi, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, JP Montoya and such?

    47. CAN’T AGREE MORE

    48. Ironic, to be the best F1 driver in history you just have to be in Mercedes and just beat Rosberg and Bottas, quite easy.

      1. Yes, easy peasy. But to get in that Merc in the first place you not only have to match the reigning double WDC in your rookie season and achieve a WDC yourself; you then have to continually reach a standard of excellence that convinces the legend that is Lauda to change his mind about you, and actively seek to recruit you into the team to fill the boots left by MS.
        Probably why Lando says when he started watching F1 he looked up to Hamilton as he was been inspired by him, would like to be as good as he is, and hopes to emulate him.

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        27th October 2020, 17:21

        @aminsasur ironic, to be #1 in tennis rankings this year, I just need to beat Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer. Where’s my racquet? Wait, this makes no sense. Before I grab my racquet and head out to dominate in tennis, I should call Uniqlo and sign a $500 million deal in advance!

    49. On topic, I agree with norris, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise since I’m a big critic of the drivers who win more races than others did due to having a dominant car for way too long, but I had heard rumors norris also said he would’ve won the title if he had driven the 2007 mclaren, which obviously can’t be right since hamilton’s first season was one of the best rookie year of f1 ever and norris is ofc being beaten by his team mate who is probably not a top driver either, at least in performance, although norris has been luckier.

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