Who is the greatest of them all?
Inevitably, Lewis Hamilton’s fifth drivers’ title has started the debate in terms of his place amongst the greats of Formula One. If you examine just the statistics, then undoubtedly the greatest driver ever is Michael Schumacher with 91 race wins and seven titles, in an F1 career that spanned from 1991 to 2012, although Schumacher retired for the first time in 2006, only to return in 2010. He raced for four teams: Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes. He had 306 starts and a winning percentage of 29 per cent.
When Hamilton finished fourth in last week’s Mexican GP, he joined the late Juan Manuel Fangio as a five-time world champion. Fangio was 39 years old when he won his first F1 race in 1950 whereas Hamilton is only 33, so he has many years ahead of him should he decide to stay in F1. It is difficult to compare different eras in Formula One, something any former world champion will readily agree with. By comparison, Fangio had 51 F1 starts for 24 wins in his eight seasons in F1, a winning percentage of 47 per cent, whereas Hamilton has already competed in F1 for 12 seasons, with 227 starts and a winning percentage of 31 per cent. So arguably, of the top three world champions in terms of titles won, Fangio would come out on top based on his winning percentage.
However, statistics only tell part of the Lewis Hamilton: Greatest of his generation?
story, something Hamilton seems to have accepted now he is being compared favourably to Schumacher and Fangio.
“I’d never, ever personally classify myself as the best,” Hamilton said after the Mexican GP. “Michael’s still quite far ahead in races won, so you have to say he is still the ‘GOAT’ (greatest of all time). Fangio, I think, is the godfather and always will be from a driver’s perspective. To do what he did at that time, when everything was so dangerous, my respect is so high for him. I feel honoured to have my name alongside him. If I stopped today, the Hamilton name will always be there. I feel like I’m still driving with that fierce fire that I had when I was 8 years old, which I love.”
Hamilton may be the UK’s most decorated F1 driver now with his five titles, but for many the greatest champion of all was the late Jim Clark who was tragically killed in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim in 1968. Clark was 32 when he died, having started 72 grand prix for 25 victories, a winning percentage of 34.7 per cent. He won the driver’s title in 1963 and 1965, and may have won the championships in 1962, 64, and 67 but for mechanical failures, being forced to retire in 23 of his 72 starts. In addition to his F1 success, he won 13 Formula Two races, the Indy 500, the Tasman series three times and also had success in sportscars and Touring cars. His success rate and versatility, surely makes him the greatest driver ever?
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso is trying to prove his versatility as a driver. He was Hamilton’s first teammate when the two were paired at McLaren in 2007. It was an acrimonious partnership, simply because Alonso thought that as a double world champion, he would be the number one, but team boss Ron Dennis had other ideas, especially when it became obvious that Hamilton was a match for Alonso. They ended up equal on points, both one point behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who stole the title.
Alonso left the team while Hamilton went on to win his first world title with McLaren the following year. Despite the situation in 2007, Alonso and Hamilton now have mutual respect, even more so as while Alonso has been in the uncompetitive McLaren, Hamilton has taken four titles in five seasons with Mercedes. When asked at the USGP in Austin, Texas, whether he would put Hamilton on his top five drivers’ list. Alonso gave a candid answer.
“It’s difficult to make a top-5 of all-time greats,” Alonso said, “but probably Michael, Fangio, [Ayrton] Senna, [Alain] Prost and Lewis — that would probably be the top five. That’s what comes to my mind but it’s difficult to compare different times and different ways to win those Hamilton psychologically stronger than Sebastian Vettel. championships. Lewis winning five now and equalling Fangio is a great achievement.
“If one had to do that in our generation, I’m happy it’s Lewis, because he showed the talent and he showed the commitment. When the car was dominating and delivering, he won the championship and when it was not good enough, he still put some performances to show the talent. That’s difficult to see in our days.”
Notably absent from Alonso’s list is fourtime champion Sebastian Vettel, with whom Alonso has a strained relationship. But another four-time champion in the Alonso top five, Alain Prost, has a clear view on Hamilton’s place amongst the greats, and also why Vettel didn’t beat him this year.
“You cannot compare the generations. Senna and I were perhaps the best of ours,” Prost said. “Now you can only say that Lewis is one of the best, if not the best of his generation. Sebastian also had a good season, but not good enough to beat the combination of Lewis and Mercedes. He made mistakes at the wrong time, as in Baku or Hockenheim, otherwise he would have been 30 points ahead at the time with less pressure. Lewis was just psychologically very strong against Seb this year. He was very mature. Under the circumstances, it was impossible to beat him.”
Mercedes has Hamilton signed up until the end of 2020, and team boss Toto Wolff expects Hamilton will stay “forever”.
“As long as we provide a car that is competitive to win championships and he continues to drive like he does, this can be a relationship that goes forever,” Wolff said.
Vettel, meanwhile, has refuted comment made throughout the title fight that Ferrari had a faster car than Mercedes.
“That is where I maybe have a different opinion to the rest,” Vettel told Autosport.
“It is absolutely true to say we have a very strong car, but people’s perception that we had a dominant car, I don’t think it was true. I think if you look at the results, I don’t see the dominance. In Spa we didn’t have the pole, whatever the conditions. We got (the win) because of the way Spa is designed, with Eau Rouge being flat.
“Mostly we were not fast enough. At the end of the day you need to have the speed to fight for the championship,” he added.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen, based on his second victory of the season in the Mexican GP, is ready to challenge Hamilton and Vettel for the championship next year.
“I think absolutely,” Horner said. “You’ve seen this weekend, if we’ve had an engine that is anywhere near the ballpark of our opponents, then we’ve got a strong enough team and strong enough driver package to take the fight to them.”
This weekend is the Brazilian GP, which Vettel won last year from Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, while Hamilton started from the pitlane after crashing in qualifying, but still finished fourth in the race. The constructor’s championship is still to play for, with Mercedes 55 points ahead of Ferrari and 86 points still available. With the driver’s championship decided and no team orders to be imposed, it should be a straight shoot out between Mercedes and Ferrari, although Red Bull may try to spoil the party.
I FEEL HONOURED TO HAVE MY NAME ALONGSIDE HIM. IF I STOPPED TODAY, THE HAMILTON NAME WILL ALWAYS BE THERE. I FEEL LIKE I’M STILL DRIVING WITH THAT FIERCE FIRE THAT I HAD WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD, WHICH I LOVE.