Trailblazer Hamilton really is the greatest F1 driver ever

The wheels had barely ground to a halt in Portugal on Sunday before the debate had started on whether Lewis Hamilton is the greatest racing driver of all time.

Lewis Hamilton is the greatest racing driver of all time.

The English maestro has been dealing with these comparisons for most of his prolific career and even though he has now amassed 92 Grand Prix victories – surpassing the tally achieved by Michael Schumacher – and is the dominant performer of his generation, poised to secure his seventh world title next month, his achievements are still being downplayed in some quarters.

Earlier this month, Scotland’ s three-time global champion Sir Jackie Stewart sparked controversy when he described Juan Manuel Fangio as “the greatest driver that’s ever lived” with his compatriot Jim Clark in second place, ahead of Ayrton Senna.

He justified his comments by saying the increased number of F1 races and advances in technology had made Hamilton’s exploits easier than in the 1950s and ’60s when competitors in the pit and paddock were accustomed to being stalked by death, destruction and serious injury in their quest for honours.

That is a valid perspective, yet it leaves one wondering what Hamilton is expected to do in the absence of having access to a time machine. It is certainly not his fault that he and his Mercedes colleagues have grabbed the sport by the scruff of the neck and left the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari flailing desperately in the slipstream.

As somebody who has interviewed Stewart on a regular basis, I’ve heard him speak about Hamilton in glowing terms, but it is almost as if he is bored with the current state of F1.

How else to explain his comment that the Mercedes car and engine are now “so superior that it is almost unfair on the rest of the field?”

Even if that is the case, the onus is surely on the other teams to raise their standards rather than wallow in despondency.

Ferrari, for instance, have become almost a parody of the organisation which reigned over the rest while Schumacher was in their car.

Then, there’s the lazy stereotype of modern sport that there are no “characters” any more; a perception regularly labelled at those who get their kicks from chicanes.

It might, indeed, be true that the days have vanished when a James Hunt wouldn’t so much flirt with danger as invite it up upstairs for a night of unbridled passion, but the notion that the modern generation are all blankeyed automatons is a travesty.

On the contrary, Hamilton has been a genuine trail blazer, somebody who has excelled ever since he was a youngster racing karts at Larkhall and other circuits.

He has also been very vocal in backing the Black Lives Matter campaign and fighting for more racial diversity in the Grand Prix realm. That has not endeared him to everybody but he raised his head above the parapet and has stuck to his guns.

Life moves on, technology advances and new styles and methods evolve. That is the same in business, in health, in technology. At some point, but probably not before he has hoovered up an eighth and ninth world title, Hamilton’s powers will wane and new stars will shine.

We should relish the fashion in which Hamilton has taken F1 into uncharted territory as he contemplates passing 100 GP wins at some stage in 2021.

He’s a special character scaling unprecedented heights.

DEMENTIA-HIT LAIDLAW UP FOR THE BIG BATTLE

I spoke to Scotland’s prince of stand-offs, John Rutherford, this week about the news that his former team- mate and friend, Roy Laidlaw, is fighting dementia.

While Rutherford has been saddened by the news, he also told me he is still golfing regularly with his fellow Borderer – “and I can assure you he is as competitive as ever”.

He also provided a fitting reminder of how dramatically rugby has changed in the last 30 or 40 years.

As Rutherford recalled, after the Scots won the Grand Slam in 1984: “On the Monday, following our victory over France, the whole squad were meeting in Edinburgh for some celebratory drinks, but unfortunately, Roy couldn’t make it.

”He was an electrician in Jedburgh and he had to work. His job that day was... rewiring the public toilets!”

SPECIAL CHARACTER: Lewis Hamilton has brought the sport to a whole new level and rightly deserved to be considered the greatest driver ever.