Interesting idea. I tend to think its more likely the series will cease to exist. Along with lots of other ‘trivial divertissments’. No time for racing cars when the world is fighting over masks and drinking water.
But I’m a pessimist.
Slightly off-topic, but I remember when Sampras broke the decades-old record for most grand slam tennis titles and people thought it might never be broken. Less than 20 years later, 3 players have surpassed it! With no change in the number of opportunities to do it. That really is extraordinary.
More on topic - this page is a good general reference:List of Formula One driver records - Wikipedia
I see from there that Hamilton is still well behind Fangio (and Ascari) in terms of percentage wins, Fangio managed 24 wins from 52 entries for 46%, Hamilton is currently on 35%. I doubt he will stay in the game long enough to catch up. Maybe that is a better measure for ‘greatness’ than raw numbers, which as pointed out are subject to inflation (for example, it’s completely, er, pointless to compare points tallies between eras). No doubt Fangio was also denied more victories by mechanical issues than Hamilton has been.
So yes, if the sport continues to expand, someone will probably overtake Hamilton’s records in my lifetime (I’m 35 so that is, hopefully, a rather conservative timeframe) but if we are looking at the perennial ‘greatest driver’ I would probably stick with this:
- Clark
- Fangio
- Hamilton
- Schumacher
- Senna
I can’t remember if that is the same as what I posted before on this topic but I suspect it is - I may have swapped Fangio and Hamilton in this iteration, having seen the stat I quote above which was new to me.
But was he handed more victories too due to opponents’ mechanical issues? Maybe these cancel each other out. I don’t know! 
POLE POSITION FOR LANCE STROLL AT ISTANBUL
Sure, his dad is the owner and everything, but he still has to drive around fast. Well done!
Yeah pleased for him. He probably wouldn’t have got the drive without his Dad but he’s proved in the last couple of seasons that he’s quick enough and he makes far fewer mistakes these days (I’m probably jinxing him for tomorrow).
That was a weird session. The Merc was clearly completely outside of its window and there seemed to be no real pattern to who was doing well (other than the RB being pretty comfortable). I mean, no real slight against Stroll but he is not that much better than Hamilton in the wet. New slippy track, cold conditions, rain. All added up into a bit of a lottery.
I’m wondering if there is a bit of set-up optimisation games going on, in that Merc perhaps have gambled on a drier race and long-run performance. We’ll know (possibly) tomorrow.
That was a chore to watch what with all the red flags, two power outages (a transformer blew up while I was watching it) and a sky sports feed going black right at the end of Q2. But it got really exciting there at the end!
Wow, if you are going to make a claim to be the GOAT, that’s the way to do it. A struggling car, challenging conditions, starting from 6th and yet you blow everyone out of the water with potentially one of the best drives of your career.
Everyone else is pirouetting and he pulls out a 30+ second gap on second place, laps his team-mate on 50-lap old tyres that are basically slicks. Incredible.
If the mark of a great driver is the ability to transcend your car…there you go.
And Vettel back on the podium was nice to see, he gets grief but I like him and good see a little moment with them both in park-ferme.
One of Hamilton’s greatest wins.
Verstappen showed his flaws and I think there’s an argument to say those flaws will stay with him for his entire career. Yes very quick, but prone to hot-headed mistakes.
On one of the commentaries I read highlighted the difference between Hamilton being frustrated behind one of the Ferraris, having a go and baling-out safely to fight another day and Verstappen recklessly trying to get past the Racing Point (Stroll I think) when there was no chance, spinning and flat-spotting.
I know he is still young but he is coming to end of his sixth full season and he’s not quite the finished article yet.
He’s not but I think these things are an integral part of his racing style. I’m not sure if he’ll ever mature past that. Having said that, if you were to swap him into a Mercedes I’m sure he’d be able to occasionally and maybe even frequently beat Hamilton.
That is the eternal question. No doubt Verstappen beats Hamilton in equal machinery at times and would take championships against him as well (just as Rosberg did). However, I would still give Hamilton the edge in the final analysis because he is just so damn consistent and sympathetic to his machine and ultimately so race-wise in his ability to push/not-push and make sound decisions more often than not.
I’ve been hooked on F1 since the late 70’s and Hamilton is,in my eyes at least, the most complete package I’ve seen. He’s taken 90% of Senna, 90% of Prost, 90% of Schumacher and most of that missing 10% was the bad stuff.
My hunch is that Verstappen is slightly faster than Hamilton on more tracks than not but loses out over a season.
Neither would be so much faster that they wouldn’t get stuck behind the other and I think Hamilton is the more patient driver in that situation. Also, Hamilton is a genius at managing his tyres and reading the race so would win lots of races even when he didn’t have the speed edge. Plus I reckon Verstappen would have more DNF’s.
Basically, Hamilton’s race craft is head and shoulders above everybody else.
Results were completely predictable. From Day One of the season.
Perhaps. But it was a fun journey to watch.
The midfield has been pretty exciting. Or Formula 1.5, as some people call it.
No… .
How about this…it way way more fun to watch than any sportball…?
I don’t recall any specific incidents, but I think Hamilton has matured over the years - pretty sure he was more hot-headed as a younger driver, like nearly all of us. Great analysis though. Senna was considered the ultimate rain god, then Schumacher, but I think Hamilton might have the edge over both, there.
He didn’t have his current decision-making capacity in his early years that’s for sure. “more hot-headed”? I know what you mean and I sort-of agree but I’m not sure that was ever quite the right description for him. Certainly he did silly things that were down to inexperience rather than temperament. I don’t think he ever reached Verstappen-level of borderline recklessness (or the rather petulant reaction to it sometimes).
Interestingly. He lost the championship in his rookie season when he spun off in China when coming in to a slippery pit lane on very worn tyres. Yesterday he chose not to take the option of a safety-stop because those exact same conditions were in play.