Hamilton best driver in F1 next to Vettel... but Vettel not on his level yet

What do you think?



Truth? Or idiot-speak?

 

what the heck, i'll play

- Hamilton not the best, in my view. Many factors must combine well, to create "the best". He certainly has raw talent and speed, but lacks good judgment. I'd even place Button above Hamilton, as a more complete ... and therefore, better ... driver. I'd place Alonso above Hamilton for this same reason.

- I do agree that Vettel hasn't yet been truly tested. But the talent is certainly there.

 

Hamilton is not the best race driver, but probably is the best qualifying driver (at the moment). Clearly, he is the fastest, and also clearly, he cannot keep the tires on the car. This is why Button won the first race.

 

Currently, Alonso is the best driver in Formula One. Closely followed by Hamilton (whom I rate above Vettel, but only slightly).

 

I can agree with this. Hamilton is indeed an amazing qualifier, but watch Schumacher's qualifying lap in Malaysia as it's surgically clean while Hamilton was indeed super-fast but sloppy. That being said, I believe Schumacher is the best actual race driver of the field. Since late last season, he re-honed a technique with tires or simply honed a technique he never needed to have before. He's been amazingly calculative. I'm losing my previous regard for Alonso as he has not been a good leader for the team as the team is just not putting out good cars. A 'great' will make it happen and grow the team, and Alonso is not doing this.

 

I'd rather have Alonso than anyone.

Provided he have an explosive implant within him for when he stabs the team in the back.

 

For God's sake all he can do is direct the tuners and then drive the car.

Growing the team is not his job nor should it be.

He's a second faster than Massa when it counts.
Thats like an eternity.

 

Alonso is far superior to either Vettel or Hamiton. Some day Vettel may be as good as Alonso. Hamilton never will be.

(Preparing for fanboy attack)

 

I think that Alnso is probably the most complete driver, but he, LH, JB and SV are all fairly equally effective. Any of them is great in a great car.

 

I put hamilton on the same level as alonso, and vettel is right there too. They all have different styles and i love it. Makes for some interesting racing.

 

i do think the thread kinda begs the question : what makes for a GREAT driver?

In my eyes, there's several components:

- raw talent, including quick reflexes and just plain speed
- passion to win
- good judgment ... when to force a pass, when not to force a pass, when it's your job to back out, etc.
- good "communion" with your machine ... how to read the car, get the most from the chassis and tires (even when it's not performing at 100%), etc.
- adaptability to track conditions : new-ness of circuit, weather (not just rain, but excessive heat as well)
- ability to provide accurate, specific feedback to mechanics and engineers

Hamilton excels at the first two, but is middle-of-the-pack on the last few. Sometimes i see evidence of maturity in Hamilton, but i'm worried that time is passing him by (as far as developing excellence in all these other areas).

During his heyday, Schumacher excelled at all of these (again, my view).

 

...it's a trap


Here is Alonso's take.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CEzqCcF2mps

He feels that Vettel and Hamilton are the top 2 drivers in F1, but that Vettel is not on Hamiltons level yet. In other words, Hamilton is the best.

Now, it's well known I dislike the rat faced little turd (Alonso), but he scored some points with me in this interview. Clearly, Alonso isn't going to say "I think I am the best", but I think if he really rated himself much higher, he would come up with a non-committal answer. To the question.

He raced side-by-side with Hamilton and respect his talents and considers him the best. Also, I find it interesting that he goes against something often repeated on here, that Hamilton never had to deal with an inferior car. Alonso says the car was made to perform by Lewis' driving.



And the idea that Button is better is laughable.

It would be great to see another Hamilton/Alonso battle - in evenly matched cars. Vettel is fast... but he's no Hamilton.

 

not an Alonso fan, but he is better IMO in many ways than Hami
Vettel is going to have to dig deep, he had all plus', but it's when without those advantages which will show his mettle

 

I put Button in a different category. I really like Button, but he's not on the top level. There is a different side of the character of the top guys. A ruthless and ultra-competitive side that can't be tamed. It's what makes Schumacher park a car at Rascasse, or Vettel crash into his own teammate rather than play second fiddle, or Hamilton dress down the team over the radio for a mistake, or Alonso ruthlessly gimp his teammates race for his own ends while entering the pits.

Button doesn't have that selfish/angry/ultra-competitive streak. He doesn't possess the same fire. He benefited from a head-and-shoulders faster car and a crappy teammate at Brawn, and a teammate that was going to nutty in defeat that he lost it and screwed his own season with Lewis last year. JB is good, but he's Kubica/Kobayashi/Rosberg/Webber good. Not Hamilton/Alonso/Vettel good.

 

Button was laughing a bit more than Hamilton, at the end of last season

Surely, driver points aren't everything. But in 2011, in as closely-matched cars as we're likely to see, Button positively spanked Hamilton. Why? Maturity, patience, judgment, ...

 

selfish/angry/ultra-competitive streak does not, alone, equal a great driver.

my 2 cents ...

 

i believe hamilton is quite erratic esecially when in the middle of the field....

there are better drivers out there but not too many

 

...but not speed.

Button isn't on the top level of drivers. Nobody puts him there... and it's for a reason. He does have patience and judgement, but he doesn't have the raw speed of the top shelf guys.

Don't forget, but for a slight twist of fate, Webber would have beaten Vettel in 2010 to win the WDC. But everyone knows Webber isn't in Vettel's league.

 

true....he's fast, but necessariy 'the best' in this field of drivers

 

but Mike, that's kinda my point.

Driver A has "more speed". Everyone on the grid just knows it. But yet, Driver B brings home more bacon (points). Who's the "better" driver? Well, if i'm a teamowner, i know which way i'm leaning ...

yeah it's the "moneyball" view of F1 lol

I'm very interested to watch the Button/Hamilton competition this year!

 

I doubt there is a single team owner who would take Button over Hamilton. They shared two seasons together, and each came out on top one time. Last year, Hammy was leading most of the year - it was really just the last half where Hamilton seemed unable to bring things together that Button got ahead. And actually, it was really more like 5 races where Button was on the podium and Hamilton was having constant issues (some his fault).

I always say memories are very short in F1... Button has never been a top shelf driver. He had a streak of good races that coincided with Hamilton's streak of bad races. It's really no different than when Webber was leading in '10 and Vettel was having issues. But... Button is the #1 at McLaren, Vettel is the greatest the world has ever seen, Schumacher just got lucky, and Perez is the only worthy successor to Alonso That's how it works in F1. I'm sure Alonso doesn't really know anything about relative talent amongst drivers anyway

I doubt the anomaly will repeat. We'll see.

 

i'd like to see more competition between button and hamilton, watch them hash it up!

 

+1

 

As usual, great post Mike.

 

That's a funny thing to say...last year all we heard from the MS haters is that the points do all the talking (so Nico is better). If that's true, then button must be better than hamilton going on last year and so far this year.