Is Hamilton one of the GOAT F1 drivers?

So you think Hamilton is above Schumacher?
What has Hamilton done that justifies that in your opinion? What exactly was McLarens imcompetence in 2007? Driving into the gravel of China? What makes him great by driving the current Mercedes? Which races of Hamilton match Schumachers rain races in Barcelona or Spa (where he was taken out by Coulthard)? Just a few questions...Sorry, I do not see it.
And when talking about Schumachers dominant cars: I doubt the Benetton was one and Schumacher himself was at least partly responsible for the Ferrari dominance by doing countless hours in testing...Hamilton did exactly nothing to make Mercedes dominant as testing is banned...So there has to come much more in future to rate Hamilton above Schumacher...

 

Hamilton is MAOAT driver. Most Annoying Of All Time Driver.

 

Mansell must be right up there too ..he was also damn quick .Maybe its a British thing?

 

Ah, vying for that crown with (Jacques) Villeneuve and Mansell

 

LOL Could be.

Was he? It was before my time. This is interesting.

 

I agree.

And i'm not a big schumacher fan. I respect his achievements and his will to win, but i think he also was very lucky later in his career. Maybe he made some of that luck himself with testing, but i dont know. The "what if's" can go on and on, especially with Senna's passing and Prosts retirement.

To me, the greats were the ones that did amazing things in not amazing cars.

 

Schumacher did win in less than the best, Ferrari was far from best when he came on board.
I'm sure Ross Brawn would acknowledge MS' contributions to the development of a superior car.
One of my favorite Hobbs-isms was when after a race, MS was looking closely at a competitor's car before the podium ceremony. Another commentator(Matchett perhaps)noted that the other drivers don't do this. Hobbs says something to the effect of "the others don't know what they are looking at".
Could a case be made that MS also helped development of the MBs?

 

In China, it was telling him to stay out on finished tyres when it was obvious that he had to come in.

Also (in case you didn't notice) Raikkonen only won the WC because Ferrari swapped him and Massa at the pitstops in Brazil. Had McLaren done the same (with Alonso) then Hamilton would have been WC - as a rookie. But Ron Dennis had fallen out with the FIA and Alonso so badly, that Alonso would rather Raikkonen won than his rookie teammate and the FIA were just waiting to penalise McLaren for team orders that Ferrari were allowed ;-)

You shouldn't confuse your lack of respect for him as a person, with a lack of talent as a driver; he IS one of the most talented there has been.

Mansell was a great driver to watch but not one of the greats. Like Rene Arnoux but slightly better.

 

It wasn't the best, but it wasn't exactly a slouch either....

The benetton was quick but the williams was definitely the faster car in the mid 90's

 

Wait what?

How where they going to swap Hamilton and Alonso around when Alonso was in 3rd and Hamilton in 8th. Not that Alonso would gift a title to his teammate in any case after Hamilton showed his true colours earlier in the season.

Kimi was the rightful champion; he had the most wins, the slower car, and most unreliable of the competing chaps, retiring twice due to a car failure, none for either Mclaren (both Mclaren's had a dnf each, Hamilton drove into the gravel and Alonso lost it in torrential conditions).

 

So tell me: did the tyre burst or was it him who was obciously too fast for the pit entrance ending in the gravel? But as always it can´t be him

Interesting: so on one side you Hamilton fans repeatingly mention that his WDCs are special because he had no no.2 driver and team orders and then you complain about McLaren not doing so as well??? Strange...And why should Alonso move aside at a time when he still could have become WDC himself or who do you think would have become WDC if either Raikkonen or Massas car would have failed to finish in the last race?

An in case you didn´t notice he got gifted a WDC in return by the incompetence of Ferrari releasing Massa with a fuel nose attached to the car a year later...So nothing to moan about at camp 44...

Believe me, I can differ between the showman and the race driver. He is good (nobody questioned that) but I still do not see anything that makes him stand above Schumacher or even Alonso and Vettel other than beating Rosberg in the most dominant car in F1 history...

And it is actually impertinent to put down another opinion to "lack of respect" but actually this is an undertone here in recent months: whoever does not support Hamilton and who does not believe in him as GOAT is actually a hater....

 

From what I've seen, I think he will easily be looked at as a top-10 driver (50+ wins and 3-4 titles in 9 years is not easy, regardless of machinery), but this era of cars is so technically advanced that you're either the class of the field or you're not. You can't compare the way he wins with the way past greats won because pure skill and will is no longer an equalizer.

OTOH, he has driven as a teammate to (2) WDC's and a quality competitor in Rosberg, so he hasn't gotten a free pass either. Comparative wins for those teammates are:

Alonso: 32 wins in 265 starts (12%)
Button: 15 wins in 299 starts (5%)
Rosberg: 19 wins in 197 starts (9%)
Hamilton: 49 wins in 179 starts (28%)

Personal opinions aside, the stats say he belongs among F-1's historical greats. Three WDC's and a 28% win percentage are really strong achievements. (FTR, Ayrton was at 25%, Prost at 25% and MS at 29%)(and, yes, I know that each of those spent a couple of years in sub-standard teams, unlike Lewis)

EDIT: His main competitor for this era of racing, Vettel, is at 25% race wins.

 

Agreed. If, and that's still a big if in my opinion, he can win again this year he'll be in very elite territory.

 

Agree...polarizing he may be, but his achievements are elite.

 

I never rated Mansell any better then René..he certainly wasn't any faster...but he did have better cars!!!

 

Unfortunately history will see it that way. Same as vettel.

Everyone remembers senna and Stewart and Clark, no one remembers Peterson, cevert or Villenueve

 

If you are just looking at data on a page you would not remember them. If you actually saw them race you would never forget them.

 

Hambone a GOAT? Just because he can beat Rosberg to 4 titles? Don't make me laugh.

 

If schumi had stayed instead of Nico, and had this car, Elton would've been sacked for excessive whining and moaning by now having been beaten by the schuminator in every race for three seasons. Elton isn't fit to lick schumi's boots, and it's offensive that anyone even tries to compare the chump with the greatest driver ever

 

Agreed, amongst the many sheep in nowadays F1, Hamilton is definitely a goat.

 

+1

It's a real shame that MS didn't stay to reap the rewards of the Merc he developed with Brawn and Co. He effectively handed success to Hamilton on a plate.

 

Vettel + Lewis combined now equal Schumacher in wins and titles. Schumacher 307 races overal, Vettel + Elton at 348 combined...

 

HELL NO

 

Exactly only time will tell

 

Agreed. Would have loved to see the old man put that punk in his place.