The one criticism of Hambone that I think has some merit (not the conspiracy stuff you mentioned, though plausible) is that he always has the best car; hence, it's the car, not the driver. (and I'm not talking about the magazine.) Curiosity led me to delve into the past and compare Hambone's performance with that of his teammates. 07 - Tied with Alonso 08/09 - Destroyed Heikki 10/11/12/13 - beat Button 14/15/17/18/19/20 - Beat Nico 2016 - Nico bested him <= 21 Verstappen won by FIA decision ASTERISK 22 Beat George 23 -3rd place (beating everyone else) 24 - STINKS Based on this year, someone could say he's overrated BUT that's just a few months. Look at the field. Go ahead and say it: which of these is better? I'll start with the Rookies, Journeyman, and folks he's consistently beaten in the past. Logan (Rookie) Bottas (consistently beat his ex-teammate) Riccardo (lost mojo) Zhou (mediocre) Magnussen (journeyeyman) Hulk (journeyman) Yuki (mid-field) Stroll (hahahahahaha) Bearman (rookie) Albon (mid-field but shows promise) Ocon (mid-field) Gasly (mid-field) Ham has already shown he is at least as good as Alonso in the same car in 07.' So that leaves us Checo Leclerc George I'm sorry, but I think Ham is better than Checo/George. I'm taking LEC out since that's his teammate. What's left? Sainz Lando Oscar Max Hence, he is a top-five driver, and clearly in the upper elites/echelons of today's Formula 1.
You won't find many who will say Hamilton sucks or is a bad driver. Even the biggest haters should concede he is good. But when people call him the GOAT or think he's at or near the same level of Verstappen or Schumacher or some other greats, well the evidence suggests otherwise. Hence he is overrated.
Hamilton's form TODAY isn't so good, IMO. Who would take 2007 into consideration when appraising a driver today ? The bottom line is that his last win was 50 GPs ago ! Max, Sainz, Norris, Leclerc, Perez are ahead of him now.
Not sure I'd have Perez above Hamilton. Alonso I certainly would. As of right now 2024, you probably have to say Russell and Sainz are ahead too.
Impossible to be overrated when top teams don't mind hiring you for %90 of you career. There are many people who say Scumacher was overrated, Alonso etc. Max career is still going, when he hits a rough time, or doesn't win without RB, some will put him in the overrated pile.
I remember when Ferrari had not won a championship since John Surtees in 64. So I get it. When Lauda won in 1975 - that was huge... and then they won constructors from 75- 77.... and again in 79. I have always been a Ferrari supporter virtually my entire life ... ( Matra and Jackie Stewart was my initial team) ... but Matra was out. .... I look at the Schumacher years as an exception vs. the rule... many look at it the opposite. Ferrari has usually always been top to mid pack.... but just never quite making it....
I think the only thing that Ferrari can give Newey is the ability to build road cars, and sports prototypes as well as F-1... he could create a generation of Ferrari's... and actually see them built and marketed. Where the Stuff he did with Redbull and Aston Martin was watered down etc... I could see that being attractive to him. Just to do pure F-1 I think he'd rather retire.
Adrian Newey is leaving Red Bull and what driver gets discussed? Lewis Hamilton. Literally no mention of Max in this thread... I'm sure that makes sense...somehow.
You mean businesses hiring someone that is best for their business economically? People can call drivers overrated all they want, but you need evidence to back it up. Good luck finding that on Schumacher or even Alonso and definitely not Max
If one measures Ferrari record against the number of years they have been in actity (70+), its not outstanding at all. Ferrari, 71 years in F1, 16 WCCs + 15 WDCs. That's a ratio of 0.43 title per year. Red Bull, 20 years in F1, 6 WCCs + 7 WDCs. A ratio of 0.65 title per year Mercedes, 17 years in F1, 8 WCCs + 9 WDCs. A ratio of 1 title per year.
One becomes “overrated” at the end of one’s career…The internet is littered with guys making pronouncements of “overrated” from MJ to Tiger to Jeter to…well, you get the idea. Janet Jackson asked the question best: “What have you done for me lately?”
Like other sports, it's a fool's errand to name a GOAT since the different epochs/eras make it hard to crown one objectively. Is he the GOAT to me? That would be Fangio, okay for many to disagree - it's in the realm of speculation. Max is very good, even with his first asterisk - no denying that.
Sir Lewis Hamilton dusted off Rosberg after Rosberg finished Schumacher. Sir Lewis Hamilton dusted Alonso his rookie year. All this evidence is public info. Max career not over, lets see if he can accomplish more than Sir Lewis Hamilton, and win with multiple teams. I see no other driver on the grid who has been on Sir Lewis Hamilton's level.
I, too, don't understand the skepticism. Hamilton beat Fernando in 2007 (by position)—nobody (especially today) doubts Alonso's prowess. You are 100% correct, Nico ended Schumacher's career and then Hamilton went on to best Nico 5 out 6 times. I mean these are just objective numbers. Same cars. I mean last season Hamilton was #3, just behind the indomitable RBs (Georgie Boy was a distant #8 - same car) and that's supposed to be used motor oil? As I said above, everybody can, in good faith, have their GOAT, but I think it's incredibly uncharitable to say Ham doesn't deserve to be, at the very least, in that conversation. One can't help but scratch one's head and ponder why.
Agree, no such thing as goat, we can't put them all in the same car. Funny how they want to cherry pick the things they want help their argument.
To the common person maybe. Many have seen signs of overrated for years. But granted it required the media and fans to jump on the Lewis bandwagon while he was winning for his status to reach such high levels to even become overrated. He was a great driver and deserving champion with McLaren, but wasn't considered close to the likes of some legends. After being with Mercedes in cars that almost any puts could be champions in has falsified his true level.
You're a good guy, but your facts need work. He raced against Rosberg for 4 years, not 6. He was beaten in 2016. He only had to race 1 guy for 3 years, and lost once. Rosberg is much better than I thought, but who really puts him very high as a great driver? Same with Button, he's worse than Rosberg and beat Hamilton too. Rosberg often was the faster qualifier, but Hamilton is unquestionably the more complete driver. I agree with you about being a top 5 driver in current F1, but top 5 all time? I don't think so.
by dusted you mean tied in points after getting special treatment from the team as ordered by Ron Dennis? Or dusting Schumacher who had 3 years off, a neck injury and a completely different formula, even then worked his way back to being the faster driver in 2012? People are dumping on Hamilton this year, but I still think he's got the skills to compete against Russell.
The World Drivers Championship didn't exist before 1950. There were probably single seater races in the post-war years, but there was no championship.
