Seven titles and somehow people act like it was easy. Different eras, different teammates, constant scrutiny. The disrespect will always be louder than the facts.
What baffles me is that a lot of those keep saying Max had the greatest rookie debut in F1 and was essentially the best driver on grid even during his first few years, whereas the same people conveniently forget that Lewis, in his rookie year, mounted a world championship push against the reigning world champion, which he lost by just 1 point, and anyway won it in his 2nd year.
Aside the fact that I don't really understand why some people feel the need to make posts like this about other drivers, I also don't really know that many people who'd say Max' rookie season is more impressive. Lewis' rookie season is consistently mentioned among the most impressive rookie seasons in the sport.
That said, It's also just a silly comparison considering the quite different context in which their rookie seasons took place.
Hamilton had the best Rookie season followed by Villeneuve in 1996. Max rookie season and even his 2nd season are not even close to them. I will accept that they had winning cars but then again look who they had to fight back then.
Yes, but what's with the comparison? Nobody is saying that Max had a better rookie season than Lewis. Why so defensive? Why do people feel the need to drag other drivers into the comment section of a post that has nothing to do with said driver? Why can a post about Lewis not just be about Lewis?
People like to compare everyone with everyone. Its not bad to compare drivers, although I do believe that drivers that have not been driving at the same time cant really be compared to one another.
A lot of Max's fans will try to convince you that yeah his rookie year was the best and I have had others tell me that his rookie year was actually 2016 where he got a good car. You cant find any sense in them.
This with Lewis has happened since day one. Before Max it was Vettel. Before him it was Rosberg. Before him it was Alonso.
Yeah but that’s a complete irrelevance when his team mate was the Schumacher era destroying Alonso, who was 2 x consecutive WDC and considered the best driver on the planet by then.
Lewis was just as quick and was beating Alonso in his Rookie Season.
Also, it’s worth noting that all of the McLaren top mechanics and staff were desperately trying to work on Alonso’s side of the garage, and those with Lewis weren’t too happy.
Alonso then started to get beaten by Lewis and so he first started handing out personal payouts to his side of the garage, and when Ron Dennis stopped that, Alonso then blackmailed Ron into stopping Lewis or Alonso would leak the details about Spygate.
- Ron said fuck off and Alonso leaked the details of the emails he had seen between Ferrari and McLaren.
That’s how spygate got out and that’s what lengths Alonso went to in order to try and beat a Rookie!
All of this information is available in the book by Marc “Elvis” Priestly, called “The Mechanic…”
Wow that is some great info. I knew Alonso had a hand in leaking out details of that but I didn't know he was paying his mechanics to incentivize them and that Ron asked him to stop doing that.
If we just look at the rookie season at face value, of course Lewis comes on top by miles.
But if we take in the fact that at age 18, Verstappen was a Formula One GP winner while Lewis was still racing in a regional series, things change. Even Stroll scored a podium in F1 aged 18. Hamilton was extremely mature and experienced when he debuted in F1 compared to rookies these days.
Someone like Colton Herta might get close to Lewis if he ever gets into F1.
Yeah but this was 2007 vs 2017 or whatever. Also, Max Verstappen has a dad called Jos Verstappen who was a decent F1 driver and loaded for cash and therefore Max had literally everything he could possibly need to get into F1 miles before almost anyone.
Lewis came from nothing and he and his dad had to work like the working class poor people they were.
The jury was still out on Max in his rookie season. He was quick but not Godly quick. I would say about the same appearance as Lando and Piastri's rookie seasons.
lewis rookie season was obviously more impressive. stepped in to a mclaren and was in a title fight with the best driver on the grid at the time (in the same car)
but at the end of the day max joined f1 at the age of 17 after skipping formula2. had a lot to learn and mature at that point. was nowehere near the age or experience that lewis had in his rookie season. he joined so young they changed the rules due to him.
cant compare the two even though its fair to point out that lewis had the most impressive rookie season this sport has ever seen.
True, but he was also 17. Most drivers are making those mistakes at 17 in the junior series. It was always bound to happen when you put a kid that young in F1: he'll have to go through part of the learning curve in F1 rather than the junior series, which includes making (and learning from your) mistakes.
He was strong enough and intelligent enough to drive the car. Just ike in chess or videogames and other sports (say gymnastics) being adolescent is not a material disadvantage versus an adult.
There are aspects outside of driving that will overwhelm a teenager? But what we have observed of the actual driving, a 26 year old rookie is not any different from a teenaged one.
My point was mainly that at 17, most drivers are not in F1 yet. Verstappen was fast tracked into F1, and all the mistakes he made were done so on the biggest of stages, whereas for others that might not have been the case as they had a bit of time to make and learn from those mistakes in the junior series. They came into F1 with quite more open wheel experience under their belt. Like I said: He went to a significant part of the learning curve in F1 and not the junior series.
It was a response to "he was quick but also made a lot of stupid moves", and I'm just adding some context that that was to be expected. I'm not saying anything else. I'm not disputing any stats, not rating his season. Just that if you put an arguably unexperienced driver in F1, he is bound to make mistakes.
Very true, and this applies across the board tbf. There is no champion who has not worked hard for it. A championship is not something that just drops into your lap. I mean, it took so much out of Rosberg that he decided to retire as soon as the championship was over.
Schumacher was a pariah till he retired for a while.
People will evaluate him correctly eventually. His racing speaks for itself. Being dominant makes people hate you. I despised Schumacher for the 90s shenanigans, but I look back now and realise you have to appreciate how truly great he was. The same will happen for Lewis.
I don’t like the whole “well he had the fastest car” argument. It still takes a skilled driver to maximize that cars performance. Even Lando just learned this lesson and it almost cost him his championship
Realistically almost any driver on the grid past or present would trade their career for Lewis’s. I think a big part is regency bias with max’s performance and Lewis lack of performance. Max is clearly one of the best to do it but I don’t think that should take away from what Lewis has done on and off track for F1
Totally ,would have been such a great ending to such a legendary career.I think if he had won he would have retired.Its searching for that elusive eight title that's been pushing him since but 2026 really should be the last year whether he wins or not.Id rather see him retire next year in a Ferrari than him in an Aston Martin retirement package
That's not really related to his point. He said if the first 5 races go badly next season.
The car was bad this year, but Charles was almost always faster, especially at the end of the season. His point was that if the same form continues at the start of the season, he thinks lewis should retire
Yep in total he has been in about 11 title fights that have gone to the last race
What baffles me is that a lot of those keep saying Max had the greatest rookie debut in F1 and was essentially the best driver on grid even during his first few years, whereas the same people conveniently forget that Lewis, in his rookie year, mounted a world championship push against the reigning world champion, which he lost by just 1 point, and anyway won it in his 2nd year.
Aside the fact that I don't really understand why some people feel the need to make posts like this about other drivers, I also don't really know that many people who'd say Max' rookie season is more impressive. Lewis' rookie season is consistently mentioned among the most impressive rookie seasons in the sport.
That said, It's also just a silly comparison considering the quite different context in which their rookie seasons took place.
Hamilton had the best Rookie season followed by Villeneuve in 1996. Max rookie season and even his 2nd season are not even close to them. I will accept that they had winning cars but then again look who they had to fight back then.
Yes, but what's with the comparison? Nobody is saying that Max had a better rookie season than Lewis. Why so defensive? Why do people feel the need to drag other drivers into the comment section of a post that has nothing to do with said driver? Why can a post about Lewis not just be about Lewis?
People like to compare everyone with everyone. Its not bad to compare drivers, although I do believe that drivers that have not been driving at the same time cant really be compared to one another.
A lot of Max's fans will try to convince you that yeah his rookie year was the best and I have had others tell me that his rookie year was actually 2016 where he got a good car. You cant find any sense in them.
This with Lewis has happened since day one. Before Max it was Vettel. Before him it was Rosberg. Before him it was Alonso.
Wasn’t McLaren eliminated from that year though cause of spygate
Yeah but that’s a complete irrelevance when his team mate was the Schumacher era destroying Alonso, who was 2 x consecutive WDC and considered the best driver on the planet by then.
Lewis was just as quick and was beating Alonso in his Rookie Season.
Also, it’s worth noting that all of the McLaren top mechanics and staff were desperately trying to work on Alonso’s side of the garage, and those with Lewis weren’t too happy.
Alonso then started to get beaten by Lewis and so he first started handing out personal payouts to his side of the garage, and when Ron Dennis stopped that, Alonso then blackmailed Ron into stopping Lewis or Alonso would leak the details about Spygate. - Ron said fuck off and Alonso leaked the details of the emails he had seen between Ferrari and McLaren.
That’s how spygate got out and that’s what lengths Alonso went to in order to try and beat a Rookie!
All of this information is available in the book by Marc “Elvis” Priestly, called “The Mechanic…”
Wow that is some great info. I knew Alonso had a hand in leaking out details of that but I didn't know he was paying his mechanics to incentivize them and that Ron asked him to stop doing that.
Im a max fan but nobody says max had the best rookie debut. Hamilton's 2007 record is the best.
If we just look at the rookie season at face value, of course Lewis comes on top by miles.
But if we take in the fact that at age 18, Verstappen was a Formula One GP winner while Lewis was still racing in a regional series, things change. Even Stroll scored a podium in F1 aged 18. Hamilton was extremely mature and experienced when he debuted in F1 compared to rookies these days.
Someone like Colton Herta might get close to Lewis if he ever gets into F1.
Yeah but this was 2007 vs 2017 or whatever. Also, Max Verstappen has a dad called Jos Verstappen who was a decent F1 driver and loaded for cash and therefore Max had literally everything he could possibly need to get into F1 miles before almost anyone.
Lewis came from nothing and he and his dad had to work like the working class poor people they were.
It’s no contest.
The jury was still out on Max in his rookie season. He was quick but not Godly quick. I would say about the same appearance as Lando and Piastri's rookie seasons.
lewis rookie season was obviously more impressive. stepped in to a mclaren and was in a title fight with the best driver on the grid at the time (in the same car)
but at the end of the day max joined f1 at the age of 17 after skipping formula2. had a lot to learn and mature at that point. was nowehere near the age or experience that lewis had in his rookie season. he joined so young they changed the rules due to him.
cant compare the two even though its fair to point out that lewis had the most impressive rookie season this sport has ever seen.
He was quick but did a lot of stupid moves. Reminds me of lewis in 2011
True, but he was also 17. Most drivers are making those mistakes at 17 in the junior series. It was always bound to happen when you put a kid that young in F1: he'll have to go through part of the learning curve in F1 rather than the junior series, which includes making (and learning from your) mistakes.
He was strong enough and intelligent enough to drive the car. Just ike in chess or videogames and other sports (say gymnastics) being adolescent is not a material disadvantage versus an adult. There are aspects outside of driving that will overwhelm a teenager? But what we have observed of the actual driving, a 26 year old rookie is not any different from a teenaged one.
My point was mainly that at 17, most drivers are not in F1 yet. Verstappen was fast tracked into F1, and all the mistakes he made were done so on the biggest of stages, whereas for others that might not have been the case as they had a bit of time to make and learn from those mistakes in the junior series. They came into F1 with quite more open wheel experience under their belt. Like I said: He went to a significant part of the learning curve in F1 and not the junior series.
All parties knew what they were doing back then. His rookie season is his rookie season. The F1 stats won't care about that he was a teenager.
It was a response to "he was quick but also made a lot of stupid moves", and I'm just adding some context that that was to be expected. I'm not saying anything else. I'm not disputing any stats, not rating his season. Just that if you put an arguably unexperienced driver in F1, he is bound to make mistakes.
I think it's only the DTS viewers who think lewis had it easy. the recent viewers kinda made fanbases more toxic
2007 was so very good, especially if you were anti- Alonso.
my GOAT
People who doubt Lewis’ talent need to watch the 2007 season.
They are just jealous.
They think it was all the car
Very true, and this applies across the board tbf. There is no champion who has not worked hard for it. A championship is not something that just drops into your lap. I mean, it took so much out of Rosberg that he decided to retire as soon as the championship was over.
Don’t worry about it.
Schumacher was a pariah till he retired for a while.
People will evaluate him correctly eventually. His racing speaks for itself. Being dominant makes people hate you. I despised Schumacher for the 90s shenanigans, but I look back now and realise you have to appreciate how truly great he was. The same will happen for Lewis.
Problem is, Schumacher was an actual arsehole on track. He was also very much punished.
Now, if we compare areshole on track and punishments, we see a completely different landscape these days.
I don’t like the whole “well he had the fastest car” argument. It still takes a skilled driver to maximize that cars performance. Even Lando just learned this lesson and it almost cost him his championship
Realistically almost any driver on the grid past or present would trade their career for Lewis’s. I think a big part is regency bias with max’s performance and Lewis lack of performance. Max is clearly one of the best to do it but I don’t think that should take away from what Lewis has done on and off track for F1
He is a legend for this no doubt.
But in my view, if he cannot cut it within the first 5 races next year, it is time to hang it in.
Looking back now, would have been great if he left after 2021 AD in my view.
Totally ,would have been such a great ending to such a legendary career.I think if he had won he would have retired.Its searching for that elusive eight title that's been pushing him since but 2026 really should be the last year whether he wins or not.Id rather see him retire next year in a Ferrari than him in an Aston Martin retirement package
Not fair to say considering Ferrari abandoned development on their car 4-5 races into the season.
And Lewis had to deal with that trash engineer Adami, who was a disgrace to the paddock all season long.
That's not really related to his point. He said if the first 5 races go badly next season. The car was bad this year, but Charles was almost always faster, especially at the end of the season. His point was that if the same form continues at the start of the season, he thinks lewis should retire
Thank you for speaking for him
They love to say when Lewis should retire and what Lewis should do.