Hamilton Wins Again As Greatest Of All Time Recognition Moves Closer

2024-04-25 12:15:57 Sports

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Lewis Hamilton bounced back from a disappointing Austrian race as he overcame his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to clinch a record breaking sixth British grand prix win at Silverstone on Sunday and, with it, he?s pushed himself ever nearer to becoming the greatest Formula One driver of all time. It?s a statement many would take issue with, but his numbers back it up and given he has time on his side, it?s highly likely those statistics will continue to improve.

So far this season Hamilton leads the standings with 223 points, 39 clear of his fellow Merc man Bottas, which means even at the halfway stage of the campaign, it looks a straightforward bet as to where the Constructors Championship will end up. On a personal level for Hamilton, of the 10 races so far, the Brit has won seven with a further two podium finishes giving him relative control heading into the second half of the season.

Providing Hamilton avoids a disastrous collapse in the coming months he'll scoop his third consecutive Driver?s Championship, making it six in total and, in doing so, he?ll move to second in the all time listing ? a position he currently shares with Argentine racing legend Juan Manuel Fangio who won five titles during the fifties ? and that will leave him just one Championship triumph behind Ferrari icon Michael Schumacher.

On top of the silverware, Hamilton has accumulated the most points in F1 history (although the scoring system has moved over the years so it does favour him), he?s landed more pole positions than anyone and he?s already second on the list of race wins and podium finishes. Hamilton is clearly a legend of the sport but why doesn?t he get lauded by the masses?

Over the years there are a few times Hamilton could have been a little smarter; for instance, posting ?Thank You Jesus' on a social media platform to celebrate the return of ?grid girls' saw him criticised for his views on women whilst a separate post calling out his nephew for wearing a dress was slammed. On top of that there was the PETA incident where he was bad mouthed for playing with some tamed big cats (tigers and jaguars). That?s an example of a few things where, although people could argue their beliefs all day long, Hamilton should have been smarter knowing the public love to shoot down a celeb.

The other area where Hamilton regularly receives abuse is for his so-called flashy lifestyle; he?s left a trail of women in his wake, with long time partner and pop star Nicole Scherzinger the most high profile, and surrounds himself with others who are seen to have similar personality traits ?the number one poster boy of soccer, Neymar, has been seen on the town with Hamilton and the potential candidate for NFL MVP 2019, Odell Beckham Jr. is known to be a pal.

All this stuff contributes to the persona that is Lewis Hamilton, but the simple truth is that people love to hate a winner. If Hamilton was finishing in the middle of the pack in each race, nobody would care about his extra curricular activities.

Unfortunately, for his personal life, Hamilton is a superstar and he may as well get used to having every move noted, because he?s wearing the number one spot in the all time drivers list quicker than Sebastien Vettel?s Ferrari approached Max Verstappen?s Red Bull at the weekend.

He might not be as popular as Schumacher or have the personality and story like Ayrton Senna, but when he eventually removes his helmet for the final time he will probably go down as the greatest we?ve ever seen.