It's possible we'll never be able to benchmark the new generation

[Vassago]

Bottom post of the previous page:

The common sense is that Verstappen would have beaten Hamilton if they drove the same car (Mercedes). However Red Bull will never let Verstappen go (duh) so we can only speculate who's the faster driver. Hamilton had some great drives when McLaren was not a title challenging car, his two wins at Hungaroring in 2012 & 2013 are the example.

It's not Hamilton's fault Ferrari can't get out of it's own way when being run by Italians and Red Bull is only an engine customer in the engine-first era which puts them at a proverbial disadvantage.

You wish it was from your country. But enzo was born here. Prrrrrr

It's a fact though. In the last 30 years Ferrari only had success when it was run by non-Italians (because di Montezemolo approved the right people without looking at their passports). I have high regard for Italian items - Sergio Leone's westerns, Dorothea Wierer and Fiat Punto was my first car (since Italy makes much better cars than France for instance) BUT Ferrari's current management isn't one of them

[caneparo]

No way. Montezemolo is 100% italian, john elkann is not prrrrr

[jimclark]

Lewis Hamilton holds the ability to doom a generation if he calls it a day at the end of 2021.

In the 1980s', Alain Prost took on Niki Lauda in the same car, then Senna took on Prost, again sharing the Mclaren seats. The torch had been passed from one champion to another.

Together, Prost and Senna both rivalled Schumacher and Hakkinen, the duo claiming the baton after Senna's death and demonstrating their claim to be the best Formula 1 driver. Schumacher prevailed, and fought Alonso in cars with a near equal performance level. Alonso took the title, and with it looked set to be the man to dominate for a decade.

Enter Lewis Hamilton, a man who rattled Alonso so much that Alonso left Mclaren after just a season, but a season in which the pair couldn't have been much closer.

Alonso however, is the only benchmark we have for Lewis.

See, he's had World Champion teammates (Button and Rosberg), and he's beaten them both 2-1 over their three season stints together. Their titles however were won in cars that had a supreme advantage over the field for a large, or all of the season. Sure, they're champions, but they've not come out on top of a 5 way battle like Vettel did in 2010 for instance. They're one time champs, and unlikely to be considered to be in the Top 10 of F1's greatest ever.

Now Lewis has the ability to doom a generation, as the new crop - LeClerc, Russell, Verstappen, Norris and co, have never been able to fight Lewis on an even footing. If Lewis drives alonside Valtteri Bottas in 2021, and then retires, they'll never have had the opportunity to benchmark themselves against Lewis.

Leclerc and Verstappen have both beaten Lewis fair and square in one off races. They haven't however had a car capable of sustaining a title challenger across a season, and their raw talent alone isn't enough to get close to the Merc. We know they're good, but we don't know if they're "Lewis" good.

Thoughts?

Thoughts? No need. I'd only, pretty much, echo what you've posted.