Iconic Formula 1 broadcaster Murray Walker believes Lewis Hamilton is on course to be the greatest of all time, suggesting his ‘clean’ record places him above Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Six-time World Champion Hamilton recorded his 91st pole position and 87th victory at last weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, putting him just four wins shy of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.
Walker, 96, is widely regarded as the voice of motorsport, having begun his commentary career prior to the start of the World Championship, before stepping back from a full-time role in 2001.
Speaking to the official podcast of the Australian Grand Prix, In the Fast Lane, Walker was asked for his opinion on where Hamilton slots in among the greatest participants.
“I always say, ‘Look, I think it’s impossible to say [who is the greatest], because the drivers and the circuits and the cars were different’,” he said.
“You can say who was the best of his generation, like [Michael] Schumacher was the best of his generation and [Ayrton] Senna and various other people, but there’s no common yardstick that you can measure all the Formula 1 grand prix drivers over the years against, so it’s entirely subjective who one thinks is the greatest.
“For me the greatest of all time is a chap called Tazio Nuvolari, who was an Italian before World War II, and when I mention his name people look blankly at me because they don’t understand, they’ve never heard of him!
“But [Juan Manuel] Fangio took a lot of beating, Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart — there again I could go on — but which is the best I really don’t know.
“I used to say Fangio. I think I’m going to have to say very shortly Lewis Hamilton, because if you look at it in terms of statistics, he’s already got more poles than Michael Schumacher.
“He’s got at least three years in him if he doesn’t hurt himself or leave Mercedes for some reason or they decide to stop, in which case he’s got at least another three championships ahead of him, so statistically he will become the greatest.”
Formula 1 is celebrating its history with the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend and Walker suggested Hamilton’s on-track conduct elevates him above Senna and Schumacher.
“He’s also in my opinion — and this is very contentious indeed — better than either Schumacher or Senna,” Walker went on to comment.
“Because both of them, Schumacher and Senna, adopted at various times in their career highly debatable driving tactics.
“Like Schumacher stopping deliberately at Monaco to prevent [Fernando Alonso] getting pole position, like Schumacher colliding with [Jacques] Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997, like Senna with [Alain] Prost in 1990 in Japan.
“Lewis Hamilton has never been anything like that. He’s always driven as clean as a whistle.
“He’s an extremely nice, gigantically talented driver, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen anybody like him before.”
he’s had the best car. What would he be like without the best car
Exactly the same. He’s driven that way since he was in karts, he’s always been a clean driver. It’s a code of conduct you either feel in your heart and believe in or you don’t. Maybe he’d be a little less egocentric and confident in his beliefs outside the car if he hadn’t had so much success by having a good car, but that’s nothing to do with his driving style. And generally, the best drivers are taken by the best teams because they get the job done. He gets the job done alright – and incredibly cleanly.
What about the wins in seasons when the Macca was dire.. or the 1st Merc win it wasn’t best car those years…. and thats no different from Schu or Senna who often had the best car but won on occasions when they didnt have it. That “He’s got the best car” is a lazy effort to slag off real achievements
You think he’s had the best car throughout his entire career since he was in karting as a kid ?
Stop using the ‘best car’ excuse.
He’s won when the car wasn’t the best on the grid (McLaren).
He gambled on the switch to Mercedes and that paid off. He’s earned it.
The car he’s in now is also built from driver feedback. He’s helped make it what it is along with those ‘back at the factory’.
The talent is there, best car or not. Bottas has the best car, Lewis is beating him every year to the title.
Rosberg had the best car, managed to luck into the title once then had to retire because of it.
Look at qualifying in the last 2 races and the gap to Bottas who has the best car also.
It’s clear how talented he is.
You can have the best car and be an average driver but you won’t be winning championships in it.
Everyone in the best car has had a team-mate in the same car.
If it was down to the car, where’s Bottas’ world titles ?
He has had a win in every year he has competed as a Formula 1 driver. No other Formula 1 driver has had that. EVER. He has won in uncompetitive cars. Even Alonzo has said that about him. Probably the best wet weather driver there ever was. And when it comes on to racecraft I don’t remember anyone as good and I’ve watched Senna (I’m 52). Car control – check. Car setup – CHECK. And he can develop the car. He is a promoters wet dream AND good with kids LOL. Any one of those attributes would make him a Champion but he’s got ALL OF THEM.
No, Murray’s not talking out of his arse here. HAM’s the real deal.
I don’t think anyone is saying Hamilton is not talented. 7 seasons at Mclaren and he managed 21 wins and 1 Championship. Mclaren were not outright dominant but it was a competitive package save for 2009. 2010 they took 5 wins which is the same as Ferrari took in 2017 and that season Ferrari was widely considered competitive.
2011: They won 6 races, 1 more than the 2017 Ferrari again which was considered as competitive and close.
2012 They won 7 races vs Redbull 7 races too. They won as many races as Red Bull and people say Redbull was Dominant. Without his DNF in Singapore and Abu Dhabi it could have been Mclaren 9 to Redbull 6 so Mclaren was a very competitive package.
At Mercedes 2013 they were not the fastest package he managed 1 win.
2014 they became dominate he has managed a further 65 wins in 7 seasons. Either he has become 3 times better or he also got the fastest car. There is nothing wrong with being in the fastest car let me just note this. Many drivers have won in the fastest car.
Just to show how dominant Mercedes have been. If Hamilton was not there, Rosberg would have won 2014, 2015, 2016. Bottas 2019 and probably 2020. He too would have have had a shout in 2017 as he would have 21 points for Hamilton wins where Bottas finished 2nd but of course everyone would move up the points ranking so I wont include this one.
To put this into context, It was claimed by many Vettel only won because he had the fastest car but take Vettel out of the equation from 2010 to 2013 and you will find Webber would not have been World champion still.
If you really are fair Nico was 20+ points ahead in 2014 in Singapore when a “Foreign Element” meant he had a DNF and in the Season finale he suffered unreliability. But DNFs are part and parcel of F1 so for Lewis in 2016 bad luck is part of life so Lewis Hamilton’s share should not be considered unbelievable bad luck. So to say Rosberg lucked into the 2016 championship you should also be prepared to say Rosberg was unlucky not to win in 2014
Again no one is denying Hamilton has talent at best you can say the big pace advantage and reliability Mercedes has enjoyed has flattered him more. We have seen him not in a dominant car and 21 wins is nothing to sneeze at Hakkinen has 20 wins his entire F1 career and he is considered a great.
What you wrote is what is called revisionism.
1. In 2014 Lewis had worse luck than Rosberg and still would have won with a race to spare but for Bernie’s double points in the final race. Unfortunate Rosberg reliability but Lewis was already ahead in points tally and by a mile.
2. A minimum of 2 wins a year at McLaren was a extraordinary considering the year before him, McLaren didn’t win a race and 8 years after he left, they are yet to win a race.
3. McLaren dropped many points from winning positions (2010-2013) due to unreliability and pit crew mess up – this eventually became the reason Lewis left..
4. Mercedes was P5 in constructors when Lewis signed and McLaren P2 in 2012 with Lewis P4 in championship. Guess what? When Lewis joined in 2013, Mercedes P2, Lewis P4 in championship – as though he didn’t change teams. Since then, the teams have gone in opposite directions till McLaren’s recent resurgence- that should tell you a lot about Lewis’ extreme abilities to set up cars.
Hamilton deserves full credits for all he’s achieved and Mercedes deserves credits for taking the competition seriously.
@Correa, I did say I am not saying Hamilton is a poor driver I acknowledged he is very good and I am not in any way suggesting he does not deserve his success. Many racers have had pit stop blunders, have lost races in the lead due to unreliability. It is not unique to Hamilton at all.
Vettel had reliability issues from the lead of Grand Prix in 2010 in Aus with a break failure while leading and in Bahrain engine issue from the lead, Korea 2010 engine failure, Abu Dhabi 2011 and Euro 2012.
This is 5 occasions from the lead.
How many has Hamilton had? My point is unreliability is not an excuse in F1 because every driver has it. It’s just bad luck and bad luck is not an unusual phenomenon.
Since 2014 we have seen that such is the advantage Merc has that a bad qualifying on Saturday means a podium finish at the least. So you will be in the title hunt. The title races really have been an in house affair and one of the Mercedes drivers will win it meaning you have a 50% chance assuming the drivers are absolutely matched. These are phenomenal odds as u only have to beat your team mate. But Hamilton is of course superior to Bottas so his odds are far better.
During the 3 seasons where Redbull was dominant and Hamilton was at Mclaren they took 28 wins to Mclaren 18 wins and if we account for the wins Hamilton lost from the lead it would be 26-20 to RedBull. These are competitive numbers for Mclaren considering it is said RedBull were so dominant and this does not take account of the fact that Ferrari were in the mix too.
Bear in mind too that since 2014, 7 years all teams combined only managed to take 28 wins from Mercedes.
My argument was Hamilton is very good but Mercedes exaggerates that he is unbeatable. Button and Rosberg showed he is beatable.
Look if they had a Redbull level of domination over their rivals Ferrari and Redbull, races like Austria, and Silverstone would have been more costly for Hamilton or any Mercedes driver that slips up meaning world championships can go either way. Bottas had a poor race in Hungary, bad start, 1 stop more than his rivals and still finished on the podium. If rivals were closer and competitive to the extend Mclaren and Ferrari were to Redbull in their domination years, that hungary result could easily have been an 8th or 9th place finish, same for Hamilton in Austria after the safety cars could have found himself the same. This is were the car pace advantage keeps them in the in the title hunt.
He is definitely world class but not as world beating as he is in the Mercedes now