[Dinksy]

Having equalled Schumacher's titles today and passed his total victories, you can say all you like about the different cars and technical qualities of different times, but at the end of the day it's an incredible achievement.

[Thats Rich]

Great driver, not the greatest person. Greatest driver ever probably not. Schumacher won the F1 championship in a Benetton (1994) with a Ford engine beating Damon Hill by 1 point in the Williams with Gerhard Berger third in a Ferrari. Jos Verstappen who was the other Benetton driver finished 10th with 10 points. That would equate to Lewis winning it in a Renault or Ferrari today IMHO.

Ayrton Senna also would have won more championships has he not been so tragically killed at Monza.

[Dinksy]

Yup, it's tricky one to compare. I take my hat off to the guy for his sporting achievement but can't say I'm impressed by his tax-avoidance over the years. It will be interesting to see if that's taken into consideration when his name inevitably comes up for a gong - knighthood even - to add to his MBE.

[GreenBlue]

Formula 1 is not as dangerous as it used to be and there are more races in a season however, pound for pound, he has to be considered as one of the best drivers ever. I think Fangio must have been something special to have won 5 titles in the early days and there is no doubting that Senna was a quality driver. Schumacher was exciting in his early career exceptionally consistent throughout however, if I had to pick one, I would have Hamilton as my greatest of all time.

People may say that he is only winning because he is in the best car but they never seem to ask why he is in the best car. Quite simply, because he is the best driver. If there were better drivers, the top teams would have snapped them up but LH from his very first race in F1, has shown that he is something special.

Check some of the videos of a young cart driver and you will see he had that certain something that made him a winner and even now, at the grand old age of 35, he is just as sharp and brave as the younger drivers and has the consistency that made Schumacher so successful.

Best driver ever in my opinion and a decent bloke too. Some tend not to like him because he is flash and confident but in his line of work he needs to be supremely confident. He has his faults, but don't we all. Would you legally avoid paying as much tax as you do if you had the chance?

Others my have an issue with him for his public support of Black Lives Matter but he certainly gets my vote on what he has done in raising an issue that should not even exist in this day and age.

Well done LH. A great champion and someone our country should be proud of.

[Pompey Penguin]

Others my have an issue with him for his public support of Black Lives Matter but he certainly gets my vote on what he has done in raising an issue that should not even exist in this day and age.

I don't have a problem with the BLM support (a good thing), but I do have a problem with Hamilton's selected campaigning. Why doesn't he look down at his overalls and see the names of companies that have a horrible record round the world on oppression, community destruction and modern slavery? Why is he happy to race in and promote countries with oppressive regimes that include slavery and murder of equality activists as standard? It's very easy to take the knee and send a few tweets; harder to take a stand when it is impacting your personal situation and it would be possible to make an actual, practical difference.

[GreenBlue]

Others my have an issue with him for his public support of Black Lives Matter but he certainly gets my vote on what he has done in raising an issue that should not even exist in this day and age.

I don't have a problem with the BLM support (a good thing), but I do have a problem with Hamilton's selected campaigning. Why doesn't he look down at his overalls and see the names of companies that have a horrible record round the world on oppression, community destruction and modern slavery? Why is he happy to race in and promote countries with oppressive regimes that include slavery and murder of equality activists as standard? It's very easy to take the knee and send a few tweets; harder to take a stand when it is impacting your personal situation and it would be possible to make an actual, practical difference.

I can't argue with any of that however he is a sportsman not a politician therefore anything he does above and beyond his sport is welcomed. Could he do more? Absolutely but do we criticise other famous people for what they don't do? Maybe we do but it seems to me that Hamilton gets more than his fair share of criticism.

[pompeygunner]

Probably the best F1 driver ever. The great drivers can do it in all conditions, particularly in the wet. Hamilton is masterful in the wet.
7 titles says it all.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

Also noteworthy he's won what, 6 of the last 7 titles? Dudes been unbeatable at the tail end of his career. I guess you could argue greatest ever a bit but if he races another 1-4 yrs I don't think there will be any doubt.

[Sam_Brown]

Couple of years ago would have disagreed but he’s just dominated and has some individual performances you can’t ignore. His win at Monaco last year was phenomenal.

[New Forester]

Couple of years ago would have disagreed but he’s just dominated and has some individual performances you can’t ignore. His win at Monaco last year was phenomenal.

Yesterday's was pretty good too. Great question to discuss. Impossible to judge. Best achievements ever? Soon to be no arguments about that.

[Weybridge]

Difficult to disagree with. He and Mercedes and have proven to be a perfect combination. Schumacher and Ferrari too, but in a very different way. The German was a brilliant risk-taker in a machine designed with acceleration on tap, whereas Hamilton and Mercedes' philosophy has been pretty simple : Get Out In Front Early, and Stay There.

I guess you can argue the pro's and con's from different eras, but I don't think there has ever been anyone better than Hamilton leading from the front.

[Locky_McLockface]

Certainly the best driver of this generation, unquestionably.

Is he the best ever? Impossible to say. The cars were so much harder to drive in Fangio's day, you could never be more than about 75% certain that when you turned the wheel that the car would turn too.

The only meaningful comparison I can think of is win percentage. Fangio is best with 47%, Hamilton second with 36% (Schumacher had about 30%, Prost and Senna around 25%)

However, Hamilton has sustained his career over a far longer period than Fangio.

[Pompey Penguin]

I think one thing in Hamilton's favour is that, even when he was inexperienced, his best performances came in the rain. He could handle the most appalling conditions and drive smoothly when everyone else was sliding all over the place. Regardless of who had the best car at the time, it was obvious who was the best driver on the track.

[Dinksy]

Odds-on favourite for the Beeb's SPOTY 2020 now.......ahead of Marcus Rashford

[No Shot Sherlock]

Possibly, maybe even probably, but what is without question is that for what will next year be the Aston Martin works team to be letting Perez go, whilst bringing in Better and keeping daddy's boy Stroll is utter madness. I'd be delighted to see Aston Racing Green on the grid next year, but not with such a nepotistic driver selection policy and at the expense of a far better driver.