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Timestamp 16:15: Le Clerc beat a 4 time world champion comprehensively…

My Take: Lewis is past his prime, and it's okay because he's still quick enough to win. A prime Lewis is maximising Quali with pole and winning the race (which we've seen). If Ferrari have the car next year, Lewis would be perfectly happy to qualify p2 and win the race - maximizing points on the weekend because that's how championships are won. He's only still here for that 8th WDC. A prime Lewis would want pole (risking a crash) even if we knew he could win the race - that's not Lewis now. He's past his prime and that's perfectly okay because a mature Lewis is still quick enough to win a championship. (I think it could pan out like Kimi in 2007)

They're having a lot of testing and set-up issues, Lewis as always is setting the car up for race pace which takes a hit in qualifying, yet is only like a tenth (if that) behind George who is setting up for qualifying

I think Lewis and have the same quali pace . The proof is last two years they had equal score. But this year Lewis is leaving the team so mercedes are trying to make George look faster by giving him a faster car

Lewis is as good and as quick as ever. There are a number of reasons for his performance. I have followed F1 since 1988. Lewis is one the best drivers I have seen. Certainly top 5 in that time. 1. Lewis has never had the 1 lap blistering speed of a Schumacher or Senna. Hamilton is very quick, however the number of poles is a reflection of the cars he has had. He has never dominated teammates like the the mentioned drivers. Schumacher went 4 years without losing a single quali session to a teammate! Senna and Schumacher were often 1 second per lap faster than teammates. Lewis has always been very close to teammates over 1 lap. Looking at some his teammates. Rosberg was just under 2 tenths slower than Webber as teammates. Rosberg and Hamilton were within half a tenth of each other. Russell on average is 1 tenth faster than Lewis during their time at Merc. We know Russell and Albon are comparable over 1 lap. Albon was slightly quicker than Russell when compared to Latifi at Williams. Max was 0.47s per lap faster than Albon. What we know based on this is that Max in a Mercedes would be at least a couple of tenths faster than the current drivers. Schumacher was so much faster that his teammates were not competitive against him. Taking one example, Rubens was slightly quicker than Jenson during their time as teammates over 1 lap. Jenson was 0.18s slower than Hamilton. Jenson was approximately 0.1s slower than Rubens. The one lap speed of Barrichello is vey close to Lewis. A similar gap to Rosberg and Lewis. Schumacher was on average 0.51s faster than Rubens over 1 lap as teammates fuel corrected. Schumacher made very quick teammates look ordinary. Hamilton makes similar teammates look very competitive. Lewis I believe is a superior driver to Russell. When you look at race pace, Hamilton is probably second only to Max. Certainly superior to Russell. Lewis is simply a fraction slower than Russell over one lap. Lewis like I stated earlier was never a one lap specialist. He is very quick but elite over a lap.

Luis still has the pace. I am not his fan but it is easy to see that he does not have the 100% motivation when the cars is not good. I am sure that in 2025, we will see the normal Luis if Ferrare can provide a good car, and I really hope they can.

Humans do not get physically better at 40 years old, at least not unless the lab is involved, and Lewis has access to the best sports medicine doctors in the world. That said he's likely to be in for a rude awakening at Scuderia Ferrari where Charles is faster, and hungrier. He's a World Champion and probably the GOAT so he can raise his performance to world class levels on any given day, but can he do it every week? Time will tell. He's gotta decide which is more important? Going to the Met Galla? Or needing that championship with every fiber of his being.

MONACO 2024 Lewis results Practice 1 first place Practice 2 second place Practice 3 third place. Lewis set the fastest time in Monaco race 2024. In all the practice sessions he had beaten George Russell. George had the superior Wing upgrade also that was NOT given to Lewis.

Ammar, come back when you have a clue! Do you remember K-Mag driving on the limit and going wheel to wheel with Hamilton in Miami I believe it was ? How many of those wet behind the ear children currently on the grid do you think could have done that without crashing? The children on the grid don’t want to do wheel to wheel…it’s all about qualifying and then safety car strategy. Then we wonder why the races are so boring. IMHO Lewis is always trying to get the car to have race pace…he likes to hunt and race (that’s what he was used to), not just qualify and then spend the race trying to minimize how far down the order he falls. George likes to qualify this is why they often have different set ups. In the latter half of 2023 when Lewis was out qualifying George, I saw George in an interview say that the team had been setting up for racing not qualifying “AND THIS HAS TO STOP.” I guess he got his wish because he did out qualify Lewis in the next race. Nice if you have a car that you can qualify and race with, but if you don’t you have to make a choice.

Lewis Hamilton came in third place 2023 F1 championship in a crap car. When Lewis was on the podium twice George Russell crash his car in Australia and Singapore 2023 the team on both occasions didn't celebrate with Lewis Lewis had 6 podiums 2023 Wolffman 👹 is sabotaging Lewis car. In practice Lewis is extremely fast but in qualifying is car becomes extremely slow. Toto Wolfman celebrate in 2021 when Lewis lost the championship. Lewis car is being sabotage to make George look good.

Oh fuckin hell, sherses wisdom is frightning me to my bones

He’s past his prime and has been for a few seasons now. He’s still good enough to maybe win a WDC given the right situation with teammates, car, etc but at the moment there a few drivers I would rank above him. Max, Leclerc, Lando, are better then Lewis and Sainz/Piastri isn’t far behind.

Saying Lewis has *never* been at his prime is the same as saying he was never a great driver to begin with. Ever. Shez is sneak dissing instead of saying outright how be really feels about Lewis.

12:35 I would have quit the stream right then and there.

I agree with Shaez - the right comparison is Russel vs Hamilton. And I agree that one could argue that Hamilton could get better at qualifying and be a better driver. However, qualifying performance is most based on age - people are at their prime in fast reaction/decisions under 35 years of age. So in theory Shaez is right (Hamilton could improve in qualifying) but practically he is limited in improving qualifying because of age and was not good at it anyway. Age does matter and matters most in qualifying.

I think that Lewis does have another level if he is hungry enough to find it. He may have to make F1 his one and only love both on and off the track to make that happen though. As you guys said the machinery is so close now and competition is higher than it has been for years. The younger generation has grown up under a higher level of sports medicine and understanding of peak human performance than ever in history. He may not have the luxury of spreading himself as thin as he has in years before just as Niki Lauda told him a long time ago. I for one think ultimately Lauda was right in telling Hamilton that, even though Lauda changed his opinion after Singapore 2018. Things are different now.

I agree-George is a quick driver-especially over a single lap. Lewis also is more potent towards the second half of the season and especially with circuits that tend to showcase his biggest strength-braking. Both are good-let’s wait and see how things shakeout

Bottas was driving much better machinery than George in relative terms. George is seriously underrated, but he's yet to fully prove himself as a race winner as he's rarely had the machinery. In comparison, a world class soccer player can't prove themself if they're not getting on the pitch.

Lewis is not as quick anymore, bit still quick. But lets not forget, the second part of the season is normally much better. That’s not enough anymore though. There are better drivers for the last 4 years

Biases in this debate were eye watering

I think Lewis has it in him for the 8th WDC but its going to be difficult fitting into the Scuderia and trying to become no.1 over Charles LeClerc.. I think its up to Vasseur, and they both worked together previously ina champioship season in another formula. His team building skills need to be at optimum, and because he worked closely with Nicki Lauda they respected each other, I think they talked about how Niki did it at Ferrari. Scuderia is known to be a nuanced organisation to fit into. This season even though George has had upgrades and Lewis hasnt and is not part of new dev hes still there inside 0.5 seconds? unlike Sergio and MV. just IMO. Very engaging discourse, I agree with you @TYREDF1POD. I Subbed 👍👍

LH beat the following to WDC: 2008 Massa and just by the skin of his teeth. 2014 Rosberg with some critical DNFs for Rosberg. 2015 Rosberg. 2017 Vettel in a slower Ferrari and who all his (LH) fans say was (Vettel) error prone 2018 Vettel in 2018 again LH fans said Vettel was error prone. Bottas was sacrificed to help Hamilton all season with team orders. 2019 Bottas his team mate. 2020 Bottas his team mate Now Lecelrc, Sainz, Norris, Piastri, Verstappen, Russell and Perez all in competitive cars and LH cannot even get a race win. LH has the longest win drought of all the drivers in top 4 teams.

This is what I said frequently here "comparing two great drivers in different car will always end bias". Vettel was looked dominant driver on the grid when his teammate was Webber while both were driving dominant cars. This is called a false narrative. Did Vettel lose his Mojo when Leclerc came to Ferrari? Nope. What is true, Vettel never was a dominant driver when RBR was dominating. Hamilton now is having a Rosberg 2.0 in the same cars in the name of Russell. Some will get eyes bowling in when they are finally realized of how good he is when he get finally paired with a driver in his generation.

Ammar definitely wins. Very hard to compare drivers unless they are in the same car and Lewis's record shows he was the fastest driver of the fastest car (Rosberg excluded) over the period of his wins. This is not say he is not one of the best but it is just that. He amongst many others was one of the quickest over their dominant periods. Being beaten by George regularly shows he is having difficulty with the new cars just like Danny Ric. It's a pity but it is a reality the results bear out.

How many times did we see pictures of Lewis alone and close the Max Red Bull deraming of driving it or having a real fast car ! This is why I think he's far from being finished , give him a car, a real one and lets see what happens ! The trill's not gone !

George and Leclerc are the same. One thing they have in common is that they will be humbled by old man.

Ammar your arguments are not very logical. You can only compare drivers accurately when in the same car. If Lewis is quicker in races and Russell in quali. It means neither driver is maximising the package. If Lewis was qualifying where Russell is, he would by default score more points as he would start further up the grid. Russell by contrast doesn't have Hamilton's race pace and hence is leaving points on the table. This is where Max is so good, he is brilliant in both quali and race pace.

Your perspective changes when you get older. People get more cautious and reflective when the years go by but inherently they stay the same. Lewis is a gifted and skilled driver. That will never change because after all these years it has probably become muscle memory for him. He even has the statistic that sais he's one of the best ever. But the fact is that statistics will not win you races. You're as good as your last race win and Lewis hasn't won a race in three years. Seven Championship titles are both a blessing and a curse because it makes the measuring stick a lot longer. Lewis put the precedent there himself so we as fans expect him to live up to it. The way I see it prime for Lewis is a state of mind and not a statistic. We are not privy to the first but we judge him solely on the last which is what we do with every driver. Lewis is at a cross road where he is percieved by one team as a bit of a traitor and the other team as the new savior. Sebastian didn't fare well under the same circumstances and he spoke italian and knew about the inner workings of Ferrari. Lewis showing his "prime" will largely lean on his adaptability to a non British team, italian culture and understanding if the politics within Ferrari. Lewis is, for all intents and purposes,John Elkann 's new shiny and very expensive toy where expectations will be through the roof. If Lewis makes good on those expectations than we will all say " Lewis is in his prime" It's a bit shallow but it is what it is.

Ammar woke up on the wrong side of the bed 😅

Just as a head's up for LH fans, he is in this week's Hot Ones episode. As fot this debats, of course Lewis is past his prime. I just would like to see him whinge less.

The top of Lewis’ hill is quite a bit higher than most of the other drivers. Lewis past his prime is well above many other drivers.

My top three is Max, Lando, Charles. George has a case for fourth IMO, along with Lewis, Fernando, and perhaps Carlos. Oscar will be there soon. Valterri is average at best. Perhaps a bit above that when he was at his peak.

Lewis now Vs Prime Lewis. Lewis at his best even when the car was crap in the past he would be the one to get everything out of while his teammates would struggle, now he's the Teammate that struggles. I also think Lewis against real competitive drivers in quali can sometimes struggle but i actually think Lewis's weakness is consistency over a season. At the level of the field now you cant have 2 or 3 tracks where you dont perform every year. For me i've said before Lewis has made some of his teammates look better than they are even if you go back to championship in 2016 and look at the results Lewis and Nico were very inconsistent which made it very interesting but for the advantage the Mercedes had over the field there results were not what they should have been and i believe Max, Charles, Lando, George and even piastri are more naturally talented than Nico.

LuLu fanboys deny that 40yo isnt over prime. If and when he manage another WDC its luck from now on-

Carlos Sainz is currently without a team however there are talks he may go to Williams. If this is so let's see if he averages 4th in the drivers championship. Most likely he wont be 4th in the drivers standings he'll drop significantly. If so, will he be considered "over the hill" or "in decline?" It would be silly to say that. Lewis came out of a devastating and heart wrenching Abu Dhabi 2021 to enter 2022 in a bouncing crappy car. Then suffer crappy cars every since. That can weigh on a person's mentality and form. This kind of topic is so silly to me. Alonso with Aston Martin had a brilliant start in 2023, would one say Alonso turned back the hands of time? Then Aston fell off so I guess Alonso got younger then older in one season. Max is considered the #1 guy as of today and refused a Mercedes offer for next year. Why is that? If Max goes to Mercedes next year he'll lose that #1 spot guaranteed. Will people say "Max is past his prime?" It's such a silly notion. There are way too many factors to F1 to clearly judge if someone truly past their prime or "fell off."

He's done , He's done He's Hamildone

Shez how do you not get really frustrated with how bad faith Ammar can be 😭 he doesn't engage with what you're actually saying. E.g. saying that you saying that bad qualifying is room for improvement = qualifying is more important than race pace 😭

People seem to forget that lewis dominated George last season. He knows he’s leaving this year and Mercedes have zero chance of the championship. With both of those combined, it’s easy to see why he’ll lack motivation this year to really push himself to the limit. I think so many people dislike lewis that they’re desperate for him to fail, but we will see next year. I know people rate leclerc very highly, but he’s also been quite error prone in the past when in highly pressured situations.. just like what started happening to seb at his time at Ferrari. Maybe it’s a Ferrari curse or something but I guess we’ll see next year when lewis goes there. I just really hope Ferrari are able to build a WDC capable car, if McLaren and red bull can also build similarly paced cars we could have such an epic season with the amount of talent in those 3 teams.

The guy in the green is phenomenally daft and obtuse. Honestly, keep on discrediting George all you want but he is an exceptional driver who hasn't had the calibre of machinery underneath him like McLaren, Ferrari, or Red Bull. Despite his glorious mistakes he always comes back strong, not afraid of anybody and not deterred by any challenge. And If his detractors have decided that he is being made to appear to look fast by the virtue of favouritism within the team and that too without any evidence then nobody can change you're mind. George will show what he is capable of.

Lewis isn't past his prime, he was never that good. All we hear from this guy is excuses and not only from him, his fanbase too. All his comments about being sabotaged by Mercedes are just sad, this guy is full of excuses and that only proves how he is not a great driver at all. He can only win when he has no competition and everything is totally catered to him.

Lewis losing to a teammate isn’t abnormal when the teammate isn’t Bottas or Kovalainen. That said, he’s lost one, if not two steps.

the greatest f1 driver of all time has not reached hiss prime. he is the only driver to have scored over 100 pole positions and races so there is no driver as good until they score over 100. when sir lewis hamilton drives for ferrari the blind will have a clear idea how much better he is.

Lewis will be gone, 2025 and then "your KING GEORGE" will be stripped naked for all to see. Is Alonso past his prime, except in the case of Lewis, driving a DONKEY of a car with a broken hind leg, since 2022?

RUSEELL is the GOAT who is beating Lewis ✌🏾