Numbers of Hamilton and Senna

[pimpwerx]

Driver comparisons are always subjective, especially spanning generations. There's no right or wrong opinion. I'm just happy Lewis is making his mark in the all-time F1 history books. I think he deserves it. I want him to be remembered as a deserving champion, and not just another tragic British racing story full of coulda beens. PEACE.

[ringo]

Well if he clinches the title this year, he will be the most successful British Champion, equaling Jacky Stewart with 3 titles.
And he will go down as the greatest British Champion.
What will be difficult to match though is to even reach Senna's Pole numbers, those are even more impressive from 161 starts.

[notsofast]

I suppose this is another indication of how one's sense of time changes as one gets older. The Senna era seemed to last a very long time, whereas Hamilton still kind of feels like one of the new drivers to me. But yet, this is Hamilton's 9th season, while Senna competed in a little over 10 full seasons. In other words, about the same.

[giantfan10]

So what are Vettels stats compared to Hamiltons and Sennas?

[PlatinumZealot]

Well i see Vettel more as a "baby schumi." It feels more natural to compare vettel to the Schumacher than Senna. There is more of a connection with Vettel and Schumacher. While Senna is Hamilton's idol. So it sorta feels forced to bring Vettel inti this.. But still that is a fair question. The rough outline is that Vettel has more wins than HAM same poles and less podiums.

[Kingshark]

Source: F1Fanatic

[NathanOlder]

What I find interesting, is Vettel's win per race %. It has dropped massively in the V6 era. Before 2014 Lewis was way behind Vettel on this stat, by the end of this year, it will be very close between the 2.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

What I find interesting, is Vettel's win per race %. It has dropped massively in the V6 era. Before 2014 Lewis was way behind Vettel on this stat, by the end of this year, it will be very close between the 2.

Sadly, it just depends on how good the car is.

[giantfan10]

What I find interesting, is Vettel's win per race %. It has dropped massively in the V6 era. Before 2014 Lewis was way behind Vettel on this stat, by the end of this year, it will be very close between the 2.

Sadly, it just depends on how good the car is.

Agreed .. sadly all this talk about greatest this or that leaves out the most important part of the equation... the Car.
Maybe we need to start celebrating The Senna Williams, Schuey Ferrari, Vettel Red Bull and Hamilton Mercedes because in my opinion the car played a larger part than fans of each era of driver would like to admit.....yes those are 4 skilled drivers i highlighted and i am well aware of this .
whats the car versus driver split? in general not specific to any driver i highlighted

[Kingshark]

The Senna Williams? Don't you mean the Senna McLaren? I'm not sure if you want to celebrate the Senna Williams.

Anyway I agree. Alonso's winning percentage is only 12.9%, barely half of that of Vettel and Hamilton. That's not because he is any less skilled, just poor career moves and decisions.

[NathanOlder]

Maybe a complete driver is able to predict where to go and when to go there ?

[Kingshark]

Find me one person who predicted Red Bull's success back in 2008.

[Facts Only]

Whats interesting about the Senna/Hamilton/Vettel comparison is the number of technical retirement I.E that Senna had 23 more retirements than Hamilton and 19 more than Vettel. It would be good to take the technical retirments of all 3 and see where they were running or likely to finish. It might boost Senna way above the other two as the cars were far less reliable back then.

[Kingshark]

Senna also gained a lot from the unreliability of other cars as well, since every car was less reliable back then (including his competitors), not just his own.

From the top of my head, all 3 of his wins in 1992 came from Williams mechanical problems (Patrese in Canada and Hungary, both Williams in Monza). He gained Monaco 1993 from Schumacher's car failure. He gained 3 wins in 1991 from Williams' misfortunes (Mansell in Brazil, Patrese in San Marino, Mansell in Belgium). I am sure that there were more from 1984-1990, as I only checked the final three years of his career.

[NathanOlder]

Find me one person who predicted Red Bull's success back in 2008.

Im sure people would have seen 2009 onwards as a great chance for Red Bull. Mr Newey joined in 2006, rule changes in 2009, Red Bull would have been a sensible bet. Newey always seems to succeed and Red Bull had the budget. So im sure there were a load of people predicting Red Bulls success.