Lewis Hamilton wrapped up his seventh F1 Drivers’ Title with three races of the season to spare last time out at Istanbul.
And, amid rumours that Hamilton will soon be knighted, Formula1News.co.uk conducted a poll of readers, asking them who they consider to be the greatest driver of the current generation.
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As reported earlier today, Sebastian Vettel received over half of the vote, while 31 percent of respondents voted for Lewis Hamilton.
The surprising result was brought to the attention of Dr Helmut Marko, head of Red Bull’s driver development programme.
Trying to explain why so many fans picked Vettel over Hamilton, the Austrian noted that the Mercedes cars the Brit has won his titles with have had a greater pace advantage over the rest of the field than Vettel’s Championship-winning Red Bulls.
“There is no doubt about Lewis Hamilton’s driving skills,” Marko told Autobild on Tuesday.
“But on the other hand, today’s Mercedes cars in the hybrid era have a much greater advantage than we had with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013. The results from those years also show that,” he added, pointing to Mark Webber’s finishing position in the Drivers’ Standings.
Continuing, Marko noted that Sebastian Vettel managed to outscore one of the Mercedes in 2017 and 2018 despite arguably having an inferior car for most of that period, saying “that also shows class.”
How do you think Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton rank among the greats of F1? Share your thoughts with Formula1News.co.uk
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