To be clear.
When Lewis Hamilton first appeared on the scene, I was a great supporter. He was a breath of fresh air and a tremendous talent, promising to be an attraction for years to come. Sadly, his subsequent behaviour has turned me away from him.
Yes, he has now won multiple world championships but then he has been driving what has undoubtedly been the best car of the last 6 or 7 years; the way in which George Russell, a reserve driver who has never before even led a race, so easily led and kept his lead until misfortune overtook him in Bahrain, came so close to winning suggests that Hamilton's achievements may be at least as due to car as to man.
Today, Hamilton was a distant third in Abu Dhabi, the last race of a disjointed 2020 season in which he has again been crowned champion, as has his team. However, rather than be magnanimous in defeat, Hamilton has preferred to dwell upon his lack of full fitness, due to his experience with the COVID-19 virus, than acknowledge that he was well and truly beaten. Would Fangio or Moss, Senna or Prost, ever have blamed defeat on illness ? Instead, Hamilton parades his success and wealth in an almost offensive manor, while feigning humility; neither Michael Schumacher nor Sebastian Vettel, his most recent and closest rivals for accolades, has behaved in such a way.
Wouldn't it be great to see a race with Hamilton in a Williams and Russell in a Mercedes. then we would see whether Hamilton really is the superstar that he believes himself to be, or whether he's just a good driver in an exceptional car. One wonders what a Fangio, Moss, Clark or Senna would have done in this generation and where Hamilton would have fitted in. I suspect he would have been well down the grid from the true dare-devils of the track.
Nonetheless, 'Arise Sir Lewis' is inevitable, as is a further devaluing of the honours' system.
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