Why debating who the GOAT of F1 is simply pointless!

In this short blog today I’m going to put forward my argument why debating the GOAT of F1 is pointless! For sure the are great drivers some better than others and have achieved and immortalised the name into the F1 record books but that’s about it realistically claiming someone is the GOAT is a pathetic and childish debate that continues to exist. 

Firstly let’s get things straight F1 as much as it is a individual sport it’s also a team sport and for the teams the big bucks don’t come from winning the Drivers championship but from winning the Constructors. Teams don’t care who wins the Drivers anymore and it’s been this way since 1958!

Of course teams want the best in class but the is a reason why the is a number 1 and number 2 driver in F1. That reason is because ultimately teams don’t want to have infighting ultimately inter rivalries are more likely to hurt the team long run but be positive and strong short term. So hence you see Ferrari, RedBull or Mercedes putting 70-80% of the eggs in one basket.

Secondly how can you compare one driver to another when F1 isn’t a level playing field?? The only person you can truly compare Lewis Hamilton to is his teammate. The same goes for Leclerc, Vettel, Ricciardo, Senna, Schumacher, Fangio, Russell and many more. It goes for all the drivers that have competed in F1. You can’t compare drivers to another driver of past or present. And I say that in good faith because ultimately take this season for example. You swap Max Verstappen car with Lewis’s and ultimately both drivers would have to learn and to adapt to get the most out of each other’s machines. Whilst we think “oh both cars achieve same lap time so therefore they must be equal.” However they’re far from equal! Yes Max some how manages in his RedBull these days to match Lewis in his Mercedes over the course of a lap but ultimately the way both cars and gentlemen get to that stage is completely different. The breaking technique, the throttle application, steering technique, grip, drivability, downforce levels are all just different and incomparable to compare! 

So how do we know who’s the king of the jungle? We don’t because simply it’s two different performance in cars with two different techniques to get the most out of each car. 

Thirdly it’s not fair on those at the back! George Russell is amazing young driver, we know this because he’s show he can a car up the grid and maybe into positions it shouldn’t be! 

If he can do that? What could he do in a car like RedBull? Or Mercedes? And we saw in fact at the SakhirGP 2020 that he jumped into that car and on Saturday was only just off Pole and in the race led many laps looking comfortable.He should of, could and would of won that race hadn’t been for some misfortune well outside of his control!

But had he of been in the Williams that weekend where would he had finished? Of course I think he’d of done still a good job but he wouldn’t of necessarily scored pts or led 50 odd laps of the race that day! So it just shows George Russell can cut it but unfortunately he’s not in the car to do or get the job done.

And how many talents have been in F1 but not had a good enough car to fight for wins? For all we know the greatest of all time may of already been in F1 but never got the chance to prove the worth.

And my final point it’s unfair to compare those of the past to those of the present! Number one the cars are so much safer and better quality. Number two seasons are longer these days back in the start they may have raced 7-10 races per year where as now they race 19-22 races per year and with that still likely to be increased in the future to possibly 23-25 races. So therefore the more opportunity yes to make errors but also to grab wins and pts! 

Okay last season was a bit of a exception to that rule of thumb but generally speaking the F1 these days. And then money teams have pumped into the sport! And Mercedes pumped it the most as of late and built almost a car that no one can beat! 

Of  course records are there to be broken! Yes we should enjoy and appreciate them been broken by whoever it maybe Michael Schumacher, Senna, Vettel or Hamilton. Yes we need to appreciate what Mercedes, or RedBull or McLaren or Ferrari do but call one driver the GOAT is nonsense, a lie and disrespectful to those who came before them. 

F1 doesn’t have a GOAT, It has a hall of fame.