What Jacques did in 97 is exactly the same as Lewis’s 08, won it in sophomore year, albeit being a couple years older. But if you look at the stats, Jacques was a lot more dominant in winning the championship when compared to Lewis. In 97, Jacques had 10 Poles, 3 Fastest Laps and 7 Wins (1 podium) whereas Lewis in 08, 7 Poles, 1 Fastest Lap and 5 Wins (3 podiums). You have to keep in mind, that in 97, Villenueve was fending off 3 other teams with serious pace. There Ferraris of Schumacher and Irvine weren’t quite finished article, but were racey. MacLaren had the car and drivers to win, they proved so in the following two seasons. Bennetton had the class of Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, so it was a pretty competitive field with a double world champion and a defending one also on the grid. 6 different drivers won races that year.

In 08, it was pretty much the same as 97, but less teams with real proper race pace throughout. Yes, 7 different drivers won the championship, but that probably down to the inconsistency of the front-runners and some astute mid season developments from the likes of Renault. So yes, Hamilton is the youngest world champion, great, but from a statistical perspective, it was hardly mind blowing. There isn’t much to shout about the current field fo drivers as compared to the likes that line up in 97. Apart from Massa, Kubica, and an early season Kimi, there wasn’t anyone else with genuine race pace but that is subject to change in future. Keep in mind that Schumi, Hakkinen, Coulthard, Frentzen, Berger had good race winning speed in 97.

I honestly don’t see why this win is such a big deal if it wasn’t for his age. If Vettel wins the championship in another 2 years, what will we be singing then? Hamilton has already become the greatest motor racing driver after one world title, thats the world we live in today. I would imagine certain quarters back in 97 would have echoed similar sentiments on the matter of Villenueve, but look what happened to him. It may have been a combination of cockiness, bad management and greed, but you also have to consider the fact that Renault pulled out and he a pretty “****” car at best in 98. So anything can happen to Lewis.

Anyway, what are the chance that Lewis will be racing trucks in 2019? I suspect that Brand Hamilton will market it well enough to make it a hit!

Considering they seem to be the only ones capable of getting the last 1/100′s of a second out of the top cars they probably are being compensated very correctly. Without them the car may do well, but it won’t win. So, what is winning worth to Ferrari or McLaren?

Also, for most fans the drivers are the first focus of attention, so for the teams they become a vehicle for commercial exposure & identification, especially away from the track…as we see from this article about Hamilton’s award.

Also, considering that F1 is the world pinnacle of racing, apologies to the Mashcar Set, and the limited length of a drivers productive years, pay is certainly not excessive.

Any drastic cost reductions should be found elsewhere.

Sir Frank Williams: “If McLaren don’t want to pay Hamilton £15m, then someone else will. Any suggestion of a gentleman’s agreement on this would never happen.”

Surely the drivers care enough about the sport to take a short term pay cut ?

Sorry, just realised what I was saying…