Exediron wrote:
F1 MERCENARY wrote:
I'd love to hear how you came to that conclusion because there's a British driver who has proven to be far superior to anything Leclerc has EVER accomplished. He was more brilliant in Karts
and did some pretty amazing things in the junior ranks that I don't recall seeing from Leclerc. His name is Lewis Hamilton.
What did Lewis do in the junior ranks that was so much more impressive? A quick comparison of their junior records:
First year in carsHamilton: Formula Renault 2000, 3rd place
Leclerc: Formula Renault 2.0, 2nd place
Second year in carsHamilton: Formula Renault 2.0, champion
Leclerc: Formula 3, 5th place
Third year in carsHamilton: Formula 3, 5th place
Leclerc: GP3, champion
Fourth year in carsHamilton: Formula 3, champion
Leclerc: Formula 2, champion
Fifth year in carsHamilton: GP2, champion
(Leclerc: in F1)
It seems to me that Leclerc achieved everything Hamilton did in the junior categories, and often faster. You can consider Hamilton superior, I don't argue with that, but their junior careers are very comparable and the comparison probably favors Leclerc.
I knew someone would go out of their way to post something like this…
What has been discussed is Leclerc being overall superb this year but the fact is he's been solid and better than his teammate. And what those figures you posted don't show is all the things that happened in those series throughout the season. All you see are final results. This year Ricciardo has had abysmal luck compared to Verstappen yet he sits very close to him in points and when he finishes, you can see that in actuality there isn't as much of a difference between them as some would have you believe. However, come the end of this season when all is said and done, someone will immediately jump to final standings of this season to paint a picture whereby Verstappen was light years faster/better than Ricciardo when that simply isn't the case.
This is precisely what you've done by posting that list. You looked only at final results and drew your conclusion from that alone.
Leclerc is indeed an amazing talent, but having watched both his and Hamilton's races in the feeder series, Hamilton was just that much better throughout and then his standout performances are to this day among the greatest in the history of all motorsport, not just in the Jr category. And while today the cars today are easier to drive, the driver is doing more in the cockpit with all the nobs and dials and in Hamilton's days the cars were so much more twitchy and nervous so it's tough to say which had their hands more full before F1.
I'll end by asking the simple question… If you could put a Rookie Hamilton against a Rookie Leclerc in the same car in the same team… Who would you put your money on?
I'd go all in on Hamilton every single time.Keep in mind I was not a fan of Hamilton initially and had to take stock of myself and why I was so against him so vehemently, and when I decided to assess his performance purely and without bias, it was clear that the kid was just that god damned superb. That in turn helped me view other sports differently as well. While I am a die-hard Steelers and Giants fan, I no longer hate any players or teams because and if they are better than the ones I love and cheer for. instead I recognize their talents and commend them for it. HOWEVER… I do still flip my lid over horrific calls just as I do with F1… Well more vociferously than in F1 because F1 is just so different, but I will flip my lid on drivers for things like Verstappen on Bottas in Italy, Hamilton and Massa in 2008 (so many incidents between them that season), Ricciardo Dive absurd bombs (none worse than the one on Rosberg - But he seems to have curbed this for now). But I do recognize drivers' talents and abilities and good or bad, I assess according to what I see.
Thus far…
I've seen Max exude supreme pace in spurts but he wont hesitate to use his car as a weapon so it knock off points BIGTIME for me.
Leclerc took a few races to get going, but once he did hes been quite good, and I can't recall any obvious big mistakes from him.
Ocon has been pretty damn impressive from his first time out and has shown the fortitude to not yield to intimidation from other drivers, including his teammate.
He fights hard but fair, handles himself and represents the series and his team so well. Hope someone snaps this kid up. His road to F1 reminds me so much of Piquet Sr in that nothing was given to him. Really respect that.