Hamilton voted F1's best current driver

Eurosport - Mon, 01 Dec 15:02:00 2008

Eurosport-Yahoo! readers have voted Lewis Hamilton the best current driver in Formula One, with Fernando Alonso not far behind.

Lewis Hamilton - Brazil 2008 - 0

Almost 10,000 of you voted in the online poll, with 41 per cent giving the thumbs-up to the 23-year-old from Stevenage after his dramatic final lap world championship victory over Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Just 13 per cent of you gave Massa the nod, despite the fact he drove superbly throughout the year in a car that was arguably inferior to Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes and was ultimately within a single point of winning the title.

Instead, over 2,500 of you voted for Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 world champion, whose performance in an under-performing Renault showed his character and ability at its finest.

A fierce debate raged on the message boards, much of it revolving around the age-old Formula One conundrum of weighing up the driver's ability against the quality of their car. Many thought that Hamilton's achievement was lesser than the underdog performances of Alonso and Robert Kubica, not to mention Sebastian Vettel - who didn't make our shortlist for the poll.

For all the vocal support he attracted in the boards, Kubica won just six per cent of the vote, behind both Massa and Hamilton's McLaren team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen.

A selection of your comments (scroll down for full results):

ginger_gitt: You don't come second in the Championship and match a double world champion in your first season and then become the youngest ever world champion without having a huge amount of talent. To claim Lewis is just lucky shows a serious lack of knowledge about F1. How come the Schumacher haters can still admit he was one hell of a talent and one of the all time greats, yet the Hamilton haters CANNOT admit that this guy is special?

Charles O: Lewis Hamilton is a good driver. but not as good as someone like Fernando Alonso, who takes a regular car and makes it a winner. He's an all rounder, while on the other hand Hamilton takes a fast car and thrashes it.

tifosi4eva: Fernando gets my vote! The only back-to-back world champ in the field, the guy who has won the most races out of the current crop AND the guy who finished fifth in the overall standings this year in a Renault.

AndJusticeForAll: First, Alonso; second, Kubica; third, Bourdais; fourth Barrichello. Ferrari and McLaren drivers do not apply because they cannot prove anything unless they are in the same league as the mortals. Anyone who has a different opinion is not being honest with themselves.

Oliver Tunnah: Where is Jensen Button? A brilliant driver let down by a rubbish car which couldn't beat a mobility scooter!

Alex l: Sebastian Vettel is the best F1 driver nowadays. Give him a Ferrari or a McLaren and no one could beat him. With a poor car he won a GP, he beat Hamilton in the last race and he showed his abilities. He is the next Schumacher.

clipsyduck: I'm a Hamilton fan, but I believe that Alonso is the best driver out there at present. I'm not over the moon to say it but feel it's the truth.

Lady Carole: Robert Kubica. To do what he's done in an uncompetitive car is nothing short of brilliant. Robert usually starts and finishes in the top six. The man is a STAR.

Full results:

Total: 9,407 votes (as of 14:20, Monday December 1)

Lewis Hamilton - 41% (3816 votes)

Fernando Alonso - 28% (2635)

Felipe Massa - 13% (1191)

Kimi Raikkonen - 13% (1223)

Robert Kubica - 6% (542)

Eurosport

Comment 59 - 78 of 78

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  1. Hamilton is without doubt a very skilled driver, once­ he sorts out how he makes stupid mistakes under­ pressure he will be the best.
    I'm no fan of Alonso­ but you can't take away how good he was at the tail­ end of the season.

    From Concerned, on Mon 15 Dec 5:37PM

  2. Lewis beat everyone with relative ease? Hardly! He­ struggled to finish 5th at Brazil. If he would've­ won it with ease, there wouldn't have been one­ point in it.

    From kirstielundgaard, on Thu 4 Dec 5:00PM

  3. hahah lewis hamilton best driver naw alonso by far

    From starkiee80, on Wed 3 Dec 8:16AM

  4. whos cliff who the eddy

    From starkiee80, on Tue 2 Dec 10:08PM

  5. whos cliff who the eddy

    From starkiee80, on Tue 2 Dec 10:08PM

  6. MCLAREN AND HAMILTON FAKES AND CHEAT

    From starkiee80, on Tue 2 Dec 9:34PM

  7. What's really funny here is that Clispyduck does­ not know how to spell yet when he can't find any­ decent rebuttal he points out other peoples gramatical­ errors. In addition he said that Lewis beats all other­ more experienced drivers with relative ease. I'll­ tell you what there Clispy or should I say Lispy? You­ go ahead and just keep thinking Lewis is beating­ everyone with ease ok, now run along and have fun with­ that there Clispytard.

    From ericmueller1971, on Tue 2 Dec 8:12PM

  8. not surprising because the majority of the people on­ this site are from the uk.

    From Herne, on Tue 2 Dec 6:12PM

  9. Hi-de-hi! Shaun C, Clarence here.
    From your english you­ sound like an italian building site worker, oooh. I­ love the way you spell doesn't, it is so primitive.­ Hang on love just asking Kevin... Oooh Kevin I cant ask­ him that pet.
    Shaun C you brute.
    Hi-de-hi! Clarence­ going.

    From , on Tue 2 Dec 5:56PM

  10. Hi-de-hi! Clarence here.
    In International Gay News­ (IGN) that georgous boy Alonso was voted the best­ driver of all time. Out of 21,376 voters he got 21,375­ votes and some dopey looking Kiwi got one vote. Oooh­ I'm all a quiver.
    But they did a survey and found­ that all dishy Alonso fans were either
    (1) Female­ women, or
    (2) Gay men.
    No heteros at all my liitle­ porcupines.
    Hi-de-hi! Clarence going.

    From , on Tue 2 Dec 5:51PM

  11. Best driver what a joke he could only win that in the­ uk the prat cant even stop at a red light kub vet alon­ & massa are all better he has a lot to learn yet­ thats if the hot headed idiot dosent kill himself first

    From U R SOLES, on Tue 2 Dec 5:45PM

  12. kirstielundgaard: That'll be the guy who run into­ the back of Hammy just after the noble Hammy had run in­ to the back of Kimi would it? No one ever seems to­ mention that one.
    Please no snidy remarks on this form­ we are all sensible adults.

    From BigBill, on Tue 2 Dec 5:33PM

  13. Jamilton he cheet.

    From Count Louis Zborowski, on Tue 2 Dec 3:03PM

  14. kirstielundgaard: whats"funny" is that Lewis­ Hamilton is STILL almost a rookie and despite his silly­ mistakes /9not to mentions the FIA's corruption),­ he STILL beats all the other more experienced drivers­ with relative ease. Now that the pressure is off him to­ win the championship, he will get better and better.­ Your ONLY hope is that the McLaren car gets slower.

    From crispyduck, on Tue 2 Dec 3:01PM

  15. Kirstielungaard-how can anyone possibly take women­ seriously when they talk about motor racing,when they­ post messages with "Fernandos nice!" and­ "...massive Kimi fan!"...if thats the best­ contribution your tiny female brain can come up­ with,then do us(men) all a favour.....go and make the­ coffee,after you`ve ironed my shirt that is!

    From Russell O, on Tue 2 Dec 2:40PM

  16. Bet you wished you had kept stum on the red light, lets­ face it Ferrari cannot sort their own lights out. Can i­ just say, THAT WAS SOOOOO FUNNY, laughed for ages.­ Think it's what they call justice, stewards­ couldn't blame anyone else for that or f they could­ have, Lewis would have been docked for that as well.

    From PETER, on Tue 2 Dec 2:32PM

  17. Funny how the Ferrari lot DIDN'T sort out red­ lights. I still think the funniest sight last year were­ the keystone cops running their fat butts down the pit­ lane with their little tool kits. LOL

    From chtech06, on Tue 2 Dec 1:49PM

  18. Please list to mama, my papa marnio is a very sad case,­ he got no friends and he smell like a llama. He know­ nothin about the F1 he reads the cuzco daily herald for­ the alpacha racing but he never ever seen a car that­ alone a racing car like the williams-ferrari or the­ silver arrows.
    please go easy on the old man he very­ demented.

    From Ardsay e Giv-a-Shee, on Tue 2 Dec 1:25PM

  19. Not surprising, but I still believe Fernando to be the­ best driver on the grid - the fact that he turned a car­ that struggled to get into Q3 into a race-winning car­ is superb, and I voted for Fernando, despite being a­ massive Kimi fan.
    Funny how the supposed best current­ driver failed to stop at a red light.

    From kirstielundgaard, on Tue 2 Dec 1:22PM

  20. mauricechlela: Cry-baby (Massa's words not mine)

    From BigBill, on Tue 2 Dec 10:42AM
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