In 2007, when Lewis Hamilton burst onto the scene as a fresh faced 22-year-old rookie, he was compared to Brazilian multiple World Champion Ayrton Senna.
There were many reasons for this.
Firstly, Lewis himself had declared the former McLaren great as his hero growing up. Lewis also sported a bright yellow helmet, something he had done since his karting days, as his father, Anthony, wanted to be able to distinguish his son from other competitors.
Their driving style too was similar, Lewis seemingly happy with a car that would slide, as he demonstrated his blinding speed. Speaking to Martin Brundle in a piece for Sky Sports F1, Lewis stated that in 2007, he always set the car up with a lot of front end, which contributed to a lot of oversteer.
Lewis also showcased in his opening two corners of racing in F1 that he was brave, creative and not to be messed with. Having lost a place at the start of that year’s Australian GP to BMW driver Kubica, Lewis swooped to the outside and pulled an audacious double overtake on the Pole and on his defending double World Champion team mate, Fernando Alonso.
Having his new team mate pull that stunt was certainly not in Fernando’s 2007 version of “El Plan”.
Lewis became World Champion in 2008, snatching the title at the final corner of the final race on the final lap in Brazil. At the time, he was the youngest man to do it. Only Sebastian Vettel has achieved the feat at a younger age.
As the years passed, McLaren were unable to deliver a car for Lewis to claim title glory again.
Yes, Lewis pulled off some spectacular drives between 2009 and 2012, the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix being one, as he used a 3-stop strategy to propel his way up the order, grabbing the lead from Red Bull’s Vettel with a surprise move at turn 6 of the Shanghai circuit.
A drive worthy of someone being mentioned in same sentence as Ayrton Senna.
The Senna comparisons continued, even when Lewis joined Mercedes in 2013, alongside Nico Rosberg.
But the Senna comparison is now far from the full story with Lewis Hamilton. The influence of Niki Lauda has developed Lewis into a race winning juggernaut, who shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Lewis still possesses many of the qualities Ayrton had, however I see Lewis as more and more of a modern-day Niki.
Niki was the best of his time in the 1970’s, winning the title in 1975 and 1977, missing out in ’76 to James Hunt after his brush with death at the Nürburgring. Niki famously pulled out of the final race in Japan, citing the conditions as too dangerous, stating “my life is worth more than a title.”
Lauda also walked away from F1 in 1979 in Canada as he no longer desired to “continue this silliness of driving around in circles.”
Niki was tempted back in 1982 with McLaren by Ron Dennis and he was paired with French hot-shoe Alain Prost in 1984, as McLaren hit the front.
Lauda won the 1984 title by half a point as his approach of taking the maximum with the least possible risk won through.
It is that quality that shines through most about Lewis to me as he turns 37 on the day of writing.
During the years with Nico Rosberg as his team mate, Lewis was regularly the faster driver but he had mistakes in him still. He won the title in 2014 at the final round, steamrollered the field in 2015 before things came unstuck in 2016.
He was, by common consensus, desperately unlucky with reliability, suffering to Rosberg at each moment that the technical gremlins struck. There was also, of course, the infamous tangle of lap 1 in Barcelona.
Lewis, like Senna with Prost, believed his pure speed would be enough to win out over the course of the season.
For Ayrton, in 1988, it did. In 1989, Prost’s more Lauda-like style helped him to title glory. However, Prost still to this day face accusations of his conduct in Suzuka. Senna too faced criticism for his conduct in 1990 at the same track.
Lauda by comparison, does not have such historical criticism.
Through 2021, Lewis faced a new contender to his crown in Max Verstappen. Another driver with Senna-like speed and he takes a Schumacher style uncompromising approach when racing.
At Imola, the second race of the season, Max forced Lewis wide as they duelled on the wet run through the Tamburello chicane. Lewis attempted to brave it out on the outside but Max won that battle.
Two races later, Max lunged to the inside of the first corner in Spain, Lewis giving way before Mercedes’ strategy cornered Max and Red Bull, allowing Lewis to claim the win that afternoon. Lewis was taking the “live to fight another day” approach.
As the year progressed Lewis had to alter his approach slightly, which did contribute to the collision in Silverstone. Crucially though, it kept him in the hunt and he took advantage when Max’s aggressive style brought about problems. Yes, Lewis hit Max at Copse, but he was handed a penalty which he served, before hunting down those ahead to claim another home victory.
Lewis also followed team instruction to pit for wet tyres in Sochi to beat Lando Norris and drove into the distance in Qatar after Max was handed a grid drop for yellow flag infringement in qualifying.
Lewis’ new approach had not just arrived in 2021 because of Max Verstappen. It had been years of work and toil after the painful defeat to Nico Rosberg in 2016's Abu Dhabi finale.
In a method that Niki could have heavily influenced, Lewis now ensures that he and his Mercedes team leave no stone unturned. This of course, is helped by the culture that boss Toto Wolff has fostered within the teams Brackley base.
In 2017 and 2018, Ferrari had a package every bit as fast as the Mercedes, sometimes it was faster. However, the Silver Arrows would prevail in both championships as they maximised every opportunity offered up to them, the pivotal moment coming in Hockenheim in 2018, when Lewis fought back from a 14th place start to eventually win the race, after Sebastian Vettel’s error at the Sachs curve.
Lewis was dominant in 2019 and 2020, although Ferrari were a threat at times in 2019, while Lewis knew he had the beating of his new team mate in Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis has had access to a car equal to anything else through all but one of his seasons with Mercedes. But look at how his percentage score of points available rises year on year from 2017 to 2020.
Year | Points Available | Points Scored | Points Scored as % |
2016 | 525 | 380 | 72% |
2017 | 500 | 363 | 73 |
2018 | 525 | 408 | 78 |
2019 | 525 | 413 | 79 |
2020 | 400 | 347 | 87 |
Table 1: Lewis Hamilton, percentage of F1 World Championship points scored from 2017 to 2020.
Lewis’ percentage dropped to 70% in 2021, but the significant factor in that is the Verstappen title bid that did not fade like Vettel and Ferrari in years before. Indeed, Max became World Champion in 2021.
What this information tells me is that Lewis firstly learnt from his loss to Nico but also leant on Niki’s experience too to reinvigorate his racing approach.
He upped his game in 2017 and took a higher percentage of points despite Sebastian’s title bid. In 2018 again, Lewis smashed the opposition late on in the year to run away from Vettel, who was in the beginning of a crisis he is really yet to come out of.
2020 is the standout year for me from that table. In a condensed season, with triple header race weekends on a regular basis, Lewis scored wins in each round of triple header races. Considering all the demands on a World Champion and needing to compete at the highest-level week on week is tough.
And all the while, he was also Championing equality within the sport at the same time.
Niki was not short of an opinion on something either and regularly voiced it, unapologetically too. Lewis again is embodying the late Austrian as he seeks to bring BAME and LGBTQ+ rights into the sport he has reached the pinnacle of.
From the boy who grew up, wanting to be just like Senna, he has become the man who is the modern-day equivalent of Niki Lauda, using everything at his disposal in his relentless pursuit of victory.
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