Race 9 - 2025 Spanish GP [Circuit de Catalunya - Barcelona]

[Nitrodaze]

None of them are world beaters without a world beater car. On occasion a driver might perform above expectation for a given car, but really not all that often. And at times, a driver just has a good year, or their teammate has a poor year. Hell, Sainz bested Leclerc his first year at Ferrari, had a couple of close years, but last year was beat by over 60 points. And for that matter is currently being beaten by Albon at Williams. The problem is we will never really know for sure who the absolute best are, since most often they aren't in the same cars.

Lewis has been on the same team with a couple of WDC drivers, and came out on top of them in the overall picture. Some by more, some by less. But with his years growing, his edge seems to be slipping. George beat him two years out of three in the same car, but on total points Lewis edged him out a few over that three years. And now at Ferrari he isn't challenging Leclerc on merit.... yet. But he might at some point. And if they spend several years in the same car, we will see the overall picture better. And it is Ferrari... people forget that their last WDC was Kimi, soon to be 20 years ago.


Currently, I think we all accept that at least 5 or 6 other drivers could compete for wins in the McLaren. Maybe even more. But we won't really know for sure how they would stack up against Oscar or Lando unless it actually happens. But I'm sure there are younger or new fans that will think "ZOMG, Lando (or Oscar) is the best driver EVER!" once the title is decided. And even some that know better will think that way. But personally, when a given car dominates the WCC it's a given that one of those drivers should be winning the WDC. But that is the only good comparison between drivers often.... which teammate can dominate within a team.

For the coming decades, Lando or Oscar might come to be known as a world beater. But if the entire field could compete with the McLaren I doubt that would be the case. Such is F1.

I can't argue with this reasoning as it is a very valid one. But l would add that it is not simply a matter of who is in a faster car. It is about who can get the most performance out of the car. This point of view only matters if both drivers are comfortable in the car to produce their absolute best individual performances. Which is what is going on at McLaren between Oscar and Lando. It is similar to the Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry. But it is definitely not applicable to the Verstappen-Perez or Verstappen-Tsunoda scenario. We could say with certainty that this is not the scenario at Ferrari, as the 2025 Ferrari was developed around LeClerc, and Hamilton is essentially driving a Ferrari dialled to LeClerc's driving style. Hence, we cannot properly make a comparison between those two based on the SF-25. We would need to wait till 2026 if Hamilton does not get fed up with Ferrari and call it a day before the 2025 season is over.

I have to add quickly that the SF-25 is not a championship-winning car. But it is quick enough to pick up the pieces when faster teams do not have a good weekend, which has propelled them into 2nd in the constructors' championship table. The LeClerc-developed SF-25 has fallen short of competing with McLaren in a title battle for this 2025 season. Logic would suggest that they need the experienced head of Hamilton to get their 2026 car in the window for competing for the 2026 championship titles.

Winning championships is not down to the driver only, it is a complex combination of things that have to align in an optimal way. This includes having a compliant and fast car that performs well at a majority of circuits on the racing calendar. Coupled with a driver or xdrivers that are in perfect synergy with the car to extract the absolute maximum performance possible from the car. And finally, excellent and flawless team operation at race weekends. The current SF-25 and the Ferrari team fall well short on all fronts, as mentioned here.

When talking of great drivers, they stand out because of their consistency of winning titles. Winning one title is incredibly hard enough. To win more than one is exceptional, not to talk of those who win it four times and more so the great drivers who win it more than five times. These sorts of numbers are not something to talk of lightly, by saying any driver can win four championships if given the same car. It is not as simple as that. You cheapen what it takes to win multiple championships by suggesting it is easy to win multiple championships; all that is needed is to have a championship-winning car. If it were so easy, Norris would have won the 2024 driver's championship. Vettel would have won in 2018 or 2019 in his Ferrari, which was the faster car in those seasons.

It is not simply down to having the fastest car, it is about the fastest car-driver combination, the ultimate man-machine synergy that underlines the benchmark of performance for a particular season. It was Hamilton and Mercedes from 2014 to 2020, and Verstappen and Redbull from 2021 to 2024. That is what F1 is all about. We can argue that this is a flaw in F1 for one team to dominate over a number of seasons. I don't believe that, really is the case. It comes down to which team can produce a winning formula for the current regulations to attain the premium status of being the benchmark of the season. Not every team can do that. If it were easy to do that, Mercedes would still be at the bleeding edge for fights for the championship from 2021 to date. Instead, they are on average between 0.200 to 0.500 seconds behind the pure pace of McLaren. Hence, the real reason we have domination spurs is because usually one team always manages to find this sweet spot, which eludes all the other teams. Also, usually, such a team would typically have a driver with the skills to consistently win most of the titles over the period. Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen are examples of such exceptional drivers in recent times.

Of course, we have to take note of those exceptional drivers that make the difference by making up for any shortcomings of the car to produce unbelievable performances. Senna comes to mind, Hamilton is very much in this category, if you think of his incredible recovery in the 2021 season to the point of practically winning the 2021 championship against the odds before it was stolen from him. Or winning Silverstone with only three tyres. There are a few others which l am sure others would be able to point to.