Lewis Hamilton snubbed as Esteban Ocon picks Michael Schumacher as the F1 GOAT: "He was the more complete one"

Alpine F1 driver Esteban Ocon has picked Michael Schumacher over Lewis Hamilton as his F1 GOAT, saying that the German was 'more complete'.

The French driver has been a part of the Mercedes Driver Academy since 2016 and drove for teams like Manor Racing and Force India with the help of the German brand.

While appearing on the High-Performance podcast, Esteban Ocon was asked his choice for F1 GOAT between the seven-time world champions Schumacher and Hamilton. He instantly replied by picking his childhood idol.

"Michael Schumacher. Why? Because he was the more complete one," Ocon said (1:03:47).

However, Ocon had some positive remarks about Lewis Hamilton as well. He pointed out that he learned a good habit from the Brit while he was the reserve driver for Mercedes in 2019.

“Seeing how he switched his focus from one thing to another, that kind of amazed me that he was straight away on point, back with his engineer after something completely different. He didn’t take like 10 minutes to re-focus and re-work with his engineers because you don’t have time to do that," Ocon said (41:57).

"He always had his paperboard with notes and he was always having notes not to forget things from one year to another or from one session to another and this is what I do as well now.”

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Lewis Hamilton chimes in on a lingering issue with the Mercedes W15 that needs fixing

Lewis Hamilton has said his team has got to resolve the issue of bouncing in the car as it has been there for three years.

As per F1.com, in his post-qualifying interview in Saudi Arabia, the Mercedes driver said:

“We’ve got to fix it – that’s like three years in a row. There are so many elements of this car that are better [than the 2023 car]. It’s just we’re being hindered by the bouncing that we have, and the bouncing we have through [Turns] 6-7-8-9-10, which I think probably affected George and it’s something that they’ve not been able to fix."

It has not been an ideal start to the 2024 season for Lewis Hamilton as he has finished P7 and P9 in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively, and is well behind his teammate George Russell in the driver's championship.

Heading to Australia, the seven-time world champion would hope for a smoother ride on the track, and gaining more confidence in the W15 might help him extract maximum performance.