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With a tally of 98 pole positions, 95 wins and a record-equalling seven World Championships, Lewis Hamilton is a bonafide Formula 1 legend.
After signing an extension to his Mercedes contract for another year, Lewis Hamilton is primed to break one last record that would make him the winningest driver in the history of the sport.
With another world championship, Lewis Hamilton will overtake Michael Schumacher to become the most successful driver in Formula 1 history. But would it necessarily make him the greatest of all time (GOAT)?
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Statistics can be misleading, particularly in Formula One. That is because results heavily depend on a car a driver is in.
Five reasons why Lewis Hamilton is not the greatest of all time:
Michael Schumacher's name features prominently in the discussion of the greatest of all time in the sport.
That is not down simply to the numbers he racked up but the impact he had on the team for which he drove, something Lewis Hamilton has not managed to achieve to the same extent.
In this piece, let's take a look at five reasons why Lewis Hamilton may not be considered the GOAT in Formula One when compared to Michael Schumacher.
Please note: Michael Schumacher's career till his first retirement in 2006 is taken into consideration. His second stint with Mercedes is not being considered.
#1 Michael Schumacher was instrumental in Ferrari's growth
Michael Schumacher was the reigning two-time world champion when he left Benetton to join Ferrari in 1996.
Ferrari at that time were, at best, a midfield team. They last won the world championship in 1983; even though they challenged for the title with Alain Prost, success eluded the team for a while.
The team was not a contender for the world title when Michael Schumacher joined the Italian giants. But the German was determined to bring Ferrari back to its halcyon days.
The ride was not an easy one. After years of disappointment, Michael Schumacher finally won his first title with Ferrari in 2000 and then embarked on an unbeaten run. Schumacher took the team from the ground and transformed it into a championship-winning phenom.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, moved from McLaren to Mercedes in 2013. By that time, Mercedes were already on its way up. They had just achieved their first pole and victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in 2012.
Under Ross Brawn, Mercedes invested heavily after new regulations came into force in 2014. In his second year, Lewis Hamilton was already driving a car that was a second-a-lap quicker than everybody else.
#2 Michael Schumacher was the undisputed best driver on the grid throughout his career
Michael Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in 1991. By the time 1992 rolled in, he had already made waves around the paddock with his speed and ability to drive any car. Even in the company of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Schumacher stood out.
In 1994, with Alain Prost retiring and Ayrton Senna's untimely death, Michael Schumacher would become the undisputed best driver on the grid. From 1994 to 2006, the year when he retired with Ferrari, Michael Schumacher remained the gold standard for driving in Formula 1.
Sure enough, there were some new talents like Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, or a Juan Pablo Montoya that would outshine him once in a while. But over the course of a season, Michael Schumacher was always considered the best driver on the grid.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, was considered among the finest drivers on the grid since he debuted in 2007. But with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel putting together some great performances, Lewis Hamilton did not have a headstart as the better driver.
It wasn't until 2014 when Lewis Hamilton inherited a car with a significant pace advantage and started separating himself from the chasing pack.
#3 Lewis Hamilton has lost to his teammate on numerous occasions
Can you be considered the GOAT if, at some point in time, you were beaten by your own teammate driving the same car?
Let's be honest, Lewis Hamilton has had a great career. He was promoted to Formula 1 against the reigning two-time world champion and beat him in his rookie year. That's the stuff legends are made of.
But then, somewhere down the line, Lewis Hamilton also lost to his teammate Jenson Button in the drivers' standings in the 2011 season. In fact, during their time together across three seasons, Button outscored Lewis Hamilton 672 to 657 points.
How good was Jenson Button? He was a world champion in his own right.
Something similar happened in 2016 when Lewis Hamilton lost the world title to teammate Nico Rosberg.
Again, Nico Rosberg is not a bad driver by any means, but when you are in the reckoning to be the GOAT, you can't lose to drivers driving the same car.
#4 Michael Schumacher was the undisputed rain meister
When one talks about Michael Schumacher and the best races he ever drove, the wet race in Barcelona 1996, his scintillating performance before he crashed in the rain at Spa in 1998 and many others come to the fore.
In these races, Michael Schumacher use the rain to mask the deficiencies of his car to dominate the field.
One of the true measures of a Formula 1 driver's pedigree is how he drives in the rain. Michael Schumacher, throughout his career, was the standout driver in the rain, with no one coming close to him.
Lewis Hamilton, to his credit, has had some sensational wet weather victories in his resume as well. He dominated the race in treacherous conditions at Silverstone in 2008. Hamilton also put together a brilliant display at Suzuka in 2014 and Brazil in 2016.
However, Lewis Hamilton has had his fair share of poor wet weather races as well. Be it the Australian GP 2010, Canadian GP 2011, Hungarian GP 2011, Malaysian GP 2012 or even the Chinese GP 2010, which his teammate Jenson Button won.
Sure, Lewis Hamilton has won multiple wet weather races, but he's had some terrible ones too.
#5 Lewis Hamilton hasn't had much competition during his title triumphs
Michael Schumacher won his first world title against Damon Hill, a world champion, in a seesaw battle.
He won his third against two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen in a similarly paced McLaren. His sixth title in 2003 saw him fight off the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya from two different teams in the final race of the season.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton barely won his first title against Felipe Massa on the last lap of the season in a similarly paced Ferrari. Hamilton's second and third title triumphs were against Nico Rosberg, and the rest of his championship victories saw him dominate the field with a much faster car.
Sure, many would say that Ferrari was a competitive adversary in the 2018 season. But if we delve deeper, we'll find that Mercedes scored 13 of 21 pole positions and won 11 out of 21 races in 2018. They were in a class of their own in 2018 as well as they cantered to another world title.
Lewis Hamilton has indeed had a stellar Formula 1 career. If he wins a record-eighth title, he will surely go down as one of the most successful in having graced the sport. But would he necessarily be called the greatest ever?
One would think Michael Schumacher has better credentials than Hamilton.
