Has Lewis Hamilton been dethroned as the best F1 British driver on the grid?

Lewis Hamilton debuted in F1 in 2007 and has since more or less been in contention for being the best British driver on the grid. His rookie season saw him compete for the championship against the likes of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, and even though he fell short by just a point in 2007, he bounced back and became the youngest F1 world champion in 2008.

After a few years as a teammate to Jenson Button at McLaren, where one could argue that the claim went back and forth, Lewis moved to Mercedes and took over as the best British F1 driver. Since then, Hamilton has been dubbed not only the best British driver on the grid but one of the best overall talents. Until 2021, the crown remained with Lewis and one could make several arguments as to why he deserved it.

Since 2021, though, things have changed. Lewis is not the reigning world champion anymore and hasn't won a race for three seasons now. With Lando Norris also becoming a race winner in Miami, have we reached a point where Lewis Hamilton is not the best British F1 driver on the grid? Let's take a look and see if the crown has slipped.

Who are the alternatives?

There are three British drivers on the F1 grid. There's Lewis Hamilton and George Russell driving for Mercedes and then there's Lando Norris driving for McLaren. Lewis has been the benchmark that the other two young drivers have continued to look up to for a while now. But in the last few years, both Lando Norris and George Russell have come out of the shadows of the F1 legend in their own ways.

Lando has become the team leader at McLaren, while George has fared quite impressively against Lewis. Both George and Lando are race winners now and have pole positions to their names as well. In terms of success, while it is nowhere close to achieving what Lewis has, they've made the most of the cars they have had.

Has the crown slipped from Lewis Hamilton's head?

Six races into the 2024 F1 season, it does appear that the crown has slipped from Lewis Hamilton's head. We have Lando Norris on one side who just won a race in a McLaren, continuing what has been an impressive run that began in 2021. Norris has been a frontrunner and one of the top drivers in the field since then.

As soon as McLaren brought the upgrade last season, Norris was right at the front of the grid and became one of the key challengers to Max Verstappen. This season, before the team brought the upgrade package, Norris already had a couple of podiums to his name and was fighting at the front of the field.

Similarly, for George Russell, being teammates with Lewis Hamilton is arguably one of the hardest things for anyone, but the driver has held his own. He outscored Lewis in the first season, though the senior driver bounced back brilliantly in the second season and got the better of the youngster.

F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas - Final Practice

The third season has, however, seen George take another step forward. He's got Lewis more or less covered in qualifying, and after the first 6 races of the season, is outperforming him as well.

Lewis does continue to be brilliant as usual, but can the claim be made that he's still the benchmark amongst all British drivers? It's very hard to say yes to that now. As careers progress, it's always hard to keep a hold of all of one's accolades. While Lewis continues to be one of the very best still, is he still the best British driver on the grid? Probably not, as that honor might just go to George Russell or Lando Norris at this stage.