Lewis Hamilton vs Sebastian Vettel: Who had a more impressive dominance period?

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are two of the most successful F1 drivers in the last decade or so. It all started in 2010 when Red Bull's dominance began. That era ended after four years, and what followed was the Turbo-Hybrid era where Mercedes dominated from 2014 to 2021.

Over the two spans, Hamilton and Vettel were the lead drivers of their respective teams and spearheaded most of their success.

Vettel has now retired while Hamilton continues to perform at a very high level. However, there is one question that is worth answering when we take a look at these two drivers: Who had a more impressive dominant era?

In this feature, we will try to answer this question by evaluating these championship reigns on certain parameters. A reign that is better on more parameters will be considered the more impressive one. So without further ado, let's get straight to it.

For reference, we're comparing the years 2010-2013 for Vettel and 2014-2021 for Hamilton.

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Lewis Hamilton vs Sebastian Vettel: How do they stack up?

#1 The magnitude of success

When we talk about the magnitude of success, we talk about the sheer number of years for which the dominance lasted. It's also important to talk about the number of races and championships each of the drivers won.

When we talk about Vettel, his period of dominance lasted four years (2010-2013). During that time, he was able to clinch four titles and 33 race wins. If we compare this with Hamilton, the latter's reign lasted for eight years, from 2014 to 2021. During that time, he clinched four titles and a whopping 81 wins.

It's safe to say that if we talk about the duration of dominance, Hamilton is far more impressive than Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton: 1

Sebastian Vettel: 0

#2 Championship win percentage

This metric is used to define the efficiency of the championship reign of either driver. It is calculated by measuring the number of years a driver has won the title out of the number of years he could have won it.

Sebastian Vettel won all four titles when the opportunity presented itself from 2010 to 2013. The German has a 100 percent win record whenever he had a car capable of winning the title. For Lewis Hamilton, however, it's not as straightforward.

The Mercedes driver won six of the eight titles that were on offer and lost two. The first title he lost was against Nico Rosberg in 2016 and the second was in 2021, against Max Verstappen. All in all, Hamilton has a win percentage of 75, in situations when he had a car capable of winning a world title.

Lewis Hamilton: 1

Sebastian Vettel: 1

#3 Competition

In this metric, we try to compare which era was more competitive because having success in that era would be a tougher task. While talking about the Red Bull era, Vettel faced stern competition from both Ferrari and McLaren.

In 2010, as many as four drivers were in contention to win the title (Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton). Similarly, in 2012, four different drivers were in contention until late in the season (Alonso, Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, and Hamilton).

Compare this to the Mercedes era and we have as many as five seasons where the battle of the championship was between two teammates. Other than the 2021 F1 season where Red Bull and Max Verstappen took the challenge to Mercedes, it was always a one-team show. In essence, the Red Bull era had far more competition than the Mercedes era.

Lewis Hamilton: 1

Sebastian Vettel: 2

#4 The peak of their dominance

In this metric, we will compare how each driver fared in their peak season. We will compare their win percentage, their podium percentage, and the points per race scored by the drivers.

For Vettel, his peak season during his dominance was in 2013. The Red Bull driver secured 13 wins, 16 podiums, and as many as 397 points in 19 races that season.

For Hamilton, his peak season was in 2019, where he secured 11 wins, 17 podiums, and as many as 413 points in 21 races.

If we compare these two, we get the following table:

	Vettel	Hamilton
Win Percentage	68.4	52.4
Podium Percentage	84.2	80.9
Points/Race	20.8	19.7

Now, as we can see in the table here, Vettel's numbers are clearly more impressive than Hamilton's.

Lewis Hamilton: 1

Sebastian Vettel: 3

#5 The stability of regulations

In this metric, we take a look at the stability of regulations. The more stable the regulations, the easier it is to continue the team's dominance. However, if the regulations are not that stable, it allows different teams to catch up or try something different.

In the Red Bull era, almost every year, there was one change or the other. The 2010 F1 season had Bridgestone tires. The 2011 F1 season had fast-degrading Pirelli tires and the introduction of DRS. The 2012 F1 season saw further changes with the introduction of new aero regulations leading to cars that made a stepped nose one of the more common features. Finally, the 2013 F1 season saw Pirelli's experimental tires turn races into a lottery for many teams.

Compare that to the Mercedes era and there is a stark difference. The eight-year period of the Turbo Hybrid era featured minimalistic changes here and there that did not change the design philosophy of the cars.

There was a change in the size of the rear tires. There was also a change with the introduction of the Halo device to the cars and then there was the aero reduction on the floor for the 2021 F1 season. Over eight years, there were more stable regulations and they contributed to Mercedes maintaining its dominance over the grid.

Lewis Hamilton: 1

Sebastian Vettel: 4

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Conclusion

In conclusion, we can see that the Mercedes dominant era was arguably not as impressive as the Red Bull dominant era. In the same vein, it should be stated that Sebastian Vettel's dominance was far more impressive than Lewis Hamilton's.

The German might have done it for a shorter period, but he had more competition to fight against, consistent regulation changes to take into account, and even then had a 100% win percentage.