Lewis Hamilton: F1 expert James Allen reveals what Mark Webber said about Mercedes driver
MARK WEBBER reckons Lewis Hamilton is the best F1 driver since Ayrton Senna.
That's according to F1 expert James Allen, who points out that would place the Mercedes man above motorsport legend Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton fought off competition from Sebastian Vettel this season to go level with the Ferrari driver on four World Drivers' Championships.
And next year he'll be out to do the same as he looks to go level with Argentine great Juan Manuel Fangio on five F1 titles.
Schumacher would then be the only man ahead of Hamilton in terms of F1 championships won.
Former F1 driver Webber told Allen at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix that he believes Hamilton already outranks the seven-time title-winner though.
"This was Hamilton's best season in F1 and it came at the right time, after the anguish of the Rosberg championship in 2016, which he simply could not cope with," Allen wrote on Motorsport.com.
"For a champion it is very hard to accept a lesser driver beating you over a season in the same car and Hamilton dealt with it badly.
Lewis Hamilton shows off his £1million FERRARI supercar
"I bet he wishes he could go back and do 2016 all over again, knowing what he knows now about himself and about Mercedes.
"But it's consigned to history and all he can do is win outstandingly for the rest of his career and let those records speak for themselves.
"It is very appropriate that he should take the all-time record for pole positions from Michael Schumacher this year, as he is one of the fastest drivers ever in F1.
"Mark Webber told me in Sepang that he believes we can now say that Hamilton is the best driver since Senna; better in other words, than Schumacher, who had many advantages in winning his seven titles."