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| Lewis Hamilton |
Gerhard Berger has always rated former team-mate Ayrton Senna in a league of his own but he says Lewis Hamilton now ranks alongside the late Brazilian Formula One champion in his estimation.
Speaking ahead of the 25th anniversary of Sennaโs death at Imola on May 1, Berger told reporters his friend still led as a personality and the legend that surrounds him.
In purely sporting terms, however, the similarities were clear.
โEverybody asks me โHow do you see this driver against Ayrton?โ and I always, in all the years, say โI donโt see anybody near to Ayrtonโ,โ explained the Austrian, who partnered Senna at McLaren from 1990-92.
โBut Lewis is (now) the first driver I put on the same level as Ayrton.โ
Berger, who won 10 races for Benetton, McLaren and Ferrari between 1986 and 1997 and now runs the DTM (German Touring Car) series, said statistics were only one way of measuring greatness.
โI go more by feeling and watching, and for me โ and there were great champions like Nelson (Piquet), like Niki (Lauda), like (Alain) Prost, like Michael (Schumacher) โ there has always been one above: Ayrton,โ he said.
โAnd now Lewis I see in the same league.โ
Hamilton has five championships, one with McLaren in 2008 and four with Mercedes in the last five seasons. He is leading the championship into this weekendโs Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old Briton holds several records, including most pole positions (84), and his 75 wins are second only to seven times champion Schumacherโs career haul of 91.
Senna won three championships with McLaren and held the record for poles (65) before Hamilton. The Brazilian won 41 races and would surely have gone on to many more had he not died at the age of 34.
โThe comparison? I see still Ayrton winning the game because in the end Ayrton was such a charming guy and a personality. And obviously if someone loses his life and stays with us in the way of a legend, itโs always something special,โ said Berger.
โBut I try to see it from a performance point and from a performance point, Lewis is going from one pole position to the next one and Lewis is going from one race win to the next one. Just like Ayrton did.โ
Berger said Hamilton was โoutstandingly fastโ, made fewer mistakes than rivals and knew when to be patient.
โIt looks like heโs just running the game in such a good way that heโs unbeatable at the moment,โ said the Austrian. โYes heโs in the best car and best engine, but he also is the best. By far the best man at the moment.โ
He said Hamilton had a good chance of breaking Schumacherโs records.
โI would like to protect Michaelโs success because such a tragedy, itโs so sad to see these things,โ Berger added, referring to the 2013 ski accident that left the German with severe head injuries.
โBut when you put this all out (aside) for a moment, then Lewis Hamilton is a very special driver in all the time I watched and have been in Formula One.โ
REUTERS
