Won 8 world titles and is considered one of if not the most talented person to ever hold a steering wheel but hold up everyone, this lad here on a football forum knows better so we better re-evaluate.
He's only won seven titles and one of those shouldn't have been (2008) as the results of the Singapore GP have already been proved to be fraudulent and the race should have been stricken from the record, handing the title (correctly) to Massa.
Before you say anything, yes so should Abu Dhabi 2021...but that would still give the title to Verstappen based on races won. For me he's on six. Others say eight. Officially on seven.
Hamilton is a good driver, not the greatest, he's more about the media presence than he is the sport. He's ranked alongside Vettel for me, another talented driver who wowed people early on then kind of faded. His reign was just extended due to the sheer dominance of Mercedes in the 2010's. Even Rosberg was champion in that car. Talented, yes, but nothing extraordinary like a Lauda, Senna, Schumacher, who would decimate him if they were racing today.
"Look at the stats!" people cry; i look at his driving and he's nothing spectacular that warrant's this claim of him being the "best". Winning several titles with no credible opposition isn't anything to boast about. Think United in the 90's. Granted I give him 2014 and 15, where he worked his bollocks off against a hungry Vettel, but the others were 'gimmies'.
Praising him is one thing, but I don't go overboard about how many races, points or titles he's won in an era of DRS, where you get 25 points for a win opposed to 9, and there are more races per season, plus sprints. He's very, very good. He'll never be the greatest.