Formula 1 veteran Felipe Massa believes that Lewis Hamilton is up there with the two greatest names in the sport – Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
Williams driver Massa clearly rates fellow Brazilian Senna and his former Ferrari teammate, and mentor, Schumacher as the stand out drivers of the modern generation.
Massa added Hamilton’s to those illustrious names when he told Sky Sports, “Lewis is definitely one of the best drivers in the history of Formula 1. You cannot really take him away or [place him] in a different level compared to Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. He’s there.”
Massa famously lost the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, on the final lap of the last race of the season at the Brazilian Grand Prix. In the end a single point denied him the title, which went to Hamilton. The Briton winning it in his second year in F1 with McLaren.
Massa pointed out, “All the time you saw Lewis in the car he was impressive. He impressed the people in whatever category he did. It was the same with Ayrton Senna. It was the same with Michael Schumacher. The problem is people always love to look back and say in the past it was much better than now, which is not true.”
“If you see Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and some other players, maybe even Neymar will be very soon on that level, they have nothing to lose compared to Maradona, Pele or whoever. It’s the same here,” explained Massa.