Parc Ferme: Lewis Hamilton, F1’s GOAT?

As highlighted by one of our readers, both were missing from last week’s “hot or not” opinion piece. 

For the sake of good order, George sits squarely in the “hot” zone. Whilst the Mercedes was not the sharpest tool in the F1 garden shed last season, he managed to score multiple podiums and a couple of wins.

As for Kimi, a strong back end showed he was maturing in the right direction. However, he needs another season under his belt before he becomes a Championship contender.

With that dealt with, we can now focus on the initial question posed. Opinions on this matter are always muddied by cognitive biases, a reverence for the past, and the fact that the skills and cars of the latter years are barely relevant to today’s racing era.

In fact, it seems the message coming from most drivers is that the new regulations for 2026 will represent another change.

We also have to consider what makes an Formula 1 GOAT. Is it purely the racing side? Should we look at how they won their championships?

By this, I mean sportsmanship. Did they employ dubious tactics to win, or were their victories achieved with integrity? What did they put back into the sport and the wider community themselves?

There is also the background angle. What did they need to overcome to achieve the accolade?

Some drivers were well-financed by wealthy family and friends. Others are born into the sport with automatic connections to give them a leg up.

These things all impact the odds of even getting into F1, let alone reaching its pinnacle.

Up until 2021, Lewis Hamilton was unassailable in the world of F1. If he’d won his eighth title that year, he would have almost certainly retired at the top of his game.

Instead, the manner in which he lost it appears to still haunt him. Last year, he finished sixth in the F1 World Championship, for Hamilton and the outside world, a failure. For others, a dizzying F1 height they will never achieve.

From pure driving skill and talent perspective, it’s impossible to choose a GOAT.

However, if we broaden the definition and consider some of the points above, Lewis Hamilton looks like the favourite.

A poor kid from Stevenage was hardly a pick for a future F1 World Champion, let alone a multiple winner. Yet his determination to rise above the petty biases in the karting paddock and dominate the racing got him the attention he deserved.

He arrived in F1 as a rookie and almost won the F1 Championship in his first year, seeing off his teammate and World Champion at the time, Fernando Alonso. The following year, he took the Title of course, and the rest is history.

It’s also fair to say that in terms of sportsmanlike behaviour, he also stands head and shoulders above other GOAT candidates.

His charitable endeavours are also well documented, together with his efforts to promote diversity in the sport.

It’s arguable that many of the new faces in the sport owe a debt to the efforts of Lewis Hamilton.

Confucius apparently said: "A man is great not because he hasn't failed; a man is great because failure hasn't stopped him."

For Parc Ferme, this and his other qualities make him my GOAT.