Jackie Stewart says Lewis Hamilton does not even rate

3-time F1 World Champion Jackie Stewart told the ‘In the Fast Lane’ podcast Lewis Hamilton is not in the conversation about who is the best Formula 1 driver ever.

“Frankly, the Mercedes car and the engine are now so superior it’s almost unfair on the rest of the field… it’s not quite the same respect if you like, of being able to do it in the less than the best car. And that’s where sometimes there’s the difference between the very very great drivers and the ones that were very successful.”

“It’s difficult to say that about Lewis, not being as good as say Fangio was… beating Michael Schumacher is a big thing for him. Because Schumacher, again, chose very well from Benetton that was successful at the time and then into Ferrari, and made Ferrari buy the best engineers, the best designers, the best aerodynamicists. He really was a giant in thinking apart from his driving.

“To say that Lewis is the greatest driver of all time, would be difficult for me to justify, if you understand me, in sheer power of what the other drivers were doing.

“There was a level playing field that simply doesn’t exist today, therefore, it’s difficult to identify who really are the very best racing drivers themselves from just behind the steering wheel.”