Hamilton receives damning greatest of all time verdict

Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve believes winning the F1 drivers' title this year will not make Lewis Hamilton the greatest driver of all time. 

The 1997 world champion actually does not think such a thing exists at the pinnacle of motorsport, due to the constant evolution of the cars. 

Hamilton requires just one more title to put him on an unprecedented eight, moving him clear of Michael Schumacher. 

Across the new Ferrari driver's seven titles, the regulations have changed considerably. When Hamilton's first crown was claimed in 2008, V8 engines were used compared to the current V6 hybrid turbo power units.

The sport is almost unrecognisable now compared to at the start of the century, with even each regulation change impacting drivers differently.

It is not been kept a secret that Hamilton's driving style does not suit the current regulations, unlike Max Verstappen, for example. 

In Villeneuve's eyes, the sport's evolution means a single driver cannot be touted as the best in F1's history; however, he did recognise the brilliance of Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi.

"There’s never the greatest of all time," Villeneuve told The Action Network. "There’s too much evolution with the cars, it's too different.

"If you take someone like Jackie Stewart, he's impressive because he won three championships in the day where two, three or five drivers would die a year or get really hurt, and with cars that would break down in half of the races. 

"Yet he still managed to win a lot. Same thing with Fittipaldi and so on. In a way three championships is probably more impressive than five or six now."

Another big difference in F1 nowadays is the number of races. This has increased considerably over recent years and now sits at 24. 

It means a dominant team can claim more victories than would have been possible in the past, placing their drivers higher on the record books. 

"Also, when you get a superior car now, you end up winning almost 24 races instead of 15 because there's 10 more races in the calendar than there used to be," he added.

"So, the numbers are skewed as well. The overall number of points you get; a win is 25 points. It used to be 8, then 9, then 10. So that skews it as well. You can’t compare eras."