Oh come on now Keith, of course Lewis has preferential treatment, as indeed he should have, he's the star, Bottas is the assistant.
Totally with Keith on this one. Hamilton rightly deserves his status as the best driver since Senna and Schumacher. If we were to choose the three greatest displays of driving in f1 in the last 30 years I think many would choose the wet weather master classes of Senna at Donington in 93, Schumacher at the Circuit De Catalunya in 1996 and Hamilton at Silverstone in 2008. The records can tell us a lot about those three drivers but to really believe it you have to have seen them in the trickiest of conditions and nothing strengthens my belief in Hamilton's status than when I think back to that July afternoon when he finished almost a full lap ahead of the guys he shared the podium with.
It also must be said that he's never shirked from having a quality team mate alongside him, something that probably stems from his experience of going head to head with Alonso from the moment the lights went out on his first Grand Prix back in Melbourne 2007. Yes, Button and Rosberg have beaten him in past seasons but that is a reflection on the quality of those two drivers as well as (speaking honestly here) certain reliability and mental fragilities on Hamilton's side that interrupted his own unique talents in those two seasons. One thing Button and Rosberg would probably agree on that is almost universal is that on his day Hamilton is the faster driver. Lewis has only ever had one poor driver as his team mate and that was Heikki Kovalainen in 2008 and 2009. Heikki was in fact so far behind Lewis when they both drove for McLaren that I can't ever think of a situation where he was in a position to sabotage his own result in favour of delivering a better one for Lewis.
As for Bottas, he isn't a poor driver. He's an excellent driver. Not world championship material and certainly lacks the raw speed that Rosberg had but on a good day is probably in that Barrichello/Coulthard rank of driver - a strong and reliable team mate capable of pushing his superior team mate and putting on the occasional standout display but incapable of tying together a full season of such performances. The leading drivers may receive first shot on upgrades as is right and proper but on track Lewis has never benefitted from preferential treatment over Bottas. Look at Bahrain last year - Lewis was the much faster car before the first round of pit stops and yet was stuck behind Bottas and had to follow him into the pits with no order from the pitwall to Bottas to move over and hence losing him the opportunity of taking on his championship rival Vettel for p1. And then Hungary? Lewis Hamilton pulling over at the end to give a place back to Bottas after being waved through by his Finnish team mate even though it could potentially have been devastating to his chances in what was then a tight championship battle with Vettel.
As for Alonso driving sh*t cars, again I take Keith's line on this one - his current situation is an indictment on his past behaviour when driving with the top teams. And it's not as if he's served a whole career without the best car. Barring Red Bull he has driven for every top team in the sport and with the exception of Renault, has spurned those opportunities because of his behaviour. I really respect the guy and I'd love nothing more to see him back at the top but I am honest in saying that his current status is as much down to him as anything else.
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