Only Lewis Hamilton 'on the same level' as Ayrton Senna, says Gerhard Berger

Formula 1

Only Hamilton 'on the same level' as Senna

Martin Macdonald

Tuesday 23 April 2019 14:27

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Former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger believes that Lewis Hamilton is the only driver in history who can compare to the talents of Ayrton Senna, and reckons the Brit has what it takes to beat the record of seven world championships held by Michael Schumacher.

From 1990 to 1992, Berger was team-mates with Senna, with the Brazilian winning two of his world championships in that time.

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The DTM series boss admits to being asked on a number of occasions if a driver is as good as his friend, and he thinks on Hamilton compares.

"Everybody always asks me, 'How do you see this driver against Ayrton?," said Berger.

"And I always in all the years say, 'I don't see anybody near to Ayrton.' But Lewis is the first driver I put on the same level as Ayrton.

"The guy is outstandingly fast. He makes a bit less mistakes than the others, and what impressed me so much with him when you have won as much as he's won is you [might] think, 'Today now I'm second, either I'm going to run over his head and I win, or I'm out.'

"He doesn't do it, he just stays there and waits, 'OK I finish second, take the points.' It looks like he is just running the game in such a good way now that he's unbeatable at the moment.

"I see really a lot of the championships that was won by Mercedes in the last few years, it was Lewis and engine. The engine was outstanding, yes. But Lewis, in the wet, on a quick circuit, on a street circuit, qualifying, he's always there.

"He won the championship five times, he won one race after the next one. Yes, he's in the best car with the best engine, but he's also the best – by far the best man at the moment."

Berger admits he is torn between seeing Hamilton succeed and him actually surpassing the achievements of Schumacher, as the German continues his long recovery from a life-threatening skiing accident suffered a few years ago.

"I think Lewis, if nothing happens to him and he keeps going like this, for the next two or three years, I think he's always going to be onto the championship. Definitely he has the chance,” Berger continued.

"Also what happened with Michael, on one side I would like to protect Michael's success, because it's such a tragedy, and so sad. But when you put this all out for a moment, and say let's see, then Lewis Hamilton is a very special driver from all the time I watched F1."

Berger believes there have been many fantastic drivers over the years, but Hamilton and Senna now stand alone as the two best ever.

"You know, how you rate people, on the one side you can just go statistically, who won the most races or whatever, and that's what it is,” he suggested.

"And then you go a bit deeper, and say then who won the most races out of how many races he did, then you look at qualy. I go more by feeling and watching.

"For me there have always been great champions, like Nelson [Piquet], like Niki [Lauda], like [Alain] Prost, like Michael. But there was always one thing above them, Ayrton. Now I see Lewis in the same league.

"Difficult to say for me where I would put Jim Clark or Fangio. I saw the other day a documentary about Fangio, and I realised how strong this guy was."

Hamilton is two titles behind Schumacher’s record of seven, and currently leads the 2019 world championship.