Formula 1 fans show how they really feel about Lewis Hamilton

In a “best driver” fan poll conducted by the official Formula 1 website, world championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished nowhere near the top.

After winning a record-tying seven Formula 1 world championships, including the last four, and a record 99 races, one would think that fans would consider Lewis Hamilton to be a top driver, especially considering the fact that he once again leads the driver standings with 11 of the 2021 season’s 23 races in the books.

However, according to the outcome of a “best driver” fan poll conducted by the official Formula 1 website, this isn’t the case at all.

Before we get into specifics, do remember that this is the same fanbase which voted for Sergey Sirotkin, the 2018 season’s last place finisher in the standings among full-time drivers, as the best driver of 2018 in a Sky Sports poll.

Anyway, Hamilton finished this poll nowhere near the top.

Amid the four-week summer break, fans graded the sport’s 20 drivers on a scale of 1-10 based on their performance (or supposedly based on their performance, at least) through the first 11 races of the 2021 season, and here is how the top 10 turned out.

Rank. Driver, Team: Rating

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 8.8
2. Lando Norris, McLaren: 8.8
3. George Russell, Williams: 7.7
4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: 7.5
5. Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari: 7.4
6. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri: 7.4
7. Fernando Alonso, Alpine: 7.3
8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: 7.2
9. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin: 7.1
10. Esteban Ocon, Alpine: 6.7

Hamilton has not had his best season, but he still leads the driver standings by eight points over Verstappen despite having four wins to Verstappen’s five.

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There is certainly a case to be made for each of the seven drivers ahead of Hamilton as having had tremendous seasons thus far, given the equipment in which they have achieved their respective successes, but the fact that Hamilton finished behind every single one of them is quite interesting.

Of course, many remain justifiably upset that he crashed into Verstappen in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit and ultimately got away with it, considering he overcame what many believe was a rather lenient penalty and won while Verstappen ended up in the hospital after his 51G hit.

So given the outcome of the poll, we expect that the majority of Hamilton’s votes were either “1” or “10”, with not many in between.

With 12 races remaining on the schedule, WynnBET lists Hamilton as the favorite to win the world championship at -130. Verstappen is listed as a close second favorite at -110.

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Formula 1 action is scheduled to resume on Sunday, August 29 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps with the Belgian Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET, and be sure to start your free trial of FuboTV if you have not yet done so!