(Rubbing hands together)
Lewis Hamilton's performances in qualifying this year were scarcely believable. Multiple times there was no one within half a second of him, but Monza took the cake, when the rain evened the playing field and he qualified over a second ahead of 2nd. Not to mention it gave him the all time pole record.
The Mercedes was not vastly superior, it was superior on power circuits, whilst the Ferrari was better on downforce circuits. The Mercedes was the better qualifying car on average, and the Ferrari was the better race car on average, because of its tyre degradation. On certain tracks that played into Mercedes hands, i.e. Spa where Hamilton was able to just about defend track position gained from qualifying, but again it was with superb driving against Vettel. I would say the majority of the points difference came down to reliability, and maybe a marginal better performance from the Merc.
You doubt Bottas as a driver yet he has showed class from his first year in F1. Not to mention he out qualified Massa (41-18 over 3 seasons) in a dominant and similar fashion to Alonso and Schumacher when they were his teammate, outscored Massa every season they had together, in a midfield car, which actually makes it a bit tougher. If anyone has clearly got a number 2 driver it is Vettel, who has an over the hill Raikonnen as a teammate. Speaking of Raikonnen - this was a guy who was constantly tripping over Bottas in a superior car between 2014-2016.
Verstappen is LEVELS above anyone on the grid right now? He has yet to beat Danny Ricciardo head to head now for two seasons. His qualifying performance was mighty this season and the kid has really impressed, the speed is there, but he still has a lot to learn in terms of race management and consistency before he is mentioned with the greats, and he actually needs to beat his teammate. Before you start talking about unreliability, Verstappen had 7 retirements, Ricciardo 6, and Ric had a few more bouts of unreliability in Quali, but Vertappen still finished 32 points behind him. There was also not a lot between Verstappen and Carlos Sainz either so I am not sure how you can say he is LEVELS above everyone else.
I think he is a serial world champion in the making, but he needs time to develop, he is improving and making progress, long may it continue.
Lewis is the best driver in F1, period. His results say it, his fellow drivers say it, most of the paddock says it, including Alonso. Everything about him says that he is one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen. You can go back through the junior categories and karting where often in similar or even worse equipment, the pedigree was always there. He became European Karting champion in dominant fashion. He had the most dominant F3 championship, probably of all time in 2005, only a few have come close including Ayrton Senna. He won GP2/F2 at the first time of asking, and at the time statistically the most dominant season (now broken by Vandoorne). His drive in Istanbul is generally regarded as one of the greatest in history in the junior categories.
He matched Alonso as a rookie in F1. Who himself is an all time great. He won the championship the following season in the second best car. He has had a pole position and a race win in every season he has been in F1, even in seasons where his teammates were not able. He will probably break most of Michael Schumacher's records if he stays in the sport for another 3 or 4 years. You can get lucky for a day or two, maybe even a season. You don't get lucky for 20 years. This guy has been there or thereabouts for the majority of his motorsport career.
If you include everything he has achieved and combine it with the year he had, becoming the most successful British driver of all time, breaking the pole record, winning his 4th championship. The evidence is overwhelming for him to be SPOTY. But as I said Joshua will probably get it as its a popularity contest.
But do not start talking rubbish about F1 with someone who has been watching it since 1992 and knows the sport.
Damn. You're like a F1 encyclopedia.