‘No way in world peak Schumacher was quicker than Hamilton’

Seven-time world champions Hamilton and Schumacher have long been compared in the debate over which F1 driver is the greatest of all time.

Schumacher’s record for most world championships stood unrivalled until Hamilton matched his tally in 2020, having also surpassed the legendary German for most grand prix wins and pole positions. 

Mercedes technical director James Allison has previously labelled Hamilton and Schumacher as the best drivers he has ever worked with, but suggested Schumacher was slightly faster over one lap. 

Speaking on his YouTube channel, former Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor said there is “absolutely no way” that Schumacher was the quicker of the pair in their respective ‘peaks’. 

“I think engineers are entitled to their opinion, but I’ve had my fair share of race engineers, performance engineers, giving their opinion on drivers,” Windsor argued. 

“And most of their opinions are based on conversations with the drivers in debriefs, or in the car, lap times, quality of handshake and what it’s like having dinner, very few are based on actually watching the driver out on the circuit and looking at what he does.

“And I’m not saying that James Allison doesn’t know exactly what he’s talking about, I’m sure he’s basing all that on all his own information, but to me there is absolutely no way in the world Michael Schumacher, at his peak, was quicker over one lap than Lewis Hamilton at his peak over one lap, no way.

“Sorry, I just totally don’t get that, I disagree with it.”