Nigel Mansell says Lewis Hamilton is “a legend already” in Formula One after securing back-to-back championships.
Hamilton took his third title in 2015, winning the championship in the United States Grand Prix with three races still remaining. Another dominant season for Mercedes allowed Hamilton to move ahead of Sebastian Vettel and in to third place in the all-time winners’ list, behind only Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.
When asked if Hamilton would have been successful in Mansell’s era against the likes of Prost and Ayrton Senna, Mansell told F1i: “I don’t get in to that because it was so different and the tracks were so different.
“I would say that Lewis is going to be - and already is - a great, great world champion. For me I think he’s a legend already. All this nonsense about whether he’s a legend or not a legend I think is absolute nonsense. I think he’s a class act! You either like somebody or you don’t like somebody, I like Lewis. I think he embraces life, he has fun, he is great to talk with. He has idiosyncrasies, so do we all!
“But I think some people have a misunderstanding that people didn’t get - like I didn’t - the same sort of opportunity to carry on and do great things too. I don’t care, I’m grateful for what I achieved and I just want Lewis now to make a blistering path forward for the next number of years because I tell you what, the opportunity is there.”
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