Hamilton v Mansell: who is Britain's best?

Many chapters remain to be written in the story of Lewis Hamilton's career, and doubtless there are many more grand prix victories to come than the British record 32 he now has to his name.

Hamilton's achievement in becoming the most successful British driver in the history of the world championship in terms of races won is merely a waypoint in a hugely successful career. But how does he stack up compared to the man that he has displaced at the top of the list?

Comparing drivers from different eras is fraught with danger and inescapably subjective, but approached in the right spirit it can offer deeper understanding of the qualities required by the greats.

There can be no doubt that both Hamilton and Mansell rank among the greatest drivers the sport has produced. Their combined haul of two world championships does not come close to doing justice to how good they are.

In a sport as dependent on your machinery and team as motor racing, statistics are not always of tremendous value when it comes to comparing drivers.

Yes, success does matter, but a driver who has one shot in a world championship-winning car and wins 100 per cent of that time will not look anywhere near as strong as one who has 10 shots and three titles.

But even if you decided the one-time champion should be considered greater for their win-rate, you also have to factor in opposition.

Hamilton celebrates victory #32 © LAT

The wins to starts ratio is one that is very often employed. It has its uses and Hamilton is in the top 10 overall.

F1 WIN RATIOS

This shows the 10 most successful drivers by wins-per-start ratio, with the other British winners also listed.

These figures include all world championship races from 1950 until the recent United States GP, but discount the anomalous Indianapolis 500s of 1950-1960.

Pos Driver             Wins  Starts    W/S
 1  Juan Manuel Fangio  24    51     47.06%
 2  Alberto Ascari      13    31     41.94%
 3  Jim Clark           25    72     34.72%
 4  Michael Schumacher  91    306    29.74%
 5. Sebastian Vettel    39    137    28.47%
 6. Jackie Stewart      27    99     27.27%
 7. Alain Prost         51    199    25.63%
 8. Ayrton Senna        41    161    25.47%
 9. Stirling Moss       16    66     24.24%
10. Lewis Hamilton      32    146    21.92%
11. Damon Hill          22    115    19.13%
12. Nigel Mansell       31    187    16.58%
13. Tony Brooks         6     38     15.79%

21. James Hunt          10    92     10.87%
27. Peter Collins       3     32     9.38%
33. Graham Hill         14    176    7.95%
40. Mike Hawthorn       3     45     6.67%
43. Jenson Button       15    264    5.68%
45. John Surtees        6     111    5.41%
47. David Coulthard     13    246    5.28%
64. Peter Gethin        1     30     3.33%
66. John Watson         5     152    3.29%
68. Eddie Irvine        4     145    2.76%
76. Innes Ireland       1     50     2.00%
79. Johnny Herbert      3     160    1.88%

Statistics compiled by Joao Paulo Cunha of FORIX

While Hamilton's win record is just over five per cent better than Mansell's, that certainly does not translate into being better than him by that margin.

Mansell spent the first four full seasons of his career at a Lotus team that managed a grand total of one win, courtesy of Elio de Angelis, during that period.

Mansell's tough Lotus years skew his stats © LAT

He also had a year in a Judd-engined Williams in 1988 during which finishing a race was pretty unlikely, let alone winning one.

Hamilton has had bad seasons, but he has been able to win in all eight campaigns with McLaren and Mercedes, even though there have also been times when pickings have been far from rich.

The only conclusion you can draw is that both proved their ability to capitalise on strong machinery when they had it at their disposal. And to do so consistently over a long period of time among changing cars and evolving regulations.

While Hamilton is being pushed for the 2014 title far harder than Mansell was by 1992 Williams team-mate Riccardo Patrese, if the current trend continues and the Mercedes man wins the title, it will represent making crushing use of the best car in the field.

Both had the advantage over their team-mates more often than not in their careers, although Mansell had the harder time. Yet he had some extraordinarily good team-mates in his time, including Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost. If you are up against that calibre of driver, you are going to lose a few.

Hamilton isn't far behind, beating Fernando Alonso in his rookie season, ultimately being the stronger McLaren driver when paired with Jenson Button despite scoring slightly fewer points and now seemingly having the edge over Rosberg.

Hamilton has outperformed his team-mates in the championship in six out of the seven seasons that he has completed, the exception being in his painful 2011 campaign at McLaren, when Button beat him in the standings.

Hamilton has been outscored just once by a team-mate © LAT

There are other tempting comparisons to draw between Mansell and Hamilton. Both offer searing speed and Hamilton is regarded by many as the fastest driver in F1.

Mansell, meanwhile, despite usually carrying a weight disadvantage, was brilliant in qualifying and famed for being a hard-charger.

They both also have something of a flair for the dramatic, with both having had races and times in their career when they seemed to be a magnet for incidents and controversies.

But one quality they certainly share is that of being crowd-pleasers. At their best, they are genuine forces of nature almost capable of bending physics to their will in search of a few extra tenths.

In race situations, both have proved themselves capable of taking against-the-odds wins based on inspired overtaking moves, as well as taking commanding victories leading from the front.

Mansell perhaps took this to the greater extremes. His victory from 12th on the grid in Hungary in 1989 remains one of the most extraordinary in F1 history, while there were also some great duels with Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Prost along the way.

They also had to be able to think during races. While much is made in contemporary grand prix racing of the more cerebral challenges of driving the 2014 cars, at times during Mansell's career he had to weigh up fuel use for himself, as well as dealing with cars that were substantially less reliable.

Mansell's 1989 Hungaroring win was one of his finest © LAT

What really stands out about both is that they were suitably equipped to thrive regardless of what situation was put in front of them. That is surely what characterises a great driver.

While Mansell's weight would have counted against him today, for no matter how painful a diet he would endure he would still have been carrying a penalty, setting that factor aside there is no doubt that he could have thrived in this era.

You can say the same about Hamilton, whose status as one of the quickest F1 drivers there has ever been would translate into any machinery.

But there are also differences. While Mansell seemed to drag performance out of his car through a combination of muscle and sheer force of will, with spectacular results, Hamilton is a little more finessed.

That's perhaps a consequence of the times, for Mansell drove cars that often had vastly more power than grip and, unaided by power steering, required greater physical strength. The wear and tear to his body is testament to that.

But while Hamilton has every bit as much car control as Mansell, his speed is often built upon an ability to drive the car with tremendous precision. More often than not in 2014, the Mercedes being visibly hustled is the one driven by Rosberg.

While Mansell was a slow-burner during his career, arriving in F1 as something of an unknown quantity despite sporadic success at the junior levels, Hamilton seems to have been destined for world championship glory since he was barely a teenager.

As to whether Mansell or Hamilton are the greatest British driver, while both are among the finest drivers ever to have competed in F1 there is another, stronger, candidate for that title.

Stewart's winning record is hard to equal © LAT

There will be those who argue for Jim Clark, whose glorious driving for Lotus in the 1960s netted two world championships.

But the driver who is probably the most complete not just of the Britons, but perhaps of all those to have reached the top in F1, is Jackie Stewart.

His GP victory rate of 27 in 99 starts, encompassing wins in BRM, Matra, March and Tyrrell machinery, and three world championship means he has the numbers to back up that claim.

Beyond that, the Scot set the template for the complete package of driver that you need to be, both on and off track, to enjoy sustained success. If you had to pick a driver to race for your life, it's hard to look beyond Stewart in his pomp.

But Hamilton and Mansell would both be rivals that you would be very worried about.

That's the joy of any sport. It's not about ranking the greats, it's about enjoying their achievements.

And right now, Hamilton is the one whose skill and artistry is flourishing.