He is unquestionably one of the greatest drivers in the sport's history, BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson wrote in a question-and-answer column. There is no question that, within a remarkable career, he struggled relatively in the ground-effect cars of 2022-25, Benson wrote. That, in turn, prompted questions about whether the difficulty was related to age. Hamilton is now 41.
Further steps are being taken into next year and beyond to make the engines more normal in operation, by changing the energy split to 60-40 in two steps by 2028.
Some drivers have a better pole percentage. That record has fed a familiar question: how good is Hamilton, and how much longer can he stay at the top?
Those performances led some to ask why a driver long praised for adaptability did not seem as able to adapt to the style those cars required.
With this year's cars, Hamilton is back in more familiar territory, is performing extremely well again and is neck-and-neck with Leclerc, according to the BBC.
He has referred to them a number of times this year, including last weekend in Brazil, when the topic of his 400th race came up.
Greatness is about more than raw statistics, Benson said. Even so, Hamilton has consistently raced at the highest level, with outstanding drives that will be remembered among the greatest. Questions about those four seasons will remain just that, Benson said, but there is no doubt Hamilton is sensitive to them.