Lewis Hamilton has an “utterly unblemished record” as a driver which is “unprecedented” among multiple world champions according to James Allison, technical director at his Mercedes team.

Hamilton is one of just 16 drivers in the sport’s history who has won more than a single title, and it’s not hard to imagine which drivers Allison might have been thinking of.

Among the generation of F1 drivers a young Hamilton watched, several of them committed dubious moves in pursuit of the world championship. In a nine-year spell from 1989 to 1997, four world titles were decided by collisions between the contenders.

Alain Prost had Ayrton Senna off to win the 1989 title. Senna returned the favour 12 months later, at much higher speeds.

In 1994 Michael Schumacher swung his wounded Benetton into Damon Hill’s Williams to prevent him passing by and taking the title. He succeeded on that occasion, but failed when he tried to do the same to Jacques Villeneuve three years later at Jerez.

These are just the most extreme examples of what some of Hamilton’s peers have done. But does the man himself believe he is a cut above this kind of behaviour?

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Of course, asking a driver whether they are are cleaner than the competition is practically an invitation to ‘virtue signalling’. It is unlikely to prompt a fulsome ‘Yes, course I am’ from any but the least self-aware competitor.

Nonetheless, at last year’s United States Grand Prix, where Hamilton put a lock on his sixth world championship, he was asked whether he considered himself a cleaner driver than Schumacher or Senna. Choosing his words carefully, Hamilton described how winning “the right way” was important to him.

Intriguingly, he hinted at incidents which have happened since his arrived in F1, as well as examples which pre-dated his debut.

“I don’t really think of it too often,” he said. “Obviously I grew up watching those eras and seeing certain things happen. And even in my time seeing certain things happen with other drivers.

“Like I’ve always said, I just always wanted to do it the right way, win it in the right way, just through sheer hard work and through ability. And I tried to stick by that year on year.

“It doesn’t mean I’m perfect in any way, shape or form. But I definitely would like to think I’m proud of the tally that I have and the way that I approach racing in terms of the respectful manner that I have.”

It’s for others to judge how clean a racer he is, Hamilton told the media. “Ultimately, it’s for you guys to reflect on how good that is. But that’s not going to change. That’s how my dad raised me to race.”

Four controversial title-deciders

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2020 F1 season