I think I’m destined to fund fault with every F1 magazine I ever read!  I’m not really the type to complain too much, although reading this blog you would be forgiven to think the opposite!

As the new season gets underway this weekend, I decided to splash out on Autosport so I could soak up the info in their F1 Season Preview magazine.  So with all good intentions I have been making my way through it and my break away from reading such magazines meant I was actually learning things and being reminded of things I had forgotten.

The reduction in electronic driver aids this year means that there are some variables which haven’t had to be pondered prior to the last few seasons starting, so it was interesting to read about those.

Then things took a turn for the worse.  These aids helped with the driver finding enough traction to lay down the power in order to go around, and get away from, corners as quickly as possible.  This year without this help it’s obviously going to be much more difficult, even more so in the wet, and so Autosport had a nice piece explaining what could be affected and how a driver will have to compensate in the wet.

That was all fine and dandy, until they decided to list their all-time top ten wet weather drivers.  Unsurprisingly Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher were the top two, with the rest of the field made up mainly of men from yesteryear who really did have to drive with no help from their cars whatsoever.  The exception was Damon Hill who featured further down the order and also, surprise surprise, Lewis Hamilton who sneaked in at 9th on the list.

How can he possibly be considered in the top ten wet weather drivers of all-time at this stage in his career?

Yes he drove reasonably well in the wet races last year, but his driving came under scrutiny after the Japanese GP where he was accused of causing an accident under the safety car (which he was found to be not guilty of after investigation) and he effectively threw away his best chance of winning the World Championship in another wet race the very next week.

The introduction to the top ten list claimed that people such as Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barichello and Jenson Button didn’t feature because although they were all good in the wet this list was only to include those drivers which were the best of their respective eras - which is another reason why Hamilton should not be there.

Not yet anyway - it’s simply too early to tell,  He may go on to be the best wet weather driver ever, or he may be absolutely rubbish.  Autosport would do well to have explained that in their introduction and left Lewis off the list for now too.