The world of Formula 1 is not just divided by teams or drivers and their position on the table. Throughout its history, it has also been divided by opinion. This is exactly why the GOAT debate is recurring and never-ending. In fact, the same person can see two different drivers experiencing the same kind of success in two different lights. The world’s best snooker player proved that with his recent assessment of Max Verstappen when compared to his statements about Lewis Hamilton.

World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan is among many who follow the traveling circus and hailing from the same county as Hamilton, many would assume he is a fan. On the contrary! The British snooker player three years ago made a statement diminishing the success of the Mercedes man.

As seen on Twitter (now X), O’Sullivan said it feels as if Hamilton is driving with a cigar in his hand after his seventh title-winning season in 2020. This comment earned him some criticism and also showcased O’Sullivan’s opinion on Hamilton’s domination of the sport. However, the Brit has a different outlook on the Red Bull man’s domination.

Basking in Max Verstappen’s glory, he said as per Eurosport, “Every sport needs one, like Verstappen, he’s winning everything, people just want to see ‘is he going to lose today?’. People want to watch the real dominant players to see if somebody can beat them. Snooker needs one of them.”

These contradictory statements a few years apart are making fans question O’Sullivan’s stance on the same feature of the sport. However, we can’t put the snooker’s very best on the spot as this aspect of F1 has currently divided the entire sport.

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Former world champion calls Mercedes equally dominant but labels Max Verstappen more dominant than Lewis Hamilton

There are two aspects of the dominance currently in question. First is the team’s overall domination over the sport and second is a driver’s domination over his peers. Many believe Mercedes was as dominant, if not more, as Red Bull is currently during the hybrid era. Whereas there is a school of thought that says Verstappen individually has been more dominant, especially over his teammates.

Even 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter believes that. While addressing the team aspect, he said, “They are just as dominant as Mercedes and perhaps Mercedes was more dominant than this.” 

On the other hand, discussing Verstappen and opposing Hamilton he said, “It is unbelievable. He has always been superior to his teammates. It didn’t matter who you put on that team. If it continues like this, it could really become eight world championships.”

As Sebastian Vettel rightly pointed out, the sport has a short memory, perhaps everyone can only appreciate what they are currently seeing. Do you agree with this assessment?

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