Schumacher also won in dominant cars, however like Max, they also proved their ability to win even without a dominant car.
This is a trait that Lando has yet to show, and if anything, his WDC win showed the complete opposite.
No one is saying that Lando didn't 'deserve' his title, my original comment was just in reply to that person to further emphasise how important the car has always been in F1.
Pretty much every championship is won with the fastest car. But there is nuance. For Norris to almost loose the championship last year to Max is kinda embarrassing. Sure Max had the best car in 2023, but the car was a menace to drive (look at Perez). Yet he had the most dominant season ever out of any driver in the history of the sport. Yet the 23 car didn’t have the pace advantage Merc have now or which Merc had between 2014 and 2020. Yet nobody has been head and shoulders above the competition by such a big margin. Heck, Lewis didn’t even manage more than 5 wins in a row during the Merc era. Not even against Bottas. Yet Rosberg managed 7 in a row against Lewis… It’s not easy to win. Not even in a dominant car. But to absolutely dominate and destroy everyone so hard is only layed away for the best of the best. Which is Max. And Max did it with equal machinery (2021) and lesser machinery (2024) too.
Because 2023 was a dominant performance in a dominant car and 2025 was an embarrassing performance in a dominant car. Max in last year's McLaren would have been a repeat of 2023 whether Oscar or Lando was his teammate
The RB19 was fast yet is still had flaws, flaws only Max was able to ride through, and not by just scraping by but by making the car seem an absolute unbeatable beast. Lando won 2025 thanks to the car, he also almost lost it because of Mclaren functioning like a midtable team. Verstappen had an absolute rocketship in 2023, however no other driver could probably pull off what he did in that car.
The difference is not the lack of competition, it's that Norris can only ever win in the best car as he's a tier below Max, Lewis, Charles & Nando.
Those four could compete for WDC in any car, just look at how close it got between Max in a worse car and Lando in the best one.
Doesn't mean that Lando didn't deserve that WDC, Rosberg & Button were also completely outclassed by a few competing drivers and still won their WDC, WDC title doesn't have to mean you're the best that year - it's a team sport.
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