Ferrari stars Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have issued praise for Lewis Hamilton's performance in Brazil and played down suggestions that the Mercedes car was mainly to thank for his surge through the field.
The Briton was in fabulous form over the weekend to take victory in Sao Paulo after being handed both a disqualification and a five-point grid penalty after a new internal combustion engine was placed into the back of his Mercedes.
Indeed, that new component was able to give Hamilton ferocious, untouchable straight line speed which naturally helped his charge through the pack and, that said, some have gone on to comment that without that he likely wouldn't have won the race.
Perhaps not, but it's certainly also fair to say some drivers even with the new parts would have struggled to take victory on Sunday and the Scuderia duo of both Leclerc and Sainz feel the current champ deserves immense credit.
Leclerc said when asked if the car had the main part to play in the recovery:
“I don’t agree.
“Obviously Lewis has a very strong car at the moment, but I think he managed to go beyond what that car could give.”
Whilst Sainz said:
“Yes, I saw this debate all over social media today.
“Why don’t we talk about a combination of both? A great driver, an enormously talented driver, with a car that was really dominant this weekend.”
The car v driver debate is age-old in Formula 1 and the fairest way to look at it is probably that we witnessed what can happen when one of the great drivers in the history of the sport is combined with machinery that is unparalleled.