Welcome Drivers!

This will be a fun post for our NFL fans out there. Today we are comparing F1 drivers to their equivalent quarterback in the NFL. The sport is growing rapidly in America and as more fans come in they need to get caught up on who is who in the F1 world.

Our comparisons are primarily based on the success that each driver/quarterback has had on their team and in the sport as well as their current situation on the team and where they stand. Hopefully you enjoy and and let us know if you agree with our comparisons!

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Before we get to our F1 Driver to NFL QB comparisons, lets get into some headline news around the F1 paddock.

News Around the Paddock

Below are some articles on the headline news happening in Formula 1:

• Toto Wolff says that a Mercedes alternate concept is already in the wind tunnel

• George Russell has predicted Red Bull will win every race this season 

• Lewis Hamilton claims that Mercedes didn’t listen to him when developing the W14

• Christian Horner says the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the biggest sporting event in the world in 2023

• Aston Martin is planning an aggressive development path saying 2/3 of the AMR23 will be changed by year end

• Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur is launching a full investigation into Leclerc’s DNF to understand exactly what happened

• F1 pundit Karun Chandhok claims that Lando is probably looking at a move to Red Bull or Ferrari after McLaren’s poor start

• Lance Stroll shares the details of his injuries and rehab program leading up to the Bahrain GP

• Red Bull says that Aston Martin’s AMR23 casts a striking resemblance to the RB18 they used last season

Driver Comparisons: NFL QBs

Lewis Hamilton = Tom Brady

This comparison is blatantly obvious if you follow both F1 and the NFL. Lewis Hamilton has won 7 F1 championships and has been in contention several other times. Tom Brady has won 7 Super Bowls and been to a total of 10 throughout his career.

Even from the early stages of their career they both had massive success. Tom Brady led the Patriots to a Super Bowl win in his first year as a starting QB. Hamilton came runner-up in his rookie season in F1 but got the job done in his second season winning his first title with McLaren.

Each of them mad a change to a different team in their career and the result was the same. They both have won championships with different teams as Lewis has one with McLaren and 6 with Mercedes. Tom Brady has won 6 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Winning has always come easy to these guys. They both are the all-time leaders in wins at the respective positions. Lewis Hamilton has 103 race wins to his name while Tom Brady has 251 regular season wins and an additional 35 NFL playoff wins to his name.

They are both in the GOAT conversation in the respective sport. Tom Brady is basically unrivaled in his GOAT status in the NFL but the debate rages on in F1 whether it is Michael Schumacher or Hamilton. Both drivers have 7 WDCs to their name and carried their teams every year.

Max Verstappen = Patrick Mahomes

These guys are the young gun studs in the NFL and F1. Both have been able to win two championships very early in their careers and each are looking to rack up wins and championships to get their names in the GOAT conversation.

Patrick Mahomes lit the NFL world on fire when we got his first chance to start in 2019. He tied the NFL record for passing touchdowns in his first season and led his team to the AFC Championship game before falling to Tom Brady. Despite not winning the championship, Mahomes won the NFL MVP in his first full season as a starter.

Max Verstappen was a wunderkind and holds the record for the youngest driver to ever race an Formula 1 car at 17 years of age. In similar fashion to Mahomes, Verstappen made the most of his opportunity when he got moved up to Red Bull in 2016. He won his debut race for Red Bull in the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix and has never looked back.

Each of their respective teams locked them down with massive contracts to ensure they are in for the long run. Max Verstappen signed a reported $53.3m per year contract that goes through the 2027 season making him the highest paid driver in F1. Patrick Mahomes signed a 10-year $450m contract in the summer of 2020 making him the highest paid player in the NFL at the time.

Charles Leclerc = Joe Burrow

Both of these guys are extremely talented an very young. Charles Leclerc came into Formula 1 in 2018 and Joe Borrow was drafted into the NFL in 2020. Both quickly got up to speed in their respective sport.

After tearing his ACL in his rookie season, Joe Burrow led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl in just his second year as a starter, the Bengal first appearance since 1989. On the way they beat the top ranked Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium, one of the hardest places in the NFL to win. They lost in the Super Bowl but it solidified Burrow as one of the best young QBs in the game today.

In similar fashion, Charles Leclerc started in F1 on an uncompetitive Sauber team. His second season he was moved to the premier team in F1, Ferrari. He was able to win 2 times in his first year at Ferrari, the second coming at Monza, a race that every Ferrari driver wants to win. In addition to the 2 wins he finished the season with 7 pole positions, 4 fastest laps and 10 podiums, and beat his legendary teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Leclerc also came runner up to Max Verstappen in the 2022 driver’s championship. Both Burrow and Leclerc have what it takes to win it all and in our opinion its only a matter of time before they each get a championship under their belt.

Carlos Sainz = Dak Prescott

Both Carlos Sainz and Dak Prescott play for the the most well-known teams in their sport, Ferrari and the Dallas Cowboys. However, neither of these guys have been able to capitalize on that. They have superstar teammates that typically steal the limelight.

Carlos Sainz is in his third season with Ferrari right now. He started out really well in 2021, when Ferrari didn’t have the car to compete for wins, and actually beat his start teammate in the final standings. However, in 2022 when Ferrari did have a competitive car, Sainz was unable to produce consistent results. He came away with only one win on the year but it was his first win in his career so a happy moment for him.

Prescott got off to a good start on the Cowboys, leading the team to a 13-3 season. Despite all of his success in the regular season, he has only won 2 playoff games. It is one of the big knocks on his career at the moment. He is able to win in the regular season but when the season is on the line in the playoffs for some reason he can’t get it done.

Both of these guys need to take the next step to be seen as truly on of the best in their sport. Sainz needs to show that he can produce wins in a competitive car and Prescott needs to prove he can get it done in the playoffs.

Fernando Alonso = Aaron Rodgers

Fernando Alonso and Aaron Rodgers are two legends in their own right. Both have been playing/driving for a very long time and have their fair share of memorable moments.

Alonso won two championships very early on in his career with Renault. He also had many competitive seasons when he raced for Ferrari. He has also had two separate stints with McLaren, a return to Renualt (now known as Alpine), and his most recent stop being Aston Martin.

During his journeyman period as an F1 driver, Alosno drove for some pretty bad teams. Even though the teams were bad he was critical in the development of the cars and is considered to be one of the best drivers in F1. No one doubts Alonso’s talent, but it has also been a long time since his last win in the 2013 season.

Rodgers is different than Alonso due to the fact that he has played for the same team his entire career. He was drafted by Green Bay in 2005 and has never lefts. Rumors are that he plans to leave this offseason for the first time in his career.

Rodgers won a Super Bowl with Green Bay in 2010 season and has been on several other competitive teams but he has never gotten back to the championship game. Despite this he is considered one of the best QBs of all time. Maybe he will another championship if he decides to leave Green Bay.

Lando Norris = Justin Herbert

Last on our list Justin Herbert and Lando Norris. Both are considered to be one of the most talented in the sport but neither have the supporting cast to be truly competitive in the sport.

Lando Norris started racing in F1 for McLaren in 2019. It was quickly apparent that he was immensely talented. He had his best season in 2021 when he was able to score 4 podiums and in 2022 he was the only driver outside of the top 3 teams to get on the podium. Unfortunately for Lando, McLaren has never been able to provide him a car that can consistently compete for races wins. Lando has not won a race yet, but we have no doubt he will some day.

Justin Herbert was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020. He immediately set rookie records for both passing touchdowns and passing completions. At one point becoming the first rookie to record 2 passing touchdowns in 7 consecutive games. Similar to Norris, Herbert hasn’t had the best team around him to be truly competitive in the NFL. Herbert hasn’t made the playoffs in his career but we expect that he will one day.

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