WE are told that Lewis Hamilton is the best racing driver and sportsman we have ever had. Unfortunately, I disagree.

I think that it is not a legitimate sport where winning and not winning can be controlled from the pit lane.

In one race, it came to light that the number two Mercedes driver has been told to let Hammond past to win so he could get maximum points, so this is one race he really did not win off his own back. I wonder how many more times this has happened.

Hamilton cannot be compared with the older drivers as they had to drive the cars using their own determination to win. We now have computers in cars giving the driver information about what to do, which is followed up by advice from the control room which makes the drivers part robots. In the future, we may well have robots driving a car controlled from a computer.

Finally, a sportsman is happy either winning or not, but Hamilton can be like a spoiled child, in a sulk when he loses.

Can you imagine what would happen if in a horse race a trainer had two horses running, one odds on the other 50 to 1, and through communications with the jockeys, the odds on in the lead was told to let the other through and try and keep the others back. All hell would break out.

John Armstrong, Newton Aycliffe.