Ona, with no disrespect intended mate, I think it's you who is confused here.
I don't need to meet Hamilton to be able to correctly assess anything he does, or anybody else for that matter, I look at what they do when they perform, pure and simple.
And even if he was lucky enough to meet me, I still wouldn't change my opinion, I don't get starstruck or lose perspective.
By paralleling soccer with F1 and introducing the notion of 'team' accountability is meaningless mate, absolutely meaningless.
When a soccer player gets that ball at his feet, he is responsible for what he does, 100%.
He makes decisions, he executes, end of !
Mind you, your parallel might at least hold some water, if said player had a pair of boots that somehow kicked harder or ran faster than any other players, then you can draw that parallel, and then only.
You also seem to be confused it seems in another area and my reason for saying this is simple, you suggest that Hoy wouldn't be so arrogant as to put his efforts entirely down to himself and there would be some form of support infrastructure around him that somehow mitigates Hoy's on-track achievements.
I 100% agree he has pre-race support but what you seem to have omitted or ignored or maybe not even recognised is the fact that once out on the track, Hoy is on his own, independent of any 'support', his efforts are his alone.
His bike difference is insignificant and therefore Hoy can be rightfully judged on his input alone for that performance.
The same cannot be said for Hamilton when he drives that car, he is not independent of his support structure, and we ain't talking about something as trivial as real time coaching or anything like that, I am talking about a car that is quicker than the others regardless of who drives it.
There is an intrinsic superiority of that Mclaren that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the driver, if you try to deny this mate, you deny the truth of the matter, the same cannot be said of Hoy's bike !!!
If you need me to nail this where it CANNOT be argued, here goes:-
If you get all the F1 drivers and get all the F1 cars, construct a data table that includes each driver driving every car around any F1 track for 5 laps.
Compile the data, and we both know what will emerge from these reults...the Mclaren and Ferrari will top it, I doubt even your enthusiasm would dare to question this.
The fact there is a hierarchy involved immediately invalidates any notion of driver independence when performing.
Now, get all the bikes of Hoy's competitors and have them all ridden by all riders .....you know exactly where this is going Onasilverbike ........... and I think you also know the only conclusions that can be drawn from this comparative analysis, and I'm afraid any scientific (logical/rational) thinking person cannot conclude anything different mate.
