Could Hamilton achieve the success without having the best and the fastest car? I think this is something that works both ways.
No he couldn't. Could he do it in a car that has equitable power with others? Maybe, because he's one of the best drivers. But it would be more interesting and he definitely could lose. He's not so good that if you give him a much poorer car, say a Williams, that he'd still win. He'd struggle and probably do better than the current Williams drivers.
Which is the situation Guardiola is in with Man City. It's a decent analogy to be fair. Give Guardiola Burnley though and he doesn't achieve anything special.
It's the age old debate in Klopp v Guardiola - one who is handed riches in a position of primacy and dominance and adds a pleasing aestheticism to the dominance but ultimately achieves much the same as his predecessors - vs one who has to operate within boundaries, adapts to the situation and gets more out of less.
The easiest way to answer any debate about Man City - did they, in 2007, look like they had the finances, the structure, the squad to win anything? No. Did they look like they'd do anything meaningful in the years to come? No. Did they have any players whatsoever who've gone on to bigger things (outside of staying at City post takeover)? Absolutely not.
They were only four points above the relegation zone, didn't win any of their last six games and got knocked out of the league cup by Chesterfield. And in the ten years preceding that, they'd only outperformed that league finish twice, and never been in Europe. They are completely and utterly an entity of Abu Dhabi's money, control and insidious, ruinous influence on football.
