Rivals maybe, but no one good enough to take the Wolrld Championship from him in recent years. Although a lot of that is down to the quality of the car that they drive.
I've put my tick in the Lewis box, but l'm on the fence really.
Always nice to see a British winner of course, but it's great for the sport that he finally seems to have a serious rival. It all becomes rather boring and predictable watching a procession drive around the track with Lewis...