He was the only person who could fight edo maddie without instantly getting stomped, madara did get the best of him in the end but without hashi madarama would have been able to become the juubi jin much quicker imho.
That's nothing to do with outperforming anyone. Madara inky wanted to fight Hashirama. That's all Hashirama did in the war. You say Madara would have become the Juubi jin much sooner, wait was it not Minato that stopped him from becoming the Juubi jin the first time. Yes my memory serves me well, Madara was about to be revived, everyone was racing to get to Obito, and who got to him first... Minato of course. So don't bring that bs that Madara would have become a Juubi Jin earlier, without acknowledging that Minato is the one that stopped him the first time.
How many times did Hashirama save the alliance from certain death? Minato did it twice, Hashirama did it... When Hashirama had black rods in his back and was incapacitated, Minato was still fighting. The fact that Minato arrived on the battlefield first, and was the last to be put down, shows he not only fought the longest, but was the most valuable.In fact Hashirama battle with Madara inky out others in danger:
You must be registered for see links
You don't now what outperform even means. If there was a survey after the war and all the alliance fodder were asked to pick which Hokage was most helpful, it would have been Minato. Without Hashriama, you still had killer bee, Guy, Hiruzen, and the rest of the ninja alliance to hold him off.