Greatest F1 Drivers

[kelownacobra]

Anyone paying attention to Speed.com's list of greatest F1 drivers? They are going to reveal the remaining top 4 tonight. So is the list as easy as it appears to figure out or will there be a surprise in the top 4?

The obvious would be:

Schumacher
Senna
Fangio
Clark

Thoughts?

Jim.

[obrienj]

Alain Prost belongs on that list, and it could be argued Jackie Stewart does, as well. I'd put either of them ahead of Jim Clark (just).

[MJN]

I would place Senna ahead of Schumacher.

The list so far:

5. Jackie Stewart (1965-1973) Great Britain
6. Fernando Alonso (2001-present) Spain
7. Alain Prost (1980-1991, 1993) France
8. Stirling Moss (1951-1961) Great Britain
9. Niki Lauda (1971-1979, 1982-1985) Austria
10. Nigel Mansell (1980-1992, 1994-1995) Great Britain
11. Mario Andretti (1968-1972, 1974-1982) United States
12. Sebastian Vettel (2007 present) Germany
13. Graham Hill (1958-1975) Great Britain
14. Jack Brabham (1955-1970) Australia
15. Alberto Ascari (1950-1955) Italy
16. Mika Hakkinen (1991-2001) Finland
17. Gilles Villeneuve (1977-1982) Canada
18. Ronnie Peterson (1970-1978) Sweden
19. Emerson Fittipaldi (1970-1980) Brazil
20. Nelson Piquet (1978-1991) Brazil
21. Kimi Raikkonen (2001-2009, 2012--) Finland
22. Lewis Hamilton (2007-present) Great Britain
23. Jochen Rindt (1964-1970) (Austria)
24. James Hunt (1973-1979) (Great Britain)

[bhoov128]

Senna, definitely ahead of Schumacher. Schumacher's amazing quantity of wins (for me) is tainted due to team orders and finish manipulation. Senna's is a storied history of seemingly outdriving even a good car's capabilities. Purest driver ever, in my opinion.

[kelownacobra]

Originally Posted by bhoov128

Senna, definitely ahead of Schumacher. Schumacher's amazing quantity of wins (for me) is tainted due to team orders and finish manipulation. Senna's is a storied history of seemingly outdriving even a good car's capabilities. Purest driver ever, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by MJN

I would place Senna ahead of Schumacher.

I agree, I didn't place them in the order I would pick, but I have a feeling SPEED will put Schu ahead of Senna. For most of Micheal's career, he was the darling of F1, Senna... not so much, he won inspite of the obstacles placed infront of him.

Jim.

[Mike D]

Any list without Fangio in the top 5 is a waste of time.

F1 Greats - Juan Manuel Fangio - YouTube

F1 Greats - Juan Manuel Fangio - YouTube

[SCracer]

my favorite era for F1 are the early cigar shaped cars with no downforce.

i tend to put those drivers in a whole different class than the guys that drove with full wings.

Clark
Moss
Fangio
Hill
Brabham
Ascari
Stewart

all Artists more than technicians...

ahem...Dan Gurney?

this may be my all time favorite race car...any class

[johntennyson]

Not to hijack, but Speed will actually have something other than UFC and Nascar on tonight, and it's on Gurney's win at Spa in '67 in that car.

I can't put Senna at the top. He was fast, sure, but faster than Villeneuve? In '79, Gilles posted a wet qualification time at Watkins Glen EIGHT SECONDS faster than the guy in second, his World Champion-designate team mate, Jody Scheckter. The biggest thing I have against Senna is that his 'reign' raised the bar for ruthlessness. Schumi just followed in those footsteps.

I often wonder what might have happened if Jochen Mass hadn't been on the circuit at Zolder as Villeneuve was making that lap. Pironi had one hand on the championship until his crash, so you'd have to figure Gilles for the '82 title and he was rumored to be going back to McLaren, just about the time they made their comeback. Imagine Villeneuve driving for Ron Dennis from '83-'87 or so...

But then again, what might Stefan Bellof have done? He was gaining on both Prost and Senna in the wet at Monaco in '84. And Jim Clark won like 25% of all the GPs he started.

Top of the pile? Fangio. Five titles for four different manufacturers, the last one at the age of 47after that titanic drive in the '57 German GP. Great sportsman, great ambassador for the sport, great champion. Granted, careers were shorter then, but imagine what he might have done if he'd started when he was 20!

[Rallygorgo]

Just a quick question; why aren't wins by drivers under team orders flagged with an asterix like steroid records are in other sports? Either way the best athlete following the rules may not be the one who wins.

In my opinion Senna should be ahead of Schuey. Senna was driving cars that didn't have the driver aids that Schumacher had available to him, took greater skill to drive the car faster. Much like WRC rally today, the fast cars today are way faster than the old Group B cars with a little more than 1/2 the hp because they're easier to drive (and the rallies are much shorter now and no night stages).

[kelownacobra]

Boy did I get the order wrong,

Senna
Clark
Fangio
Schumacher

[AC Bill]

Originally Posted by SCracer

my favorite era for F1 are the early cigar shaped cars with no downforce.
i tend to put those drivers in a whole different class than the guys that drove with full wings.

And not just the cars with wings. What about all the other mods added to the cars over the years, ALB, traction control, etc, etc. The driver was beginning to become secondary to the car..

Definitely different classes of drivers over the history of F1..