31 replies to this topic

[Nathan]

I dont care if its just 1 or 10. Who do you consider to be the greatest driver(s) of all time in Formula-1?

Here is my selection in order...

Fangio
Senna
Clark
Schumacher
Ascari
Prost
Stewart

[Finntastic]

Mika Häkkinen
Keijo "Keke" Rosber
Mika Salo
Jyrki "JJ Lehto" Järvilehto
Leo "Leksa" Kinnunen
Mikko Kozarowitsky

[Nathan]

Hmmmmm your list seems a bit Finnishy to me

[Finntastic]

Uuups...

...but as the Manager of F1 Team Toyota, Ove Andersson, said: "If you want to win - hire a Finn"!
He was asked why they hired Mika Salo. That statement has been a fact in the World Rally though... (4*Kankkunen, 4*Mäkinen, Alen, Mikkola, Salonen, Vatanen)

[Alena]

How about: "If you want to see a spin, hire a Finn"

:drunk:Oh, I feel now the completeness of Poetry in my master mind:drunk:

[Wishbone]

Jim Clark.

[Grano]

How many posts until this detoriates to a mudslinging match? I´ll stay out thank you very much!

[selena]

Here is my list, in alphabetical order:

Alain Prost
Ayrton Senna
Michael Schumacher
Mika Hakkinen.

I have not seen races of the older drivers of other eras, that is why I omitted their names.

[Daemon]

Ricardo Rosset
Jos VerGravelTrappen
Shinji Nakano
Damon Hill

[norfolk's tear]

Just put them all in alphabetical order, for example. Dont care...Snore, snore... louder snore...

Just my feelings about such things at the moment, and quite a long way generally also. But if this is necessary, then lets be back on this subject later, maybe APPROXIMATELY 22.10.2000 09.21 AM.

Cheers

[Willer]

Not in particular order..

Senna
Prost
Piquet
Schumacher
Hakkinen
Fangio
Clark

[Bruce]

Nuvolari
Rosemeyer
Fangio
Ascari
Moss
Clark
Rindt
Stewart
Petersen
Villeneuve (G)
Prost
Lauda
Mansell
Senna
Schumacher
Hakkinen.

As much as I like JV, he'll have to do a little more wining before I lump him in with the above....

[Force Ten]

Damien Holland

[Megatron]

Fangio
Asscari
Graham Hill
Clark
Stewart
Gurney
Cevert
Lauda
Brabham
Senna
Piquet
Schumacher
Hakkinen
Prost
Mansell
Peterson
Mario Andretti
Damon Hill
Jacky Icyx
Rindt
Gilles Villeneuve
Jacques Villeneuve
Emerson Fittapaldi
Moss

Gee, I am glad I narrowed it down ;)

[FW11B]

Fangio - Obvious
Moss
Senna - Prost - Mansell
Clark
Stewart
Piquet

[tifosi]

Ascari
Senna
Prost
Fangio
Clark
Lauda

I deliberately left out any current drivers. Ascari INVHO is by far the best.


Ooops I forgot Ukyo Katayama

[The RedBaron]

Fangio
Senna
Schumacher
Clark
Ascari
Prost

in that order, followed by a secondary group which includes
the likes of Lauda, Stewart, Mansell,Moss, Nuvolari and G.Villernerve et al

[arcwulf7]

In order

Senna
Clark
Nuvolari (quite possibly the greatest of all, but time diminishes his memory)
Fangio
Ascari
Moss
Stewart
G. Hill
Lauda
Prost
G. Villeneuve
Mansell
Hawthorn
Collins
Piquet
B. Rosemeyer


Schumacher is definitely in the top 5 once he retires. Hakkinen in the top 15, but not in the top 10. [p][Edited by arcwulf7 on 09-13-2000]

[tifosi]

arcwulf7

Thank you, I completely forgot Nuvolari. Tazio was the greatest driver ever. He goes ahead of Ascari on my list. I'm not sure why I don't respect Fangio more, he certaintly had the results.

[AD]

1.Fangio
2.Senna
3.Schumacher
4.Clark
5.Prost
6.Hakkinen
7.Stewart
8.Ascari
9.Brabham
10.Mansell

[Mo-Bee]

G Hill
J Stewart
A Senna
A Prost
M Schumacher
M Hakkinen
J Villneuve


oh and the dude Eddie

[Nathan]

Thanks guys and thanks for no fights.

I think Tazio is the greatest driver of all time. I didnt list him because I tried to get modern day, but hey thats ok. I think Varzi and Rosemeyer would go onto my list if I had to include the pre-war years.

I too would like to bump Ascari up. I was listening to Sterling Moss talk about him last night on Speedvision, and the guy was amazing. Here is how the story went...

Sterling was retired early from a race (cant remeber the track, year or race) and he was standing just past the exit of a croner (again, sorry cant remeber it). Anyways as he was saying, after a fewlaps he noticed the Ascari would always gently tap the exact spot of the guard rail everytime he drove out of the corner. Striling was amazed on how this never changed. Lap after lap, always the same spot, same spot on the wheel, always just scraped it. He than started to watch how Fangio took the exit, and was not nearly as consistant. He had no exact rythem. I find it absolutly amazing that Ascari can drive so consistant on what was obviously the ultimate edge. I dont think I have ever heard of a driver driving like this since Senna at Monaco before he hit the barrier.

[edi malinaric]

Hi All

The records over the last 50 years speak for themselves.

1.0 Fangio - 51 starts - 5.43 points/race

2.0 Schumacher M - 141 - 4.60
3.0 Fagioli - 7 - 4.57
4.0 Ascari - 31 - 4.54
6.0 Prost - 199 - 4.01

7.0 Farina - 33 - 3.86
8.0 Clark - 72 - 3.81
9.0 Senna - 161 - 3.81
10.0 Stewart - 99 - 3.13
11.0 Hill D - 115 - 3.13

12.0 Gonzalez - 26 - 2.99
13.0 Hawthorn - 45 - 2.84
14.0 Moss - 66 - 2.83
15.0 Coulthard - 104 - 2.71
16.0 Hackinnen - 142 - 2.63
17.0 Mansell - 187 - 2.58
18.0 Villeneuve J - 78 - 2.47
19.0 Lauda - 171 - 2.46
20.0 Piquet - 204 - 2.38

I guess the "Old Man" takes some beating - especially when one remembers that he was 39 years old in 1950 when the Formula 1 World Championship was started. Come to think of it Fagioli and Farina were older!

No arguments from me about adding Carraciola,Nuvolari, Rosemeyer and Varzi (alphabetically) from the pre-war years near the top of the list either.

Rosemeyer, Fangio and Schumacher all share the same characteristic - they appeared on the podium almost at once - liked the view and just stayed there. There seemed to be no long learning curve - they were just "of the very best".

[911]

Here's my short list:

Senna

Here's my long list:

Senna

Honorable Mention:

Moss
Clark
Lauda
Nuvolari
Fangio
Schumacher
Gilles

[mhferrari]

1900-1950
1. Tazio Nuvolari

1950-1975
1. J. M. Fangio
2. Jim Clark
3. Alberto Ascari
4. Stirling Moss
5. Farina and Stewart (tie)

1975-2000
1. Ayrton Senna
2. Michael Schumacher
3. Driving: Jean Alesi, Results: Niki Lauda
4. Alain Prost
5. Nigel Mansell


Honorable Mention
1900-1950: Nobody can compare
1950-1975: Jack Brabham
1975-2000: Mika Hakkinen
Gerhard Berger
Ricardo Patrese
Roland Ratzenberger (for dedication to F1) R.I.P.
[p][Edited by mhferrari on 09-13-2000]

[baddog]

its impossible for me to fairly comment on the nuvolaris, fangios and mosses of history, as I never saw them and know them from books, others comments and documentaries, so my list starts with my participation around 1980. it also is not in any order other than alphabetical and being done on the spur of the moment doubtless misses several I should include.

great drivers:
alesi
hakkinen
lauda
mansell
piquet
prost
schumacher
senna
jones

personal favourites but not 'greats':
naninni
de chesaris
arnout
patrese

[TommyBoy]

Racers and enterainer's, and drivers who I admire/love

Jim Clark
Gilles Villeneuve
Ronnie Peterson

Drivers who's skill I admire, but cant't take to them as people
Senna
Prost
Hakkinen

Drivers who I don't like for one reason or another, but they are fast
M Schu
Mansell

The greatest of all time has to be Fangio however, just because of what he did in his time.

Greatest never to win a championship Stirling Moss
Greatest never to win a race Chris Amon

[mtl'78]

I always preferred the drivers that do things that would scare another driver. I like to see them do what the others can't. The best recent example would be MS' pole-setting lap at Magny-Cours this year, where you can tell that he is driving faster than the others by the sharpness of his turns, the countersteer etc...

So my list would go as follows:

Ronnie Peterson
Gilles Villeneuve
Elio de Angelis
Nigel Mansell
Ayrton Senna
Micheal Schumacher

With Jacques being there at the wheel of his Williams. He is responsible for most of the amazing passes of the last 5 seasons. The top 3 in my mind right now are:

Estoril 1996 on MS, outside of the parabolic

Hungary 1997

On Damon Hill, after Hill, leading by 30 seconds, lost gears, and JV caught him in the final 3 laps, passed with 4 wheels in the grass at the final corner of the final lap!

Of course the most dramatic pass in a decade Jerez 1997...

[Monsell]

To me racing is neither about spectacular driving nor courage. It is more about having control over the environment, fairness, respect, and achieving perfection. Consistency and perfection will always be overlooked; it will always be boring to watch. How easy does it look to qualify ahead, have a good start, lead the field and win without a hassle? To do spectacular maneuvers and wild driving can pay on a given race, but what if the driver avoided putting himself into that situation? Any wild driver that could improve in all of his driving aspects would look as the following drivers. With this rough explanation of what I like, the best drivers are (I cannot consider drivers before the ‘50s because of ignorance). F-1 has never been about speed it has always been about intelligence and adding points.

Prost
Fangio
Lauda
Stewart
Clark


I believe these drivers are among the few which would have been successful and “survive” racing in every other era. Over a whole season in any era, these guys would have competed until the end while not having serious accidents because of their fault. Clark is in my list although he actually died in an accident because I believe it was due to a mechanical problem. He wouldn’t have died in the ‘70s, ‘80s, 90’s ... These drivers had the ability to drive extremely fast and clean. They could find the car’s limit without needing to run out of the track. Both, Prost and Lauda, abandoned races under heavy rain in extremely dangerous conditions. This, more than a weakness, proves to me that they where above their environment and had a mind of their own. Racing is not about taking risks. It is about controlling a machine; it’s about knowing what you are doing. No driver is paid to risk his life or that of others, they are paid to drive as fast as possible and assume the intrinsic risks... which is different...

Many other drivers could have defeated my considered “greatest” on a given day. They knew it could happen; yet one day doesn’t make a life. With the same level of talent but not in control of their environment, same consistency, respect for other or racing intelligence, I would put,

Jochen Rindt
Gilles Villenueve (the man that hooked me to F-1 and my “greatest” sentimental hero)
Ayrton Senna

Of the current drivers, when they retire, I would probably put Michael Schumacher in the second group while Mika Hakkinen could end up in my first group. Depending on how they continue their careers.

My first list could grow through better knowledge, but not change any of the original five. Thanks for reading my opinion

Cheers,

[rock]

1. Ayrton Senna
2. Jim Clark
3. Tazio Nuvolari
4. Juan Fangio
5. Gilles Villeneuve
6. Ronnie Peterson
7. Alain Prost
8. Mika Hakkinen
9. Michael Schumacher
10. Jackie Stewart

[senninha]

Clark and Senna, no more.

[theMot]

Dont really know but ill do a list from what i actually saw rather than old wives tails about nouvalari and fangio

In order (what i actually witnessed)

Prost
Schumacher
Senna
Hakkinen