Which World Champion do you think was the least talented?

I thinks it's fair to say that any multiple Champ would be more talented than one who has won the WC only 1 time, so I'll break my question up into 2 parts;

We'll start with single Championship winners;
Jacques Villeneuve 1997
Damon Hill 1996
Nigel Mansell 1992
Keke Rosberg 1982
Alan Jones 1980
Jody Scheckter 1979
Mario Andretti 1978
James Hunt 1976
Jochen Rindt 1970
Denny Hulme 1967
John Surtees 1964
Phil Hill 1961
Mike Hawthorn 1958
Nino Farina 1950


And now who is the least talented out of all the multiple Champs;
Fernando Alonso 2005-2006
Michael Schumacher 1994-1995, 2000-2004
Mika Hakkinen 1998-1999
Alain Prost 1985-1986, 1989, 1993
Ayrton Senna 1988, 1990-1991
Nelson Piquet 1981, 1983, 1987
Niki Lauda 1975, 1977, 1984
Emerson Fittipaldi 1972, 1974
Jackie Stewart 1969, 1971, 1973
Graham Hill 1962, 1968
Jack Brabham 1959-1960, 1966
Jim Clark 1963, 1965
Juan Manuel Fangio 1951, 1954-1957
Alberto Ascari 1952-1953

 

Ok, from the first list it got to be Keke Rosberg. I think his son is, or at least will be, better than his dad ever was.
About the second list, even if I forget for a second that I can't stand Alonshole, I think he still would be my pick. Not as much because of himself,but because of the competition he faces.

 

Damon Hill or Keke Rosberg

 

Nigel Mansell wasnt that all talented . Same as Damon Hill . They both had the perfect weapon .

 

...Jaques was a below average driver in the best car for 1997...

BUT PUTTING SCHUMI ON THAT LIST TO CHOOSE FROM IS JUST STUPID...

 

Damon Hill

Mika Hakkinen, who would have been a one timer without the broken leg by MS.

 

...mansell...and maybe Hill was another lucky...

 

+1

 

Part of becoming a WDC is to a) get into the right car and to b) develop the car to be faster than the rest.

 

You could argue that he didn't have the best car in '94, '95, and '03.

 

Micheal Schumacher. A lost cause who got lucky for 7 years. Much like the also hopeless Senna in that they both just won to get to get to their real hobby quicker, flying model helicopters. And for the one-timers, way too easy, Mario Andretti. Totally clueless and thought he was Jesus. Asked many locals after the race was over "which way to Nazareth ?"...

 

+1...I forgot about the silverstone break lock...scary sight...I spent all that time while he slid into the tire barrier hoping he was Barrichello...damn.

But you´ll have to admit HAKINNEN(stoneface) was really fast...I still remember those suicide quali...that was the best format of them all...

the quikest goes first...end of silly arguments...

 

You could actually make an argument, that the title was handed to him in the mighty ground effect Lotus. But then again, his partner died in the same car and first you must finish to finish first. Besides: I have way too much respect for the man anyhow.

 

You mean Irvine.

 

Damon Hill.

As far as the multiple guys, none of those names is synonymous with 'least talented', but I guess I'll say either Hakkinen or Alonso (only because his story isn't finished yet). Actually, I'm going with Mika, because it often seemed his heart really wasn't in it. Didn't he retire due to burn-out?

 

my bad...damn...I mean IRVINE!!!...it´s so vivid in my mind I thought of Rubens first...

 

Pure speculation. Mika was leading the championship before the accident 40 to 32 and had 3 wins to Schumacher's 2.
And as you said, "first you must finish to finish first"

 

For sure.

 

Of the old-timers -

I think that J.Rindt kind of gets an unfair bum rap on this. He died young in a very dangerous era of the sport, and certainly not in the finest car of its day. But the reports of the time all say this was an exceptional competitor, and very talented. See for example the Jackie Stewart autobiography Faster.

Graham Hill (one of my favorites, to be sure) - is often said to have been a distinct level of talent lower than Jim Clark. Many went on so far to say he may have made it more on sheer determination rather than phenomenal talent, like Clark had. I still admired him greatly for his personality and his courage.

Jack Brabham? Well - there have been some decidedly strange comments made in print about his driving style. One said that they could see that sometimes he would get "caught up in the moment" and actually forget to shift! They all, of course, admire someone who could organize a team, build a car, and then drive it himself and be a winner.

I think you have to give Emerson Fittipaldi a great deal of credit for that Indy win long after everybody thought he was gone and forgotten. Even if he did kind of crash his car in the followup year - he was still trying hard on the very last laps.

 

Speculation yes, but with a highly likely outcome.

Heck, Irvine almost won the title (missed it by a couple of points) that year. It is fair to say that the races Irvine won/was gifted, MS would have won. And then some.

 

By looking at the numbers, what you say looks plausible, but it appeared at the time that Mclaren knew they had the title in hand when Micheal crashed and then proceeded to screw things up left and right for the rest of the season. It is a typical response when 2 competitors are closely matched and one is taken out, the one left gets overconfident and starts blowing it. Mika did this to some extent (silly mistakes while leading etc.) but it was the teams mistakes that really made it go down to the wire. There is no telling how the season would have gone had there been no crash.

 

It's a great question because it's difficult. The car plays such a major role in the WDC, it's almost impossible to say who was least talented. In some years, it's easy to say all the WDC had to be was quicker than one (or two, in the earlier years) man, his teammate. No answer on this one, although I have my suspicions.

 

So sorry, please forgive me for posting a complete list.

 

Are you kidding????? Mansell was a very talented driver. He also had some of the biggest balls out of any driver to step into an F1 car.

Just look at the year where he should have won the WC over Piquet, a 3-time WC, but lost out due to a blown tire.