BBC: Formula 1's Greatest Drivers of All Time (Top 20)

I understand your point, but if we start getting into details about how (some) of the championships and races were won, it would lower Alonso's stock. I am trying to be objective in my comments, since I dislike him (I cannot really understand why I do) as a driver, not as a person.

I respectfully believe that if he should be included in the top ten it would be in position 9 or 10.

 

Lists like these are a lot of fun if only for the conversations they produce but in the end are pointless. Comparing drivers across eras is impossible and drivers still adding to their records shouldn't be included.

Personally I'd include Nuvolari, Carraciola and Rosemeyer.

 

In the Formula 1 era I think I'd rate Stirling Moss above all the rest because he often had to do his best work in inferior machinery. While driving Rob Walker's Lotus, he embarrassed the works team on several occasions. If he hadn't been injured, I think he'd have given Jim Clark a run for his money even after the Lotus 25 had appeared.

And from everything I've ever seen or heard, I'd rate Tazio Nuvolari as the best Grand Prix driver of all time. His win at the Nurburgring in '35 is the closest thing to an "impossible victory" that may ever have been accomplished.

 

Interestingly Moss rates Fangio ahead of himself in open wheel cars but not sportscars.

 

Excellent Post.

 

+2, I don't recall Prost saying he was better than Senna, only that Senna's weakness was that he had to destroy Prost rather than just beat him. Prost was a great driver, Senna was just better.

 

If Mclaren didn't have Ferrari's ideas would the car even be as quick as it was then?

Here we go again. Barrichello never touched the wall, there was about a foot gap. If Schumacher wanted to put him in the wall he would have done so.

 

AND.....RB could have backed out of it. MS's move wasn't sudden....he started moving towards the wall and held that line. Just sayin'

 

Please, just kill the imbecil that did such a list....who was the guy? did he ever saw an f.1 race? shouldn´t there be a limit for stupidity and ignorance?

 

Wow.

 

Vettel's special qualities on a qualifying lap have drawn admiration up and down the pit lane. "When was the last time he made a mistake in final qualifying?" one rival said recently. "About three years ago."

...or Germany a few weeks ago, but who's counting...

 

To be honest, I'd rather see a list without this century included. We really don't know how we'll look back at the current crop's careers.

For me, I have sketchy and patchy knowledge of F1, so if I made a short list, you'd find Fangio, Clark, Lauda, and Schumacher.

To make it a top five, I'm really not so sure. Clark to me, stands out, I've watched video of him driving, he's fantastic. He somehow keeps the car at 99.999%-100%, without actually going over the edge. Senna went over the edge, a lot, he got closer than others, but he'd ask 100.1%, and when you try more than 100%, its a mistake.

I believe another F1 driver once told Clark how he made a mistake in a corner, and Clark asked how bad he crashed. The driver responded that he didn't crash, and Clark said then, that he wasn't on the edge, because if you're on the edge, and you make a mistake, you crash. Clark was very good at walking that edge.

 

My apologies for not replying sooner, but........

Was Suzuka '89 pre planned though?, or was it simply a mistimed manoeuvre in the heat of battle?

1990 on the other hand was a pre-planned assault! (finally admitted to, a couple of years after the event by the man himself!) . Therein lies the difference.

I agree, it was a ridiculous manoeuvre and I would never condone it in any way, shape or form, but again I ask: pre-planned or a moment of madness in the heat of battle?

It cannot be claimed by anyone the either Schumacher or Senna were saints when they drove, and with enough research into races past, I suspect you can find an equal amount of bad behaviour by both drivers.


Two things that stand out for Me however are:

1) Schumacher never deliberately took out a fellow driver in a pre-planned attack as Senna did.

2) Schumacher's aggressive, "win at all costs", driving style had been inspired by, and pioneered by Senna. Schumacher merely pushed it to the next level.

 

Criminal? You can't be serious.

 

+1

 

As a Barrichello fan I was pissed, and I did think it was an incredibly dangerous and idiotic move, but not criminal.

For Aircon saying that Michael just held his line, well hey, so did Rubens.

 

exactly. No harm done.

 

MS still made an unsafe and unwise move.

 

Must have been safe enough because no one got hurt.

 

your opinion...not mine. RB had brakes, no?

Exactly, although MS was reprimanded for it...but I digress

 

I'm thinking the list will end as follows:

5. Prost
4. Schumy
3. Clark
2. FAngio
1. Senna

Although Clark n Fangio can be flip-flopped easily....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19998444