I think the point Sterling Mos is trying to make is F1 has become so safe(??) that a driver can run another off the track to clinch a World Championship as Senna did to Prost and Schumacher did to Hill (later Schumacher tried with Villenueve - OOOPS). If someone tired a similar tactic before the safety push, it would have meant taking ones own life into great chance. Feff
Stirling Moss (not Sterling) is from another era, when every driver's mistake counted, often with fatal consequences; there were no margin for errors. An accident meant that you were ejected from your car, crushed in it, or ablaze from the shunt. Fatalities level was high. Moss commented recently after watching the practice of a GP that if it was like in the 'old days' only half the drivers would be present on the grid, the rest would be in hospital or at the morgue. He had just witnessed many drivers having 'offs', wrecking the cars, or getting stuck in gravel, etc... without any harm whatsoever. Moss was from an era where drivers accepted the risks. For him, motor racing is too sanitised now.
Gilles, 1979 Long Beach. Was it different when you had to steer more? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hello, I see many valid points are being made here. I think that the one barometer for making a choice should be the level of competion that existed for the given driver. Schumacher through no fault of his own only had two really great drivers to challenge him. Senna in 94 for three races (Senna sat sat pole all three, Schumacher won. Senna had DNFs) and Mika. Sorry but most of the others on this list actually had to race many former or future champs. Senna faced more great drivers in his racing career than most of the others mentioned with the exception being Fangio. Another way to judge is looking at the drivers that took lesser equipment to victory. Along with Senna, you have to include Moss and Gilles. No question. The latter two maybe even higher than Ayrton. These type drivers win with this equipment when the circuit evens the playing field such as rain or street courses. I place Senna and Nuvolari tied for #1, Followed by Fangio, Clark and Schumacher. MDred85
Before Speedvision back in the late 60's and early seventies the only window on F1 was basically Rob Walkers write ups in Road and Track. It was not unusual for many drivers to get killed every year or every race. It was tough to follow the sport when every month one of your heroes died. Peterson, Revson, Mclaren, Donohue, Cevert, on and on. It was horrific. I believe one of the truly great drivers was Jackie Stewart, not only for his on track accomplishments but for his tireless crusade for better driver safety. Many a race boycott he started to have a shady track owner fix a safety problem. Would Senna and Schumacher been so successful if they had perished early in their careers? The sport and the fans the drivers and the teams owe much to this guy.
I would make the argument that Senna died while on the cusp of his greatest achievements. We will never know how truly great the man would have been. The one thing that is for certain is that Schumacher would still be chasing Senna's records had he survived.
Remember though that Ayrton was 34 the year he died. It's not like he would've raced for more than 4 years after that year. Schumacher still would've had plenty of time to win at least 5 titles.
What about the very young Spanish driver who took the World Championship from him two years in a row? Julio
50's Fangio, Ascari, Moss in that order 60's Clark, Stewart, Hill, Rindt 70's Stewart, Lauda, Villeneuve 80's Prost, Piquet, Senna 90's Senna, Schumacher, Hakkinen 00 Schumacher, Alonso
Luckiest Driver ever on the Planet, Schumacher. Why? Because he came on the scene when Mansell was old, Senna died, Prost retired. Ferrari and F1 needed the man. He was put in a position were he got the best engineers from Benetton and he had the resources from Ferrari to put him in a position where he ran the team not only as a driver but as a principal. That was Schumachers greatness he took the carrot and made something out of it. He was the greatest driver of his generation not only as a driver but of a manager. There will only be one Schumacher in history for his accomplisment of taking a team out of the doldrums and making them what they are today. The man was in a position in history and he made the most of what he had.
Now there is finally an interesting answer to this question. I like this approach. Let me just trim that a bit: 50's Fangio, Ascari, Moss 60's Clark, Stewart, Hill, Siffert 70's Stewart, Lauda, Villeneuve 80's Prost, Piquet, Senna 90's Senna, Schumacher 00 Schumacher, Alonso
I'd leave out MS for the 90's Mika would take his place. Just my personal feeling. I agree with everything else
Mika was damned fast and a real challenge to MS (for all those who always claim MS had no challengers). But I don't think he is on the same level as MS was. It took Mika almost 100 GPs to get to his level, then was absolutely brilliant in 98 and very lucky in 99 and the flame extinguished in 00. MS OTOH was brilliant right from the start. A prodigy as he put the Jordan on 7th place at Spa. His following two titles were no coincidence. Then he took the slumbering Ferrariteam and made it the fighting force it became. 99 was a freak accident, but under normal conditions he would have won that title as well. We all have our opinions of course, but I honestly think MS deserves the place for the nineties and for the 00. What's missing from the list is a 3rd person for the 00. I'm sure within 4 years we will add somebody to that list. To me the only remaining question is, would that be Kimi or Heikki?
++ 20s Felice Nazzaro 30s Nuvolari, Varzi, Caracciola, Rosemayer, Stuck I think the '30s and '80s were the best decades based on the driver quality in the field. I would also include Mansell as one of the luminiaries in the 80s.
I was thinking long and hard about old Nige'. He sorta deserves a place there, it's just that for the love of God I can't toss Probst, Senna or Piquet overboard for him. And despite his title his place was not in the 90s.
