I didn't put Prost (my favourite driver BTW!) on that list because I think his success came more from race preparation, his methodical approach to racing and an analytical mind than natural talent. Prost wouldn't jump in a new car and be fast immediatly; he would take his time, fine-tune the settings, learn the car. He would not try to compensate for the car flaws. His success came from hard work behind the scene. Prost was a thinking driver; they didn't call him "The Professor" for nothing.
Yes these 2 are well past sell by date. I'd like to see new blood to hopefully spice up a very dull F1.
I was talking about driver with exceptional driving ability (not results), natural talent, not success. Schumacher success came mostly from endless testing, not superior skills.. Definitely not Hawthorn who had relatively little success, mostly forfuitous. Rindt only started to shine when he had the best car (Lotus), he was bullish but struggled for years at Cooper. Fittipaldi won in good cars, but was pityful and demotivated once he drove the Copersucar. I don't mean they weren't successful drivers, just they were not exceptionally gifted but overcame that by other means.
He had a style like none other. Prost would appear to be merely circulating--almost nonchalant-- while shattering the lap record. Uncanny. A combination of both I think. In four consecutive seasons he was WDC twice and runner-up twice. Then he moved to Copersucar . . . and oblivion.
Once the FIA took away unlimited testing, both Ferrari and Schumacher's form started to decline. Their superiority had come from many days of testing at Fiorano to fine-tune the cars, giving thousand of miles practice to the drivers. When they lost that advanyage, they became an ordinary team again. Fittipaldi: good in good cars, pityful in bad ones. Indycar, where the cars were equal saved his career.
I think you can safely say all of them are pretty useless in a three legged donkey. That goes for Verstappen too, put him in a Williams and see if he crosses the line in first place week after week - then i will call him great! Best tony
This is why I think Stirling Moss was an extroardinary driver, because he won with three legged donkeys ! He won some races driving 1 or 2 years old cars for private teams, beating factory teams. He won Cooper and Lotus' first GPs on private cars, BEFORE the official Cooper or Lotus teams. In 1961, he defeated the Ferrari team and their new V6 Sharknose at Monaco and the Nurburgring onboard a previous year private Lotus 18 with a F2 engine, giving away 50hp. I know he was restricted in his choice by an exclusive contract with an oil company, but I think Moss relished the challenge of driving inferior cars to show his talents, beating factory teams, and really getting kicks from that!!
A gentlemen and such a nice bloke, i stood talking to him at a sports car event many years ago, he came up to me and started chatting as though i was his long lost brother. Amazing guy imho. Tony
