Favourite of all time : Michael Schumacher Others i like : Fernando Alonso ,Jensen Button , Robert Kubica ,Max Verstappen & Daniel Ricciardo
Favorite F-1 Drivers... I have a lot but this is my order of preference: 1. Jackie Stewart 2. Niki Lauda 3. Gilles Villeneuve 4. Michael Schumacher 5. Alain Prost 6. Jim Clark 7. Lorenzo Bandini 8. Ayrton Senna 9. Francois Cevert 10. Mario Andretti
I don't necessarily go for the obvious celebrities, the fastest, the most successful, etc... so my choice may look strange, but at different eras, I have liked the following drivers, mostly because I liked their personality, rather than their statistics: - Masten Gregory, for being the American pioneer in F1 - Karel Godin de Beaufort, the last true amateur driver in F1 - Phil Hill, for being a thinking driver without pretention - Jim Clark, for his talent and modesty; a benchmark in motor racing - Stirling Moss, for extracting the most of inferior machinery - Lucien Bianchi, for his versatility - Graham Hill, for working so hard to become a top driver - Pedro Rodriguez, for his fatalism and his incredible skill in the wet - Jacky Ickx, for being such an eclectic driver (F2, F1, Proto, Saloon, GT, rally) - Alain Prost, for relying on preparation and tactics rather than raw speed - Mika Hakkinen, for his speed and determination - Nico Rosberg, for overcoming the odds to achieve his dream - Sergio Perez, for his dignity - Daniel Ricciardo, for his contagious enthusiasm
In no particular order Schumacher, Senna, Alonso, Vettel (now he's in red!), Lauda as a driver, before he joined mercedes. Gilles, alesi, Berger. Valentino Rossi is simply the best on a bike! I was enjoying seeing bianchi developing, having met him a few times at various circuits - he was turning into a very good driver, whether he'd have ultimately made the list I'm not sure, but I'd like to think he would have.
Not in a ranking but simply chronological order: Jo Siffert Clay Regazzoni Niki Lauda Alan Jones Alain Prost Stefan Bellof Eddie Irvine Fernando Alonso Sebastian Vettel Max Verstappen
Michael Schumacher. To me he was just the very best. Incredible skill. To beat him pre 1st retirement he must've had a bad day and teammate a very good one... Mika Hakkinen: Brilliant skill, always a gent, great character Daniel Ricciardo: Massively fast, by far genuinely a great guy. Especially one that comes from a wealthy family this is rare to see, his dad must be a great guy also. I hope he'll race for Ferrari one day. Max Verstappen: Incredible skill that keeps on growing and growing. IMO by far the best wet racer in current F1, he's only done a few wet races but I'm willing to bet in the future he'll be compared to only Michael for his wet races ability Sebastian Vettel: A true professional, also genuinely happy to be in F1. Hardest worker on the grid, great guy and not a PR robot. He truly loves Ferrari and I believe the WDC he'll win with them will be his most cherished yet Kimi Raikkonen: Though never quite reached his true potential (IMO he should've had 3 titles to his name, 2003, 2005, 2007), I love his no bull**** attitude, one liners. I think between him and Daniel a night in pub would be great. Jenson Button: True English gentleman, playboy, underrated still IMO (outscoring elton), genuinely nice guy James Hunt: What a life this man led. Unashamed party monster. Gilles Villeneuve: Utter car destroyer, admire him for destroying cars left right and center yet continue on with cars I'd best describe as ''****ed''. Massively fast also. Never been a Senna or Prost fan.
Good choices. Also add to Michael Schumacher best car developer. When testing was unlimited he was probably the best one who could develop a car. When he was retired he still developed the f2007 and f2008 in testing which were absolutely dominating and can be top of those years especially the f2008. I don't know if the f60 was develope by him which I don't think it was cause it was petty meh of a f1 car compared to pervious cars.
Favourite of all time?: Gilles Villeneuve. He ignited My passion for Ferrari with his daring driving and his "Never ever ever give up!" attitude. The first race I ever saw on TV was the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort. Having got a puncture in his left rear tyre, seeing Gilles going flat out along the straights, doing a wheelie at high speed on three wheels, literally dragging the remains of the fourth wheel behind him, and then on getting to the pits demanding the team fit a new wheel to the car despite there being nothing left to attach a wheel to, just had Me mesmerized as a young boy! As I have often posted: Gilles Villeneuve: Too young to die - Too fast to live! A close second favourite has to be Michael Schumacher. After 21 years of misery, watching failure after failure for Ferrari drivers in the WDC, in the early hours of 8th October 2000, I watched an enthralling battle on TV from Japan between Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, and cried My eyes out as Schuey crossed the line in first place to become World Champion in a Ferrari! Current favourites?: Obviously right now both Seb and Kimi are favourites because they drive for Ferrari. Away from Ferrari: Max Verstappen - He reminds Me a bit of Gilles Villeneuve with his attitude to racing, his car control, and the fact that he tries overtakes where others daren't try. He's not quite at Gilles' level, and as he matures, modern day F1 seems to be sanitizing him a bit already and calming him down. The difference is I think, with Gilles, he wanted to be the fastest on every single lap, even if it meant he wouldn't finish the race, and that never changed in him. With Verstappen, as the season's go by, he seems to be thinking more and more about the long game (when his car stays working!), than simply being the fastest on every single lap. It's a more sensible way of racing, but it's nowhere near as exciting.
That's why I never thought he was WDC material. Villeneuve was looking for instant gratification, and not end result.
2 things spring to mind that are immediately to blame: 1) engine limitations (and subsequent grid penalties): A paltry 4 engines for an entire season (!) is just ridiculous, especially when those 4 engines cost more than twice as much as when they had 1 engine per weekend! 2) 105KG of fuel per race. No such thing as changing the strategy anymore, pushing harder and going quicker. IMO we'd have a lot more competition for the podium and wins than the usual 2/3 teams and generally more exciting races if refueling was allowed again
1. I fully agree with this the major problem is that reg just limits it too much if they put say 2 weekends that would make it better it would make it less of wait until someone gets a grid penalty cause of a broken part instead a full on push on innovating and actually improving the car. 2. The problem was for safety and to prevent things like Massa's early take off of the pits (good god that was a huge mistake that right there was the nail that prevented him from getting the well deserved wdc). The lights caused the mistake that cost them dearly. Anyway it was in theory to be more tactical driving, but plainly I don't think many liked that the limited fueling caused cruising rather than full on balls charge almost every lap of which I agree.
Yeah, they tell us that F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor racing, the most expensive formula where the exclusive play etc etc, then they enforce daft things like fuel limits, tyre requirements and limits on the parts you can use. They've managed to remove the racing, the need to drive as fast as the car can go, limited development and thereby created a procession whereby every race is predictable once qualy has ended unless there's a mechanical issue or weird circumstances, taken away the noise, over-complicate engines so that that any new manufacturer considering coming in has to think not twice but three or four times about it and likely say no, and generally dilute the formula to a pastiche of its former self.
I think had he lived then he would have eventually matured a bit, and the end result would have been more important to him then. And let's not forget that in 1979, had he not been such a Gentleman, and a man of his word, then he would have been the WDC that season instead of Jody Scheckter. One thing is for sure, WDC's or not, Gilles Villeneuve is one of the few genuine Legends of F1 - And I will be forever grateful that I got to see him race, even if it was only on TV!
Carel De Beaufort.... My Father has a very interesting story about him. back in 1960 he was racing an Orange Porsche at Watkins Glen, and was having problems. at the time my father had just bought a new Roadster, and they were watching De Beaufort get ready... for what ever reason he needed two sparkplugs and they did not have the right size. So my dad's buddy says "he's got a Porsche can you use his" ... so they went and un did the two rear spark plugs... and gave them to De Beaurfort... this was Practice on Saturday. he went out did practice, and when they he came in - they got the plugs back put them back in the car... so we still have those plugs in their spark plug boxes from back then. he invited them to dinner that night at the Hotel in down town Watkins Glen, ( the Down Towner) ... and every year till he got killed they would meet him. he used to send them a Christmas car ... in English with best wishes Carel. when he died, his parents sent my dad a card with a black border announcing the death in 64.
Touching story. From an aristocratic family, Carel Godin de Beaufort was the last true amateur in F1. He only had one mechanic, and most of the time did the spanner work himself. He used an ex-Rob Walker single-seater Porsche 718 for many years, because it was the only car he could fit in. He tried to have a Cooper chassis made to measure, but John Cooper wanted too much for it! So Carel soldiered on with his obsolete 4-cyl Porsche until his fatal accident. I didn't know he went to race as far as the States.
yep, I have his autograph in my F-1 driver collection. My mom and dad say he was a very nice guy, very polite and very courteous.
Yep...though am not sure if it was brought in on safety grounds, IIRC it was to promote ''on track overtaking''. There hasn't been a safety issue with refueling since Jos Verstappen's blaze of glory in the German GP, 1994 I think...bit late to ban it on safety grounds . I just like the idea of it...if they change the tire regs too we could have guys running a single stop on Soft vs another team doing 3x ultrasoft and both competing for the win. +1 Great story!
