Formula One's Hall of Fame on the Official Formula One website.

Couldn't agree more. It looks like they simply put now every new WC into this group. Hill and Rosberg should not be in there at all. Villeneuve is a question mark (he did a hell of an entry splash coming into F1 and put Hill in his place, for which I will always love Villeneuve, regardless of his antics).

Others seem to be missing, like e.g. Gilles and Cevert. Heck, I'd put Regazzoni and Pironi in there before Rosberg.

 

I guess they are only there because they are former world champions.
Interestingly enough
- Keke was the mastermind behind Mika Hakkinen's career.
- Villeneuve grew up in Formula One paddocks thanks to his dad.
- Damon Hill was nurtured by family friends such as Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, John Surtees and Jackie Stewart.

All seems like one big happy family!

PS: JV has passed his prime and needs to retire soon.

 

I think you're giving Keke too much credit. He was (is?) his manager, true, but IMHO it was Ron Dennis who nurtered Mika's talent and self belief.

There is very little for which I would give Keke any credit. The best thing he ever did (and that might have been pure luck) was a full 360 in Long Beach without hitting anything or anybody and continuing on as if nothing happened. Rosberg won his title in 82 the way Herbert won at the Nuerburgring GP in 99: By simply not screwing up. How is that for an accomplishment?

 

I completely agree with your analysis of Keke's racing career. He did not do anything real great to win the championship. I think this hall of fam is just for added content to the masses on behalf of f1.com.

Coming back to the topic of Keke's influence over Mika's career. I remember in a TV interview after he decided to retire, MH gave a lot of credit for his personal acomplishments to Keke for his foresight and support. Keke provided substancial moral and financial support when Mika was still developing. Ron Dennis played a big role when Mika was at McLaren, but I think before that Keke was the main guide to Mika's career.

This brings up an interesting point... should the F1 hall of fame also include people like:
1) Enzo Ferrari
2) Jean Todt
3) Ross Brawn
4) Sir Frank Williams

People who have played an important role in F1. F1 after all is a team sport and everyone who ran the team and its technical aspects should also be part of the F1 Hall of fame. The F1 Hall of fame should not be limited to just champions.

Together we must reform F1 and even make sure that teams like Minardi and Jordan who form the back bone of F1 are given a spot in the hall of fame. After all they need equal media time too!!!

 

Good and valid point. I guess that depends on the definition of the Hall of Fame. I believe the Rock'n'Roll hall of fame would include them; OTOH NASA's hall of fame only includes astronauts, no Wernher von Braun for instance.

But if you'd include non drivers your list should go straight into that hall. A few others come to mind of course (Chapman, Forghieri, Murray, Ecclestone, McLaren, Dennis).

 

There should be a hal of fame for teams too... like the Scuderia Ferrari 2000 team or the Scuderia Ferrari 2001 team... or for that matter the Scuderia Ferrari 2002, 2003, and 2004 team.

Infact the entire history of Scuderia Ferrari needs to be in the hall of fame!

 

You might wanna skip a few years in the early nineties...

 

Those years showed Ferrari's determination and commitment. A true mark of the best team ever to race in F1.

 

Tell that to the Professor! You'll be out the door before you can even say "merde!"...

 

The shrink tried hard for 8 years and quit her job to run a day care center.
The significant other tried for a hell of a lot longer and now also runs the day care center with the shrink.



P.S. :- The day care center has a Ferrari theme to it.

 

I haven't seen the site yet but..

I too had doubted Hakkinen's talent and achievements until he left the sport and I began to realize how good the guy was. I was such a staunch Ferrari supporter that I was letting the fact that he was such a thorn in our side in the late 90s keeping us from those WC's cloud my view. Looking back I can see how brilliant the guy was. There certainly was no flair to his driving as Mansell had but that doesn't mean he didn't deserve the WC. I think his come back speaks volumes about his commitment and talent.

I'm a bit mixed about Damon Hill as well. But, he stepped in during a tragic moment in the sport and the car that was under him was so good because he was instrumental in it's development. He was the one logging most of the miles and helping to tune the systems. As much as we can credit MS for having a heavy hand in the development of the Ferrari and his subsequent titles the same must be said for Damon. He took a car he knew intimately and used it to the best of his abilities. Not a fan of his but I respect his talent. Maybe it was the right place at the right time...

I think I need to visit the site and see what they say for themselves.

 

Some Ferrari seasons were far worse than the early nineties. Check out 1969, 1973 and 1980. Nearly as bad were 1955, 1962 and 1965.

 

In fact, to emphasize the point, in 1969, 1973 and 1980, Ferrari scored a combined total, for 3 seasons, of only 27 points!

 

One thing that people tend to forget is that Ferrari were not always giants in terms of resources and spending. In fact till this day they have fewer resources then some of the large mass car manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Mercedes and BMW that play a role in F1.

The reason why Ferrari belong in the F1 Hall of Fame and why the F in F1 stands for Ferrari is they are and were the underdog team who took the fight to larger teams who had more funding. Only in recent years has Ferrari been able to spend more on the F1 team than other teams. Strong leadership and a complete team effort has made Scuderia Ferrari the most succesful team in F1 ever and the only team that defines F1 racing.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth.... Ferrari have always had one of the largest, if not the larges budgets than any other team through the history of the sport.

Where do you get your information? It's like you just make it up to suit your delusional image of the Marquee.

The only thing you got right was the comment on Strong leadership making Ferrari the most successful team in F1. But, it took a German and Frenchman to do so. Prior to their arrival the team was known for infighting and Machiavellian politics.

Ferrari have never been underdogs in the true David an Goliath sense. They do have a good history of shooting themselves in the foot and then playing catch-up though…

 

Imperial might be right about the budget thing. It all depends on how you count and since we don't have the insight into the real books we can't really say.

Ferrari's budget is currently allegedly bigger than Williams or Mc Laren's, but you would have to add Merc's or BMW's budget to those to get an accurate comparison. And from that perspective they're allegedly all about the same.

I wouldn't call Ferrari a David, but I wouldn't call them a Goliath either.

Besides: Money ain't everything. Look at Toyota. You need a substantial budget, but after that, it is more how smart you play the game. It only takes one brilliant cook in the kitchen to make a meal.

 

Agreed. But, Ferrari has always been right up there in the size of their budget. It's not like they were Tyrell or some other team making wine out of water. Which is what Tyrell often did.

That I don't agree with. They've always had the resources. Even with the best designer in the early 90s (John Bernard) and the best drivers they still managed to do themselves in with infighting and politics.

Agreed. That's why I pointed out their recent success has had more to do with current management than anything else. And I think Mike Gascoyne (speaking of Toyota) might be the most brilliant cook at the moment. I don't think the Toyota organization would fall asunder as Ferrari did in the early 90s with regards to John Bernard. Renault made a big mistake by letting Gascoyne go.

 

Thinking about it, you're probably right. Ferrari's budget was always at the upper end, never midfield.

Allowing Barnard to open his own shop in the UK was about as dumb an idea Ferrari ever had. Luckily that didn't last too long. I'm not even sure Barnard was still the best designer by the time he worked for Ferrari. He was the best while working for Mc Laren, but was IMHO past his zenith when Ferrari picked him up.

 

Villeneuve is the only one i question. Hill and Rosberg were both world champions as was JV but you have to wonder how many other people could have done it in that car that year. He might have been a one year fluke cause he pretty much started getting his tail kicked by every teammate he had after that. Roseberg i don't know that much about but he was a bit like Mansell. Hill did well with the circumstances he was dealt