Keke Rosberg
They're all great drivers, but how great? Who knows. Lots of it has to do with luck. It's seems like it's a rare occasion that truly the greatest driver on the field bags the WDC.
I simply think that Damon Hill is vastly underrated, is he the best - no, but he's atleast as good if not better than Mansell. he was just not as flamboyant. Going back a few years ... Fangio had the knack - talent to get in the right car at the right time - which in its self is a skill. he almost never made a mistake, and I dont think ever hurt him self in an F-1 Car... ( sports cars - different.) in those days just to survive was a championship alone. Moss - his main issue was bad machines, staying british vs. going with Maserati or Ferrari early on - he could have been mulit WDC.
Did you ever watch his father race? Same thing, both had complete confidence in their ability to control a car and push it over the limit. Everyone forgets that Jacques took the pole at Spa in his rookie year having never raced there before, when asked how he was able to do it. He responded that he learned the track from PlayStation!
I agree. very low key driver, seemed almost embarrassed at times to be an F1 driver. but 21 wins in 4 seasons with Williams (plus that somewhat fluke win for Jordan at Spa in '98). I think he earned his WDC despite a clearly dominant car (twice as many wins as JV that year, and a healthy points gap too)
True, i've alway thought Jacques biggest fault to be his driving skills in the wet...he clearly got that part from his mom
Jacques had a lot of natural talent, he won Indycar as a rookie, and almost did ithe same in his first f.1 year...he was the real deal, he did manouvers that were far from reach of many other drivers...I think damon had a good speed, i remenber him in f3000 and he was a fast guy, he was a very good qualifyer but his racekraft was somewhat limited, no doubt because he started very late in cars...He was no match for Shumy, Alesi, berger, Hakkinen or herbert, but the williams was just that good...the fact that he got fired despite winning the championship says a lot.....Comparing him to mansell is in my opinion a bit farfetched....Nigel fought and beat many times the very best with similar machinery...he coud have a chiken brain but he was fast as hell, in Silverstone he was simply untouchable, no senna, no Prost, No Piquet...the guy was simply on another level on that track. he won 1 championship but got second 3 times, and he's team mate was no rookie called David Coulthard......
That's a good way to see real racing and real drivers....may i suggest you go down to youtube and search some Gilles classic shows like Monaco 80, long beach 81, canada 81, jarama 81, hell anything with Gilles on it!!
Jacques was a good driver. IMO his best year was 2000. He ran very well in a slow car. He seemed to stop caring after that. Least talented WDC? Well I don't even like the phrase. Even in great cars, you still have to beat your teammate and go out and win the thing. Hill was extremely good from 1994-1997, he just ended his career with a whimper and it ruined his legacy. His Hungary 1997 drive was unbelievable. I would have to say Rosberg.
The year Massa won it (and he did it in my book) he was clearly the best driver out there...he kept on being so next year....had it not been for the accident i'm pretty sure his status would have been a whole lot diferent.
Emerson Fittipaldi's first WDC, and Jody Schekter WDC seemed easy at the time. They both had the best car in the field (Lotus 72 for Fittipaldi, Ferrari 312 for Sheckter), but mostly they had loyal team mates who followed team orders and never challenged them. Both Ronnie Peterson and Gilles Villeneuve stuck to the script and allowed their Number One in the team to win the title. People talk about Keke Rosberg not being a valuable WDC. Keke won the WDC on regularity with an atmo car against turbo cars. He knew his handicap and played the reliability of the Cosworth against the fragility of the turbos.
Surprised in this discussion there hasn't been one mention of kimi raikonnen. If his current performances are anything to judge him by then he's dead last lol But I guess the fact he used to be good redeems him.
I think you are correct on both Peterson and Villeneuve... both played by the team rules... Keke Rosberg had ultimate luck in 82... atmo vs. turbo you are correct the turbos were fast yet delicate.... but the true star of 1982 is John Watson. were it not for poor qualifying with a Mclaren that was way behind the times he would have been WDC and i think really deserved it. Way more than Rosberg.
Deserving can be a strange word..that championship was destined to be Villeneuve's...best driver with the best car....iy wa sgoing to be pretty simple....Than Pironi screw him and we all know what happened...without Gilles, Pironi probably was the fastest driver with clearly the bets car....i was a walk in the park for him....utill he screwd himself...he only needed one more race and he would have nailed it.....(of course after what he did to gilles, i don't thin he deserved it)...as for anyone else winning, weel Prost, Watson, keke...anyone could have done it....Keke did, he was the ebst combination car/driver of the rest and he took it....he was very good and i'm pretty sure Gilles would have like him to win "his" championship.
Villeneuve caused his own accident with a partial blame to Mass. Pironi caused his own accident when he got unlucky in the rain. Gilles was not in control of his emotions, which did him in. He never was. Keke winning that year was akin to Hami and Nico having career ending accidents and the trophy going to Ricciardo.
2007 and 2008 were years of the wrong champions. In '07, McLaren dominated the season, but the schoolyard brawls between their drivers and Steppneygate cost them both championships. In '08, Massa drove the season of his life, winning six GPs to Ham's five. But McLaren did a vastly better job supporting their lead driver. (Remember that fiasco at Singapore, during the engineered SC period?) And yet Ham won the WDC while Ferrari won the WCC. If we go by "deserved", that should have been the other way around. And remember who was in the thick of the '07 McLaren driver's squabbles, Steppneygate, and the '08 Singapore fiasco? F1 doesn't reward the "worthy", but the lucky. This year, it's Ham's luck that's letting him down.
Yes - totally agree here. Villeneuve was emotional and was upset at the Ferrari politics as he felt he was not supported by the old man and the factory cronies... this eventually lead to the rift between the old man and Piero... Villeneuve made a pass that most people would not have done at Zolder -Mass i think was not really to blame per se.. he happend to be in the wrong place at wrong time... Enzo Ferrari has as much blame for Villeneuve's Death as Mass... had he supported Villeneuve - and not gone back to his Maccihvellian ways of pitting each driver against each other, a Ferrari driver would have won the WDC ... however Ferrari did win the Constructors championship in 82 & 83... many dont remember that... and really that is what Ferrari wanted.
I don't think it's fair to blame Mass, he did the normal thing and let the race loine to Gilles...his only fault was that he was moving too slowly and he had been warned about that in the briefing. Gilles death was a bad mixture of things: His very own state of mind, his taking all risks aproach, Mass being in the wrong place at the wrong time at the wrong speed, Pironi being a ****ing bastard, Mauro having to miss the Imola race due to personal problems, Piccinini being an ass, and most of all, ballestre being an idiot for alowing qualiufying tyres when every driver said they were extremly dangerous....
