The 3 Greatest F1 Drivers Of All Time?

Who Are The 3 Greatest F1 Drivers Of All Time?

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TenEightyOne

TenEightyOne

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TenEightyOne
TenEightyOne
In the GPDA F1 Questionnaire (being discussed in this thread) is the most difficult question I've ever been asked; who are the 3 greatest F1 drivers of all time?

Please choose the 3 you think are the greatest, and discuss :D
 
Prost, Clark and Schumacher got my votes. I might've considered Lauda instead of Prost if he had retired his mouth, as he is now he is no ambassador for the sport.
 
I've been watching F1 consistently since 1961, attending in person occasionally, and seen this question often. I've asked it of myself, and had to revise my thinking as time went on.

Now, I think the question only has meaningfulness if you apply it to a specific era. In other words, it's a non-sequitur to compare Michael Schumacher to Juan Manuel Fangio, and the list is too brief at three to contemplate and compare the talent we talking about here.
 
Dotini
Now, I think the question only has meaningfulness if you apply it to a specific era. In other words, it's a non-sequitur to compare Michael Schumacher to Juan Manuel Fangio, and the list is too brief at three to contemplate and compare the talent we talking about here.
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It's a good point!
 
I agree it's impossible to compare era's. Schumacher has said so himself, but if I remember the interview correctly I saw, he also said to him, Fangio was the best.

I've been following F1 since '94 and I chose Fangio, Schumacher, and Clark.
 
Dotini
Let's make things easier by starting at 1958, the year after Fangio all but retired. Call 1950-1957 The Fangio Era.
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I just replicated the question from the GPDA survey... but otherwise yes, I'd go with that :D
 
One of the most interesting questions is what these drivers thought about each other. IIRC, when Jim Clark was asked who his greatest competition was, his answer was Dan Gurney. Yet Dan Gurney does not appear on the list.:grumpy:

After The Fangio Era, we get another era, one in which Clark, Surtees, Hill, and Brabham with his three championships appear on the list and figure strongly. Call this the '58-'67 period, but consider that Stewart, Rindt and others overlapped this, so even dividing into eras is not so easy.:grumpy:
 
I understand these are "champions" on this list.
Sucks that Barrichello is not on this list. "Number 2" drivers rarely are allowed to shine. Though their main goal as a Number 2, is to make sure the Number 1 has every opportunity to get maximum points, if they finish second or third in the championship tiime and again, they can't be bad.
 
Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark & Gilles Villeneuve.

I'd rarely consider anyone from 2000s - present day as the 'best ever' unless they absolutely dominant in an inferior car.
 
Hulme, Lauda, and Stewart.

Denny Hulme raced with giants. Denny Hulme was more consistently gigantic than the others, though.

Lauda, simply because the guy was bloody fast in a halfway decent car.

Sir Jackie. I don't need a reason.
 
Villoresi, Rosemayer, Gonzalez...where are they.

Stupid list to start with ..... Jacques Villeneuve?!
 
I think Senna, Schumacher, and Alonso are the best because they all share the ability to seemingly pull speed out of thin air, regardless to whether their car is fast or not. Their aggressive styles really wring out ever last 0.001 in a car.

Vettel would be a close fourth, as I think he's finally starting to demonstrate he might also possess some degree of this ability. Although before his 4 consecutive championships ended, I used to think he was more like Prost, for example. I thought this because it seemed they were fast more so because their cars were stupidly fast.

I suppose too that Hunt and Lauda might get my vote it I witnessed more of their driving than what I saw in Rush :lol:. So yeah, I'm quite biased here in voting for my favorites, and ones that I've actually seen footage of their racing. But, I still try and look at it from a point of view that focuses more on their driving style characteristics rather than their personalities and wins.

A driver doesn't have to win to be considered fast or good in my opinion.
 
Schumacher, Senna and Clark.

All 3 had speed that no one had access to when they where in their primes.

Senna is borderline in this list due to his inability to think of the whole picture not just pure speed.
 
Schumacher wrung the F310's neck to get three wins out of it while Irvine could only score points four times with that car. Arguably he could have won the '98 and '99 titles with better luck, but then again if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

Senna...well, that's pretty much obvious, as is Fangio.
 
It's easier for me to pick ONE driver. And that one is FANGIO.

It would also be easier for me to pick 7 drivers to show the ones I consider belong in the all-time best group. They would be (alphabetical order)

- CLARK
- FANGIO
- LAUDA
- PROST
- SENNA
- SCHUMACHER
- STEWART

Now, to pick 3 of those is more difficult. But if I really must choose I'd go with:

1. FANGIO
2. SENNA
3. CLARK

But this all is irrelevant. In all honesty, my all-time favourite F1 driver is none of the above. Without a single WDC and few victories he can't be considered one of F1's all time greatest, but he is my all-time favourite driver,if I ever was a "fan" of a particular driver, it was of GILLES VILLENEUVE.
 
This has come up a few times and frankly, it's a crapshoot.

I'm too hungover to write a nice wordy post but basically, you're only going to be able to compare people from the same decade, let's say.

Top Three From Each Decade would be a great question and source of debate.
 
I went through my pile of old mags and rediscovered this article.



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The list ^

1. Jim Clark
2. Juan Fangio
3. Jackie Stewart
4. Michael Schumacher
5. Ayrton Senna
6. Alain Prost
7. Alberto Ascari
8. Stirling Moss
9. John Surtees
10. Jack Brabham
11. Nigel Mansell
12. Jochen Rindt
13. Damon Hill
14. Nelson Piquet
15. Graham Hill
16. James Hunt
17. Giuseppe Farina
18. Niki Lauda
19. Emerson Fittipaldi
20. Denny Hulme
21. Jacques Villeneuve
22. Mike Hawthorn
23. Ronnie Peterson
24. Jody Scheckter
25. Gerhard Berger
26. Dan Gurney
27. Bruce McLaren
28. Jacky Ickx
29. Carlos Reutemann
30. Mika Hakkinen
31. Mario Andretti
32. Froilan Gonzalez
33. Patrick Depailler
34. Clay Regazzoni
35. Alan Jones
36. Jean Alesi
37. Tony Brooks
38. Keke Rosberg
39. Chris Amon
40. Gilles Villeneuve
41. Phil Hill
42. Jacques Laffite
43. David Coulthard
44. Riccardo Patrese
45. Richie Ginther
46. Didier Pironi
47. Carlos Pace
48. Michele Alboreto
49. Rene Arnoux
50. Thierry Boutsen

51. Patrick Tambay
52. Innes Ireland
53. Lorenzo Bandini
54. John Watson
55. Elio de Angelis
56. Heinz-Harald Frentzen
57. Ralf Schumacher
58. Peter Arundell
59. Jean-Pierre Jabouille
60. Luigi Musso
61. Pedro Rodriguez
62. Peter Revson
63. Derek Warwick
64. Rubens Barrichello
65. Paul Frere
66. Jean Behra
67. Olivier Panis
68. Alessandro Nannini
69. Jean-Pierre Beltoise
70. Francois Cevert
71. Robert Manzon
72. Giancarlo Fisichella
73. Eugenio Castellotti
74. Mike Spence
75. Andrea de Cesaris
76. Peter Collins
77. Wolfgang von Trips
78. Eddie Irvine
79. Piers Courage
80. Jo Siffert
81. Willy Mairesse
82. Tom Pryce
83. Maurice Trintignant
84. Vittorio Brambilla
85. Martin Brundle
86. Luigi Villoresi
87. Bob Anderson
88. Tony Brise
89. Jo Bonnier
90. Jean-Pierre Jarier
91. Gianni Morbidelli
92. Ludovico Scarfiotti
93. Mark Donohue
94. Harry Schell
95. Eddie Cheever
96. Teo Fabi
97. Pierluigi Martini
98. Johnny Herbert
99. Stefano Modena
100. Mika Salo



F1 Racing explained that the rankings were based on driver and car performances.
They "only rated drivers against the backdrop of their own era".
 
I don't think Mika Salo should be on that list. Or Teo Fabi.

Edit: Frentzen? Ralf Schumacher? Fisichella? Man, you can tell that's a magazine from 1999 if those lads are making a best drivers list. And Jacques better than Gilles. Hahahaha no.
 
Liquid
Top Three From Each Decade would be a great question and source of debate.
Click to expand...
I actually compiled those stats before and kept them in my "archive";



Most wins in the 50s:
Juan Manuel Fangio - 22
runner-up
Alberto Ascari - 13


Most wins in the 60s:
Jim Clark - 25
runner-up
Graham Hill - 14


Most wins in the 70s:
Niki Lauda - 17
runner-up
Jackie Stewart - 16


Most wins in the 80s:
Alain Prost - 39
runner-up
Nelson Piquet - 20
Ayrton Senna - 20


Most wins in the 90s:
Michael Schumacher - 35
runner-up
Damon Hill - 22


Most wins in the 00s:
Michael Schumacher - 56
runner-up
Fernando Alonso - 21
 
F1 Wins by Driver's Era of Generally Accepted Dominance

Fangio Era, '50 - '57
Fangio - 24
Ascari - 13
Moss - 5

Moss Era, '58 - '61
Moss - 10
Brabham - 7
Brooks - 5

Clark Era, '62 - '67
Clark - 24
G Hill - 10
Brabham - 6

Stewart Era, '68 - '73
Stewart - 24
Fittipaldi - 9
Ickx - 8

Lauda Era, '74 - '78
Lauda - 17
Andretti - 11
Hunt - 10

Interregnum year, '79
Jones - 4
Villeneuve - 3
Scheckter - 3

Long Era of Prost, Senna, Mansell and Piquet, '80 - '93
Prost - 51
Senna - 41
Mansell - 31
Piquet - 23
 
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Hard to compare different era's of racing. My top overall pick would have to be Schumacher, followed by Fangio and Prost. Then Clark, Senna and Lauda would be tied for 4th.
 

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