F1 Racing's Top 100 Drivers of all Time (merged)

[Damon]

This months 100th edition of F1 Racing got a lot of great features, however they've done the obvious top 100 drivers according to the experts, just is they did back in 1997. Here's how it panned out:

1. Senna
2. Fangio
3. M. Schumacher
4. Clark
5. Prost
6. Stewart
7. Lauda
8. Moss
9. Piquet
10. Ascari

other notables including father/son comparisons:

11. Hakkinen
13. G. Villeneuve
14. Mansell
18. G. Hill
29. D. Hill
32. Raikkonen
34. Alonso
36. J. Villeneuve
38. Montoya
48. Barrichello
53. Coulthard
59. Irvine
64. Fisichella
67. Trulli
70. Webber
71. Frentzen
75. Panis
80. Herbert
84. R. Schumacher
93=. Button
93=. Brundle

[Kicking-back]

I'm not really a big fan of these lists - it's impossible to compare different eras.

This one seems quite biased towards the TV age.

[Red]

Precisely. Not only that it's impossible to compare different eras, but it's hard to compare drivers from same age. (That's why they run a "Championship" each year. )

[enemy-ace]

F1 being a manufacturer based series it is difficult enough to compare drivers of the current grid. For all we know Alonso in a ferrari might be able to outperform Schumacher.
It's all rather speculative, but fun to read nevertheless.

[Knowlesy]

I got F1 Racing through the post this morning and after seeing Matt Bishops grinning idiot face showing off hjis pass to see Schuey in Dublin decided to leave the magazine for a few hours....

Now I've cooled down........had a look at the list.....a bit of a typical top 100 really.

[jj2728]

MOTORSPORT ran their top 100 a couple of years back and i'd say theirs was a much truer representation....prost, stewart, lauda, piquet, and ascari did'nt even make the top 10....

[Damon]

Piquet's inclusion in the top ten really stood out as a strange one for me actually. In identical machinery Mansell always struck me as the better driver and he's 5 places back.

I don't suppose you'd still have that list available jj. It would be interesting to see.

[Raven]

I think F1 racing got most of the right names in the top 10, whatever order they go in is purely down to personal opinion/favouritism.

I don't think there is that much difference between the likes of Button and Raikkonen to put them 60 odd places apart and Webber being ahead of a lot of GP winners despite his best result being only 5th is a bit of a head scratcher.

[jj2728]

Originally posted by Damon

I don't suppose you'd still have that list available jj. It would be interesting to see.

i'll post it a bit later.....any preferences?...i believe i have all 100.....

[Damon]

The top ten and a pick of bigger names would be good.

[santori]

I'm glad to see Piquet recognised. He lost his way at Lotus but at his best he was as great as anyone. At Brabham he was the class of the field and at Williams and Benetton he was very good.
Compared to Mansell - well, there wasn't anything to choose between their speed in their first year together (though because everyone expected Piquet to romp it so he suffered by comparison) and though in their second year Mansell was faster, Piquet was injured for most of the season (and still outscored him).
Two great drivers but Piquet was, I think, the more complete. Just.

What is annoying is that it seems tilted towards those with the best cars - I wouldn't, for example, put Hakkinen ahead of Gilles or Irvine or Coulthard ahead of Frentzen.

Also some current drivers are far too high.

Where was Rindt?

[santori]

I think Motorsport's top three were Nuvolari, Villeneuve and Rosemeyer. (not confined to F1, obviously).

The last F1 Racing top three was, I think, Clark, Fangio, Stewart.

[jj2728]

MOTORSPORTS classification was done in 1999, obviously well before m. schumacher's streak of wdcs, but here are their top 20:

1. nuvolari
2. gilles villeneuve
3. rosemeyer
4. senna
5. clark
6. fangio
7. schumacher
8. georges boillet
9. jean-pierre wimille
10. moss
11. caracciola
12. achille varzi
13. prost
14. pietro bordino
15. stewart
16. alberto ascari
17. nazzaro
18. leon thery
19. lauda
20. mansell

note that theirs was a "greatest driver of the century" classification of grand prix/formula one drivers....subsequently they have done others, "greatest all around" and "greatest sports car drivers".......imho, i'd have to move ms up in the standings but only just, swapping places with fangio....the top 5 i'd have to leave as is....

[Damon]

Good list jj. Interesting one to see. I too think Gilles was rated too low in the F1 Racing list.

santori, F1 Racing's previous top 3 from the last list in 1997 was Senna, Fangio, Clark.

[santori]

Wasn't that the poll before the last one? Yes, I think you're right - they had a poll in about 2000 or so, didn't they?

[RWC]

LOL
these lists allways show the biases of the people involved-allthough i see in this one that brittish drivers are not given an unfair advantage,that's a good thing.
Some of their conclusions are just rediculous though,lol.

[jj2728]

all lists of this sort are subjective in one way or another and always subject to conjecture, that's why they are for the most part interesting, but i think MOTORSPORTS classification imho is pretty much spot on....

[Damon]

Originally posted by santori
Wasn't that the poll before the last one? Yes, I think you're right - they had a poll in about 2000 or so, didn't they?

In the actual list they provide the rank for eack driver from the previous list in 1997 and mention the fact in the intro. I too thought that there had been one more recently but I guess that must have been in Autosport of something?

The advantage that this list does have however is that it was compiled using a points system based on the votes from 77 people made up of drivers, team oweners, designers and journos. The broadness and range of the 'experts' pretty much wipes out any potential bias.

[garcon]

I'm reasonably certain I couldn't name 100 F1 drivers. So if I did the list, Alex Yoong could make the top 50...

[fatpiranha]

Mika Hakkinen 11th ???? yeah right

The guy that took 100 races to win his first GP and was gifted his first 2 wins

Someone has been drinking too much there I think

[garcon]

Maybe Mika was one of the judges...

By the very nature of these things, it's a subjective list, which will display the biases and opinions of the pickers for all to see. The raison d'etre of any list like this is to create debate amongst fans. So I guess it worked, then.

In my opinion, the top three are fairly immoveable, but I wouldn't necessarily put them in that order. I'd probably put Lauda up a place or two, and Gilles into the top ten. There also seems to be a bit of a bias towards current/modern day drivers who aren't actually that 'great'.

And where's James Hunt?!

[Damon]

21st

[garcon]

But not a 'notable' 21st?

Anyway, 21st is probably about right, unless one really succumbs to British bias...

[JGM]

I always get annoyed when these lists are made as they invariably underestimate/forget Emerson Fittipaldi. He won the UK Formula Ford championship in 1969. A year later he was winning his first F1 GP in a works Lotus. In 1972 he became the youngest WDC ever. He went on to win another WDC in 1974 and but for his crazy decision to join his brother's hopeless outfit in 1976 he would certainly have won a third title with what turned out to be James Hunt's car. He could probably have carried on and matched Fangio's record. Nevertheless he made a second, brilliant career for himself in Champ Cars and won his last Champ Car race in 1995 - 25 years after his first GP win. Why is it that people forget this guy?

[baclightning]

Where's Jack Brabham? Surely he's in the top 20?