[Driver] The GOAT - Round One - Farina vs Surtees

[crmalcolm]

The first match-up in Round One sees Farina vs Surtees.

So who do you vote for as the greater driver?

Giuseppe Farina
Farina, the first World Drivers’ Champion, was already 43 years old in 1950, meaning we never saw his true peak years during the World Drivers’ Championship. Farina’s 1950 title itself was largely a product of fortunate reliability compared to teammate Fangio across a short, six-race F1 season.

John Surtees
John Surtees achieved the almost unbelievable distinction of winning the highest level championships on both two wheels and four wheels. That in itself is one of the greatest ever achievements in motorsports.

In F1, Surtees held a consistent advantage over his long-time number two driver, Lorenzo Bandini (ranked 167th), beating him 7-1 in counting races, 21-3 in qualifying, and 66-47 in points. Surtees also held a collective record of 9-5 in counting races against a rotating cast of moderately strong teammates (Roy Salvadori, Masten Gregory, Ian Burgess, Innes Ireland, Jackie Lewis, Pedro Rodriguez, Mike Hailwood, and Willy Mairesse).

Surtees completed only a small number of races against other world champions across his career. In his rookie season for Team Lotus, Surtees was paired with fellow rookie Jim Clark, scoring 1-1 in counting races, 1-2 in qualifying, and 6-4 in points, courtesy of an impressive 2nd place in only his second race start.