[Driver] The GOAT - Round One - Ascari vs Patrese

[crmalcolm]

The third match-up in Round One sees Ascari vs Patrese.

So who do you vote for as the greater driver?

Alberto Ascari
Alberto Ascari was one of the two giants of F1 in the early 1950s, alongside Juan Manuel Fangio. Ascari’s streak of consecutive race victories achieved as he won his two titles across 1952-1953 was not matched again in F1 for over 50 years. And it is worth noting that had the 1949 F1 season had an organized championship, Ascari would also have won that title, yielding him three drivers’ titles.

While it is fair to say that the depth of the field that Ascari faced was nothing like that of modern F1, and that he enjoyed one of the most dominant F1 cars in history in 1952, Ascari maximized just about every opportunity he was given. Ascari has the second-highest win rate in F1 history, behind only Juan Manuel Fangio. He also holds, to this day, the record for the most consecutive race laps led at 304, achieved during a period in which his teammates included Giuseppe Farina and Piero Taruffi.

Riccardo Patrese
Riccardo Patrese experienced a baptism of fire, debuting alongside the more experienced Alan Jones at Shadow, and being bullied by senior drivers over his falsely represented role in Ronnie Peterson’s fatal accident in 1978. Beaten by Jones 0-5 in counting races, 3-6 in qualifying, and 1-13 in points, Patrese made a stronger impression in 1978, nearly winning in South Africa, but for an engine failure with 15 laps to go, and finishing on the podium in Sweden. He dominated his teammate Rolf Stommelen 4-0 in counting races, 13-0 in qualifying, and 11-0 in points.

Across 1979-1980, Patrese was closely matched with teammate Jochen Mass, scoring 7-6 in counting races, 20-6 in qualifying, and 9-7 in points. In 1981, he dominated the relatively weak rookie Siegfried Stohr. 1982 was a major career move for Patrese, as he joined reigning champion Nelson Piquet at Brabham. In a turbulent season, Patrese outscored Piquet by 1 point, but very poor reliability for both cars made it a difficult comparison. In 1983, Brabham bounced back with a much stronger car, in which Piquet won his second championship, while Patrese finished only 9th in the championship, crashing out of the lead in Imola. Overall, Patrese’s head-to-head versus Piquet was 3-4 in counting races, 11-19 in qualifying, and 34-79 in points.