Best And Worst Of The Noughties

[Nintendo]

We've had a diverse selection of drivers since 2000. But who, do you think (excluding the obvious) were the best and worst drivers and performances since the turn of the century. These are mine:

Best Driver: Kimi Raikkonen / Alonso
Worst Driver: (Within Reason) Narain Kartikeyan

Best Performance: Alonso overtaking manoeuvre at 130r, 2005
Worst performance: Indy 2005.

I don;t want this to become a bashing thread. In relation to their performances in F1 ONLY please.

[Nado]

Best Driver: Kimi Raikkonen / Alonso / M Schumacher
Worst Driver: Alex Yoong

Best Performance: Alonso overtaking Webber @ Japan, 2005
Worst performance: Indy 2005 / China 2005

But F1 is tricky game, next year's regulations could cause a big change, maybe Ferrari will still be uncompetitive, and Renault and McLaren has problems with their engines. Maybe we'll be talking about Webber, Button and Trulli as the new generation.

[Bononi]

Like it or not :

Best driver : TGF

Worst driver : The one who fail to get a cockpit in a Formula One *


(*) Sure I'm talking about who had the chance to test, drive and prove his talent, and couldn't make it. e.p.:Pizzonia

[safc_fan89]

Best driver: Has to be M Schumacher. 5 great years, 1 not so great year but that was hardly his fault. Alonso and Raikkonen will be the stars of the next 5 years I'm sure, but they haven't done enough yet.

Worst driver: Between Alex Yoong, Zsolt Baumgartner and Narain Karthikeyan. All came to F1 because of their cash. Karthikeyan is overrated in my opinion.

Best Performance: Schumacher's 4-stop win at France 2004 impressed me, but he was in the best car. For sheer entertainment I'd say Barrichello's win in the wet at Hockenheim in 2000. Got a bit lucky but it was a great drive.

Worst performance: Obviously Indy, but if this counts drivers, R Schumacher's driving.

[Kicking-back]

I'm sorry - but to try to implicate Ralf Schumacher in "killing a marshal" is downright disgusting.

It was a racing accidemt, with tragic consequences - but pointing fingers like that was tasteless at the time and is even moreso now.

[safc_fan89]

Sorry for again offending you with my comment, I have edited it.

[JeremySmith]

Best still : Michael Schumacher

Worst : Alex Yoong

If Ferrari have the their act together next season, Michael will be the *force* to be reckoned with again.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by safc_fan89

Sorry for again offending you with my comment, I have edited it.

It's still disgusting, but never mind.

[safc_fan89]

If you're not happy with it, get it deleted. It won't let me edit it again.

[Raven]

Best driver: Fernando Alonso
Worst driver: Ralph Firman

Best performance: There's a lot of stuff that's not terribly fresh in my mind. Both Hakkinen & Schumacher drove suberbly at Suzuka in 2000. Montoya @ Interlagos 2001/04, DC @ Monte Carlo 2002... It's hard to pick just one.

[Inigo Montoya]

Originally Posted by safc_fan89

If you're not happy with it, get it deleted. It won't let me edit it again.

Edited. Please refrain from bashing, and there is no need to bring that stuff up. It was an accident.

[safc_fan89]

Isn't calling someone the 'worst driver' classed as driver bashing then?

[Inigo Montoya]

Originally Posted by safc_fan89

Isn't calling someone the 'worst driver' classed as driver bashing then?

There is a difference between saying "worst driver" and what you accused him of. Let it rest.

[BootsOntheSide]

Best Driver: Michael, although I'm slightly loathe to admit it, and it's too early to say conclusivly that Fernando and Kimi aren't as good

Worst Driver: In terms of the performances actually delivered, it would be either Yoong or Bruni. Gimmi had the talent to beat Baumgartner, but never looked like doing so.

Best Performance: Hakkinen at Spa 2000, or perhaps Kimi at Hungary this year

Worst Performance: Sato for most of 2005 - he's capable of much better.

[Nintendo]

I've got one to add. Worst performance: Sato, Japan 2005.

[ASCII Man]

Best: TGF
Worst: Mazzacane

[maltafan]

I think since 2000, the best driver is also TGF, while the worst would be Baumgartner.
Best overtaking is the Mika - TGF - Zonta.
Best race - Presently I cannot remember anyone better than Japan 2005. turkey was not that bad either.

[SpawnyWhippet]

Best can only be MS (I refuse to use 'TGF')
Worst -
Narain K cannot really be named as the worst driver - he has only had the 2nd worst car to show his talent in. I don't think its fair to classify all the drivers in Minardis and Jordans as poor - you need to look beyond their machinery to get an objective view. JV on the other hand has had a reasonable car and not really performed as I would expect from a WDC - failing to comprehensively outpace a more inexperienced driver.

[flashF1]

Originally Posted by Andydickens

Best can only be MS (I refuse to use 'TGF')
Worst -
Narain K cannot really be named as the worst driver - he has only had the 2nd worst car to show his talent in. I don't think its fair to classify all the drivers in Minardis and Jordans as poor - you need to look beyond their machinery to get an objective view. JV on the other hand has had a reasonable car and not really performed as I would expect from a WDC - failing to comprehensively outpace a more inexperienced driver.

Really, you need to look beyond their machinery? While I think Michael should be classified as the best, his machinery was simply stellar. Or perhaps you are suggesting Michael could win the WDC in a Minardi?

Todays F1 puts machine ahead of driver, great machine great results. Likewise poor machine poor results. Reference Michael's performance in 2005.

I think Jenson deserves the title of worst performance, in the second best car on the grid in 2004 he was unable to win a race. Yet Montoya in the 4 best car did.

[SpawnyWhippet]

MS won WDC's in poor machinery too - the Benetton in 94, 95 was not as good as the Williams. He dragged the Ferrari in the late 90's way beyond where they should have been. He has always outperformed his team mates - even in his early career, and often by a massive margin, eg Eddie Irvine in the Ferrari. Thats how I classify the performance of the driver, not by his 4 years since 2000 in the best car by a country mile.

[flashF1]

And your excuse for Michael not winning is a poor machine this year is what? No my friend Michael is only as good as his machine and this as I stated previously applies to all F1 drivers.

[SpawnyWhippet]

Originally Posted by flashF1

I think Jenson deserves the title of worst performance, in the second best car on the grid in 2004 he was unable to win a race. Yet Montoya in the 4 best car did.

Your argument holds no water... He may have been in the 2nd best car, but he outscored his own team mate by 50 points and almost always outqualified him too. Renault was almost as good as the BAR (using the Constructors points score as an indicator), yet Jenson also outscored the 2005 WDC Alonso by 26 points. I am interested to hear how you feel that Sato was better.
Montoya won the last race of the season, by which point Ferrari was already on the slippery slope to their current form. Jenson was out of the race on lap 9 with a blown engine and had no opportunity to capitalise on this.

[twig]

Originally Posted by flashF1

And your excuse for Michael not winning is a poor machine this year is what? No my friend Michael is only as good as his machine and this as I stated previously applies to all F1 drivers.

Well that's just plain silly. Michael is not as good as his machine. Michael's results are only as good as the entire package.

But you do make an interesting point about Button in 2004. But sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. Look at what happened this year on the constructors level. Since McLaren didn't win the Constructors championship, does that make Kimi or Juan the worst drivers? Luck and circumstance play their part.

[flashF1]

Originally Posted by Andydickens

Your argument holds no water... He may have been in the 2nd best car, but he outscored his own team mate by 50 points and almost always outqualified him too. Renault was almost as good as the BAR (using the Constructors points score as an indicator), yet Jenson also outscored the 2005 WDC Alonso by 26 points. I am interested to hear how you feel that Sato was better.
Montoya won the last race of the season, by which point Ferrari was already on the slippery slope to their current form. Jenson was out of the race on lap 9 with a blown engine and had no opportunity to capitalise on this.

I never rated Sato, obviously BAR didn't either, hence he is history. Were they wrong too? No my arguement remains that a driver is only as good as his car. Frank Williams said you are coloured by your car afterall.

Jenson lucked out in 2004 otherwise he would have shown more in 2005. But then again he didn't have a car in 2005, right. See my point.

So my question to you as you are obviously agreeing indirectly is this is it man or machine that counts for more in modern F1?

[Nintendo]

Sato was rubbish with jordan, good with bar in 2004 with a goodd car abd crap in 2005. glad to see the back of him. you can;t afford to play russian roulette with cars thatt cost a miilion quid.