[Team] Ferrari in F1

[wolfhound]

I was unable to find a thread for Ferrari in F1 but I am sure there must be one in there somewhere.

Anyway F1 Racing has conducted a poll of who was Ferrari's greatest F1 driver

What is interesting is the results where Michael Schumacher came out on top with over 50% of the vote!
Next Kimi!!!! at 12.4%
Then we have Gilles with only 10.6%
followed by Fangio at 5.6%.
Prost only merits 1.4%

The others in the top ten were
Lauda 5.4%; Alonso 5.3%;Mansell 1.6% Ascari 1.4% and Vettel at 1.3%

Discuss

[S griffin]

Just shows a lot of current fans don't really study the history of the sport. And probably look at statistics too much. I mean Kimi second

To me Schumi may have been the most successful, but compared with some of those list, he didn't quite have the passionate prancing horse image, unlike say Villeneuve, Alesi, Alonso and even Kimi and Seb

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Just shows a lot of current fans don't really study the history of the sport. And probably look at statistics too much. I mean Kimi second

To me Schumi may have been the most successful, but compared with some of those list, he didn't quite have the passionate prancing horse image, unlike say Villeneuve, Alesi, Alonso and even Kimi and Seb

And don't forget that the tifosi absolutely adored Mansell, il Leone, and, or so I seem to recall, they believe that he was one of the best drivers ever to grace the Prancing Horse.

I would assume that the poll was conducted via the internet, an I would humbly submit that it unlikely that many of the supporters of F1 who can remember the greats of yesteryear would have participated in the poll, so it is unlikely to have produced a true representation of facts. And we also come back to the old cherry that it is almost impossible to compare drivers from different eras because they required different skill sets to perform at the highest levels of their times.

[chillibowl]

title wins over GP wins so the top five make sense in that they are the most recent Ferrari title winners and drivers who one more easily identifies as Ferrari drivers plus GV who has become a modern Ferrari legend.

but Kimi makes sense...won the title his first year there and represents their last top level moment.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I was unable to find a thread for Ferrari in F1 but I am sure there must be one in there somewhere.

Anyway F1 Racing has conducted a poll of who was Ferrari's greatest F1 driver

How was the question phrased?

There is a big difference between 'Who was the greatest to drive a Ferrari?' and 'Who was the greatest in a Ferrari?'

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

How was the question phrased?

There is a big difference between 'Who was the greatest to drive a Ferrari?' and 'Who was the greatest in a Ferrari?'

I don't know how the question was phrased but it was an online poll between F1 racing readers and the forum FerrariChat.
They were given a choice of 38 drivers who had won a championship GP for Ferrari.
Interestingly Massa was 12th. No mention of Hawthorn, Surtees or Phil Hill who won championships with Ferrari.

[Graz]

A lot of modern fans have no appreciation of history. There's also the element of the past fades into the recesses and people react with hyperbole over what they see now or very recently. Apparently Hamilton is the best driver we've ever seen, much like Vettel was before that and Verstappen will be in the future.

As ever, the eras are too difficult to compare - reliability of the cars for one thing skews results.

For me, Lauda is the best Ferrari driver. He was instrumental in dragging them from the doldrums, was unbelievably quick, calculating and brave in what were fatal times.

[bella]

putting a thought into peoples minds here, but i suspect it's not so much that they don't appreciate history, but that was then and this is now. fanboys will be fanboys, and the media will continue to whip up the nonsense, and keep writing headlines that make everyone think "WTF NO".

only ferrari are ridiculous enough to write those headlines themselves and that's why we love them

[Mekola]

All three main Argentinian drivers in F1, Fangio, Froilan and Reutemann, all three had driven for Ferrari with decent results.
Is to note Reutemann did a decent 1978 season with the Scuderia, with four wins!

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Mekola

All three main Argentinian drivers in F1, Fangio, Froilan and Reutemann, all three had driven for Ferrari with decent results.
Is to note Reutemann did a decent 1978 season with the Scuderia, with four wins!

Scheckter was the 1979 WDC for Ferrari.

Could argue that Fangio never drove a Ferrari at all, but a Lancia with a Ferrari engine.

[Mekola]

Fangio DID drive a Ferrari in 1949! The 166 F2, propierty by "Scuderia Achille Varzi"-meant the team backed by Argentine government of the time. And still had driven it, winning many F. Libre races up to 1952. With that car he won the first ever formula race at the opening of Buenos Aires autodrome, in March 9, 1952.

[Mekola]

Alas, Reutemann was the best non-Lotus driver of 1978 season, 3rd in the championship, four wins.

[BSchneiderFan]

It is easy to make a case for Schumacher being the greatest Ferrari driver of all time. For years, no-one could touch him, and before that he performed miracles that others could not have. The Rat must rank high, likewise Il Leone and Big John.

[Eric.D]

Originally Posted by Mekola

Fangio DID drive a Ferrari in 1949! The 166 F2, propierty by "Scuderia Achille Varzi"-meant the team backed by Argentine government of the time. And still had driven it, winning many F. Libre races up to 1952. With that car he won the first ever formula race at the opening of Buenos Aires autodrome, in March 9, 1952.

Nice to see a Post containing Historic racing knowledge on a historic racing forum.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Eric.D

Nice to see a Post containing Historic racing knowledge on a historic racing forum.

I'm not sure the forum is historic - just some of the posters....... (I feel that includes me too!).