Who was the greatest formula one driver ever (including current drivers),include reasons please.?

Answer 1

Ayrton Senna.

He had the drive and will to do whatever it took to push a car to the limit. And even though he was filled with talent, he was all about hard work.

Answer 2

When the cars were just cars, I'd say Jim Clark - the guy had the best average of all, and he could drive anything, from F-1's to the Tames ferry .

When the cars became high tech devices, Schumacher - he has all the records and I don't believe that's because he didn't have competition, I believe it's because he was soooo above the other drivers that it seems that the others were only ok.

He was beating Nelson Piquet by a second when they were both at Benneton.
And, in my opinion, Senna died because he was pushing too much when Schumacher was right behind him and Senna couldn't escape.

Senna got beat several times by Prost, Mansell, Shumaher himself and Piquet (including the most spectacular maneuver of the F1 history) - he was good, probably the second best, but not as dominant as the "Tedesco", like the ferraristas used to call him at the beginning.

And please remember that Senna turned down a Ferrari billionaire offer because he didn't think he could win with the Italians.
Schumacher took it and...well, we know what happened.

The guy has all the records,
reinvented the way you run a F1 team,
won champships with teams that he built (Benneton wasn't a top team before him and Ferrai was in its "drought"),
beat Piquet and Senna in equal conditions...

So who is the best?

Answer 3

i'm afraid no you may say who's the main suitable motive force, all of people who may be considered have been the main suitable of their very own era yet there is not any genuine way of understanding who might pop out on appropriate in the event that they have been to hypothetically race the next day. It additionally relies upon on the way you define nicely suited; Senna seems to have had the main uncooked expertise yet Schumacher is statistically the main suitable in extraordinarily plenty each achieveable class. this is an exciting subject remember for communicate, and that i might could say Schumacher as he has been the dominant one for many of the time I ave been following it (1992 onwards). whether, had Senna not been killed collectively as in his top, Schumacher might by no potential have had the prospect to dominate the sport. with a view to respond to your question, Schumacher by potential of an factor pod!

Answer 4

Juan Manuel Fangio is the greatest ever by a mile! He raced against men half his age and won five-titles. It took nearly fifty years for a driver to beat his record and think of all the great drivers since then.

Fangio usually drove only as fast as he needed and that's how he survived. However he could really drive on the limit and beat much younger men on skill, speed and stamina.

Schumacher and Senna both said Fangio is the greatest. That's good enough for me. Fangio should be the gold standard by which all F1 drivers should be judge, but he isn't because so many F1 "fans" just recently jumped on the bandwagon and don't care to read about him. A few months ago before Hamilton choked, a few ignorant newbies started asking insulting questions like "How can you not agree that Hamilton is the greatest ever?".

Answer 5

I don't think you can look further than Fangio, he was dominant in the most dangerous era of F1 racing. Surviving seven full seasons was quite an achievement in those days (he nearly didn't, of course)...winning five titles in seven years into the bargain made him a quite outstanding driver.

The best drivers of their time were:

Fangio 50-57
Moss 57-61
Clark 62-67
Stewart 68-73
Lauda 74-79
Piquet 80-84
Prost 85-87
Senna 88-94
Schumacher 95-04
Alonso 05-07

and even something as general as that will cause trouble.




Now to have a look at Milanese's answer.

1. Schumacher raced against Piquet when Nelson was well past his prime...Nelson was still the only one of Schumi's teammates to out-qualify him for a decade. Also Nelson outscored Schumi 6 points to 4 in their 5 races together, as well as finishing every race while Schumi blew an engine (the only engine failure for the team all season...) and had an accident once each, thereby finishing on only 3 occasions.
Schumi outqualified Nelson 4-1, by an average of 0.26s, but Nelson beat Schumi by 4 fastest race laps to one, by an average of 0.44s. So really Schumi wasn't any more dominant over Nelson than Senna had been over Prost in 1988...the younger driver was faster in qualifying, the older driver was faster in the race and finished more often.
2. Senna was part of the most competitive era in F1 history, with Piquet, Prost, Mansell, Lauda and himself winning 12 out of 13 world titles between 1981 and 1993. Piquet, Prost and Senna alone did 9 out of 11 between 1981 and 1991 - a period of dominance unheard of in F1 history.
In comparison Schumacher was part of the least competitive (and most boring) era in F1 history. Schumi was dominant because he had the best car most of the time and no other driver was anywhere near a decent level for any length of time (see how Hakkinen and Villeneuve lost form so dramatically after their title wins).
3. Senna and Schumacher competed against each other in 41 races. In races where both drivers finished, Schumi was in front on 5 occasions, Senna on 9. I can't be bothered to count Senna's record against Piquet or Prost, but I'll bet it's not as good as being in front 64% of the time.

Answer 6

Let's cut to the chase - you'll never get people to agree on this - just look at the answers so far. One point that has to be made is that cars change over the years. Here's my two cents but I won't put in my reasons because I have to go soon. I'll say best in different eras. Ascari. Fangio. Clark
(maybe Stewart). Lauda. Senna. Schumacher. Let the arguments begin!

Answer 7

Ayrton Senna is the greatest driver of all time. When I see the writings of some who chose Schumacher here particularly the one who said Senna crashed and died because he cracked under Schumacher's pressure, I am truly saddened and disgusted. I dont hold Schumacher, Ferrari and their fans in high regard but truly I am shocked to see they would stoop as low as this!

Answer 8

Alberto Ascari was one of Formula One's first stars, the first great Ferrari driver.
Grand Prix entered: 32
Podiums: 16
Poles: 14
World Championships: 2 (1952, 1953)

Answer 9

Ayrton Senna. Fast. Consistent. Great at quali. Great wet or dry conditions. Just the best. Sad loss to F1 he died.
Pity we never got to see Senna against Schumacher over a period of time.

Answer 10

It's impossible to say. Modern cars are so much easier to handle than cars from the 60s and earlier, so you can't know how well the great drivers of the past like Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and others would have fared.