Top 20 best F1 Drivers of All Time

[mr_geez]

worst drivers, best compilation with great and detailed bios , trivia etc..:

http://f1rejects.com/drivers/index.html

 

[mafia_boy]

Nevermind Michele Alboreto, who was a championship-contender in the '80s - how the hell does such a guy end up on anyone's worst-20 list?

When he had a better team mate in Gerhard Berger at Ferrari. One year back in the late-80's (I'd have to wiki it to find exactly which one) they got a 1-2 at Monza, that's the only shining light I saw from Alboreto in all the time I saw him drive at Ferrari. That's one reason. Also, growing up watching F1 as a kid, the first name I'd hear on the retirement list was Alboreto.

Anyway, this will always be subjective to the person who's looking at the lists, true?? Everyone will have a different Top 5 or Top 10 list, and if we didn't have different lists Metar, we'd all be called sheep. 👍

 

[Metar]

He won five races, stood on the podium 23 times, finished runner-up in 1985 to the great Alain Prost (in an unreliable Ferrari, at that!), and managed to stay in F1 for over a decade on skill alone. That's anything but worst-20 material. There's a limit to subjectivity...

Everyone who has a better teammate is automatically a failure? By that token, Rene Arnoux must've been the worst driver ever, because he was beaten by Prost and Alboreto when they were his teammates.

 

[mafia_boy]

I just said it's subjective Metar, and there's no need to oversimplify, it doesn't mean that your automatically a failure because your team mate was better. It's like Eddie Irvine in that case being team mates to Schumacher, it doesn't make him crap, just unlucky. As for both Arnoux and Alboreto, they were both behind Prost, so no disgrace for either of them being behind one of the greats.

 

[Ardius]

worst drivers, best compilation with great and detailed bios , trivia etc..:

http://f1rejects.com/drivers/index.html

I was going to call it the top 20 rejects but I felt that was ripping off to be honest

I agree that a bottom 20 is hard to compile - but so is the top 20, at least in some kind of ranking as we have already seen.
But its interesting to hear who people think of as truly terrible or bad in some way or other, such as our current case Alboreto.

I personally dislike Ralf Schumacher a lot but I think he was a decent F1 driver when it came down to it, even though he was so unreliable back in his early Jordan days and he constantly over-rates himself.

 

[niky]

Hmmm, I don't know about that Montoya was very good but did he ever have a Silverstone 2008? I can't remember, he may well have done. I'm not so sure of him being better though and I was very disappointed to see him move to NASCAR.

JPM was a genius in the wet... in CART. Probably my second favorite CART driver to Alex Zanardi. JPM never got the fair shakes in F1... but at least he brought with him some of that overtaking flair he had.

I was actually hoping that his Ganassi racing predecessor (man, those red cars have produced a whole lot of good drivers) predecessor, two-time champion Alex Zanardi, would make more of an impact on the sport. Zanardi was even more infamous for overtaking...



I remember nights of watching him drive some amazing open-wheeled races. Whether he won or not, it was always exciting. Like the time he won a wet race by gambling on slicks and overtaking the first place driver at the finish line.

But every time he entered or re-entered F1, things went wrong... he never had the car, never had the pace. Never had the chance to work his magic. Then he lost his legs in that stupid accident. He still races as a mid-fielder in touring cars (I imagine it's embarrassing for other drivers to be outpaced by a cripple), but that was it for his career as far as big-name races were concerned.

 

[Clark]

Bah, I think 'the pass' is overrated, I've always though he just drives over the gravel to get past after braking too late.

 

[Jonn 79]

Kinda surprised to see that Jacques Villeneuve didn't make the list. After all, he was extremely competitive in his 1st two seasons in F1.

 

[Ardius]

JPM was a genius in the wet... in CART. Probably my second favorite CART driver to Alex Zanardi. JPM never got the fair shakes in F1... but at least he brought with him some of that overtaking flair he had.

Never got a fair shake? He drove for two of the best teams on the grid! Thats a lot better than most drivers get!

I don't think Montoya had anything else to prove about his skill in F1, he already showed it, its just a shame he didn't stay longer because I think he was capable of a championship, it would have been interesting to see him the current field of drivers.

I liked Alessandro too, remember that he started in F1 before going to CART. I think he was just unlucky to always be in the wrong teams at the wrong time - Minardi (1992), Lotus (1993,1994) and Williams (1999) with the only exception being Jordan in 1991, as that car was capable, as we saw in the hands of a certain German.

Kinda surprised to see that Jacques Villeneuve didn't make the list. After all, he was extremely competitive in his 1st two seasons in F1.

Yes the Williams FW18 and FW19 was competitive wasn't it?
Jacques was a terrible teamplayer, not a brilliant overtaker and a decent hotlapper. He was good...but top 20 good? He isn't anywhere near close to his father.

 

[niky]

I guess JPM had a good run. I think it was just disappointing that he didn't have a better run, considering the high hopes I had for him when he went to F1, and the fact that he left it under a cloud to go to (que horrore!) NASCAR.

Bah, I think 'the pass' is overrated, I've always though he just drives over the gravel to get past after braking too late.

It's easily one of the hardest corners in American motor-racing, when you're going by yourself. To actually tuck in on the inside and come out on the downhill front-wheels first instead of flying off the track backwards is an accomplishment.

To be fair, though, it was great driving from both drivers to not hit there.

Besides, whether you rate that moment or not, the beauty of Zanardi's CART career is that he's had manymoments like that... the guy had guts, drove hard, occassionally overtook too aggressively, but always gave it 110%, whether the car had it or not... and thanks to Ganassi racing, it most often did.

 

[Clark]

You know what, I just realised (again): there's no Ronnie Peterson on that list!

 

[Metar]

Never got a fair shake? He drove for two of the best teams on the grid! Thats a lot better than most drivers get!

I don't think Montoya had anything else to prove about his skill in F1, he already showed it, its just a shame he didn't stay longer because I think he was capable of a championship, it would have been interesting to see him the current field of drivers.

He got a fair shot at fast cars - but not very reliable ones, nor very stable ones. The 2001 Williams, for example, finished just 44% of the races it started, mostly because of the engine's unreliability (while also being the most powerful by quite a margin). The rest of the time, the Williams cars were both twitchy (the BMW-era Williams cars were known for powerful engines coupled with an average chassis) and unreliable, and the McLarens, well, unreliable and sometimes slow, as in 2006. Montoya made quite an impact indeed, and when the car held together and he kept himself cool, he could do wonders with it.

 

[Clark]

Yes the Williams FW18 and FW19 was competitive wasn't it?

I'll never forget Oz '96, and well all of 96 actually.

 

[Ardius]

He got a fair shot at fast cars - but not very reliable ones, nor very stable ones. The 2001 Williams, for example, finished just 44% of the races it started, mostly because of the engine's unreliability (while also being the most powerful by quite a margin). The rest of the time, the Williams cars were both twitchy (the BMW-era Williams cars were known for powerful engines coupled with an average chassis) and unreliable, and the McLarens, well, unreliable and sometimes slow, as in 2006. Montoya made quite an impact indeed, and when the car held together and he kept himself cool, he could do wonders with it.

Yeah, but its not like he was thrown out of F1 with no drive! The guy managed to prove himself unlike so many before and was fortunate enough to have cars that could carry him to a fair few points finishes. He had enough (and did enough) to continue to race and potentially end up with a great car. Imagine if he had stayed at McLaren into 2007?

See, this is why I'm none too sure of including him in the "greatest ever" because he denied himself the chance to prove it in my opinion, but he definitely would be on the list of "potentially greatest ever but never had the chance" along with many other drivers over the years like Zanardi.

 

[Alex.]

I would be seeing Jacques Villeneuve on there if he didnt fail at life by trusting Craig Pollock.

 

[Metar]

Yeah, but its not like he was thrown out of F1 with no drive! The guy managed to prove himself unlike so many before and was fortunate enough to have cars that could carry him to a fair few points finishes. He had enough (and did enough) to continue to race and potentially end up with a great car. Imagine if he had stayed at McLaren into 2007?

See, this is why I'm none too sure of including him in the "greatest ever" because he denied himself the chance to prove it in my opinion, but he definitely would be on the list of "potentially greatest ever but never had the chance" along with many other drivers over the years like Zanardi.

I agree with you here - I defended Montoya in my post..

 

[Ardius]

I know, I'm just a bit crazy today, been a fairly exciting day.

 

[Diego440]

if there ever were a Bottom List, my adds would be:

Luca Badoer (most races without a single point)
Franco Forini (never finished a race)
Al Pease (only driver ever black flagged for being too slow)
Claudio Langes (most DNQs in history without ever making a grid)
Adrian Campos (more retirements than Michael Jordan)
Piercarlo Ghinzani (2 points in 111 races. You do the math)
Pierre-Henri Raphanel (Made the grid just once in 16 attempts)
Alex Yoong (God have mercy... hail King of the pit-lane spin)

Taken from F1 Database

 

[Ardius]

Luca Badoer (most races without a single point)

Also known as "that lucky bugger".

 

[Diego440]

I'd also include, reluctantly:

Andrea de Cesaris (Most DNFs - 135)
Masami Kuwashima (Shortest Grand Prix Career, 1 day, 1976)

But anyhoo, back on topic:

JPM is a definite no-no for me. Alright, he was a decent driver, but during his stay at McLaren, and sometimes in Williams, he made the stupidest mistakes. Also, he had the bad fortune to be in F1 during the reign of Schumacher, and not everyone got a chance to shine then. He had the balls to challenge Schumi every now and then, but because of those stupid mistakes, he rarely amounted to more than first laps' pressure.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Piercarlo Ghinzani drove an Osella. M. Schumacher wouldn't have scored points in one of them!

Andrea de Cesaris was renamed Andrea de Crasheris by James Hunt was a least quick and once or twice nearly won a race. Then either crashed or his car broke, probably from severe over revving.

As for JPM either he or Räikkönen would have been champion in 2003 had it not been for the Ferrari Interests Authority having to invent an entirely new rule to cripple the Michelin tyres.