Top 10 F1 Grand Prix Drivers
Who was the fastest, the greatest, the best qualifier ? These are questions to which there are not definitive answers. Comparison between eras of Grand Prix racing is not strictly possible.
At the inauguration of the drivers championship in 1950 there were seven Grands Prix. Today the season comprises up to 18-19 races. Statistics therefore can be misleading.
Ayrton Senna
The World champion of 1988, 1990 and 1991 proved himself one of the greatest drivers of the Formula 1 racing ever seen until his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He will remain forever young to the millions who mourned him, ensuring his iconic status for next generations. Senna produced some stunning drives, none more so than at Donington at 1993, when it wet conditions, he put in one of his greatest ever performance to win.Senna could hold an audience spellbound with his mesmerising accounts of live beyond the limit.
Jackie Stewart
Triple World champion is remembered not only for his masterly performances behind the wheel, but also for initiating and progressing the safety campaign in Grand Prix racing. After the first title with Matra in 1969, Stewart dominated in 1971 and 1973 with Tyrrell car. Afther this year he retired from the sport.He continued his long relationship with Ford, and in 1997 became a Formula 1 team owner as he established Stewart Grand Prix, with Ford engines. The team won the 1999 European Grand Prix with Johnny Herbert, but Ford subsequently bought out Stewart and rebranded the team as Jaguar.
Juan Manuel Fangio
Legends of the great Argentine champion are supported by very solid facts. He contested only 51 world championship races, starting from pole position 28 times, winning 24 and was a five-time World Champion. His Grand Prix career began when he was already in his late 30s, and he won his final title at the age of 46. He wasn't simply a great driver but he was also a sensitive ambassador for the sport. That it has taken more than 40 years for another driver overcome his record of world championships speaks for itself. But Fangio did it in just 51 races.
Michael Schumacher
The man with all the records became the most successful driver of all time. But more than that, he has broken those records and dominated the sport in a car built in Maranelo and that is always going to make anyone seem even more special. He is quick, smart and incredible aggressive on track and has been able to build a whole new team around him. As a result, he has become the worlds best-paid driver ever.Jim Clark
The greatest driver of his era, was World Champion in 1963 and 1965. He drove for Lotus throughout his Formula 1 career. His partnership with Colin Chapman epitomised success in Grand Prix racing for much of the 60s, for they thought alike and each displayed a natural brilliance in their individual fields. He was killed in an unimportant Formula 2 race at Hockenheim on april 1968. The sense of loss in racing circles has seldom been more intense.Stirling Moss
Is known as probably the greatest driver never to win the championship, but also as the man who brought a new degree of professionalism to driving racing car. He was much fitter and far more dedicated than most of his rivals, and he would undoubtedly have won that world title had he not stuck by his belief in the importance of driving only British built cars. One of his greatest victories was in Argentina in 1958, the first in the world championship for a rear-engined car, Cooper of Rob Walker. His Formula 1 career ended near fatal at Goodwood early in 1962, when his Lotus crashed into a bank of a bend and he was critically injured. He never raced in F1 again.Jack Brabham
Was one of motor racing's great all-rounders. An outstanding quick driver, an intuitive technician and practical engineer and a shrewd businessman. In 1959 the Coopers had full 2.5-litre engines, and Brabham drove them to win his first Grand Prix and the championship. In 1960 he dominated it, winning five consecutive races. In 1962 gave the first Brabham Grand Prix car its debut race. In 1966 Jack Brabham raced with Repco powered car to the championship. Driver and car have the same name.Alain Prost
Winner of four World Championships and 51 Grands Prix is statistically the second most successful driver in the history, behind Michael Schumacher. The Frenchman, gifted with incredible touch behind the wheel and very clear views on the way racing should be conducted, always put reason before passion. One of the most analytical of drivers, he was nicknamed The Professor. He retired from the sport in 1993 after winning the fourth title with Williams in best car in the field. In 1997 after buying Ligier he became team owner. The team renaming it Prost. The team went into receivership at the end of 2001.
Niki Lauda
The three-time World Champion became one of legends of the sport when, in 1976, he made a comeback from being given the last rites on his deathbed after a fiery accident at Nürburgring. The first title he won in 1975 with Ferrari. He defended the title with determination in 1976, a season of high drama. His return to racing withi two months in the Italian Grand Prix was astounding, but surrendered the title to James Hunt when retired in Japanese Grand Prix because heavy rain, and Lauda decided that life was more importanat as the title. Then he regained the championship in 1977, his last Ferrari year. The third title won in 1984 with the TAG powered McLaren car.He difinitive retired at the end of a disappointing 1985 season.Gilles Villeneuve
The French-Canadian was a megastar, a dynamite - superquick, confident, most spectacular and dramatic driver what the racing has ever seen. His verve and sheer abandon were breathtaking, no matter what he was driving, but in the sense that his driving had a ragged edge, an energy and an unpredictability that excited a generation of F1 fans. He took remarkable six victories with often uncompetitive Ferrari. In 1982 he began as title favourite with a much improved car. Therefore when he died after an qualifying accident at Zolder in 1982 they, we, were devastated and we will never forget.