Greatest F1 drivers of the decade.

It's time things got stirred up around these parts...I'll Start
1940's--Alberto Ascari
1950's--Juan M. Fangio
1960's--Jimmy Clarke
1970's--Jackie Stewart
1980's--Ayrton Senna
1990's--Again, Ayrton Senna
2000's--Schumi of course

Discuss, and post your own "answers" :icon16:

Mike Schumacher is a god. I don't know much about F1, but I watched like a 15 minute video doing a super-in depth analysis of his driving techniques, and the guy was unbelievable. They compared him against some other guy, and it was just rediculous how good he was.

lol, wonder who the other guy was, maybe it was Rubens? haha.

lol, wonder who the other guy was, maybe it was Rubens? haha.

You know what I think that michael schumacher is a god, but I also think that rubens barrichello is way under rated. I feel that Rubens is quite possibly the 2nd best F1 driver currently next to Micheal Schumacher. :2cents:

For the 1980's I would put Alain Prost ahead of Senna. Senna was always very fast for one lap, but for some of his early career he had problems being fast over the entire race distance.

Schumi is good, but he's no better than his equipment. Recent races prove the point. The Ferraris were up front not because of the driver, but because of the engineers.

For the 1980's I would put Alain Prost ahead of Senna. Senna was always very fast for one lap, but for some of his early career he had problems being fast over the entire race distance.
Alain Prost would have gotten my honorable mention...the reason I ranked Senna ahead of Prost is that I did my rankings on driver talent, not on the amount of races won...IMHO, Senna was more talented than Prost...I also thought about Nelson Piquet for his accomplishments in the early 80's, but I put his success on the equipment he had, not driver talent.

1940's--Alberto Ascari
1950's--Juan M. Fangio
1960's--Jimmy Clarke
1970's--Jackie Stewart
1980's--Ayrton Senna
1990's--Again, Ayrton Senna
2000's--Schumi of course



I can find myself in this listing as well. Begin an F1 follower since the 80's I have to agree that Senna would be my favorite, although he covered mid 80's to mid 90's, so it's a bit difficult in those decades.

Prost and Senna where each others opponents. Prost being the smart driver over a longer distance, more calculated and Senna super fast over a lap, and unstoppable in the rain. Senna was more inspirational, could do things that other where unable, based on his skills and believes and the 3 titles he won prove he was also capable of winning a whole campaign. So not only super quick on a lap, but also capable of a lot more.

Saying that Schumacher only wins because of engineers is also too simple, as it is the whole package nowadays that wins - manager, driver, engineer, mechanic. And that is what Ferrari and Schumacher have done so far. Most of it orchestrated, true, but then again, they did just that, where the others didn't. That also speaks for them I guess.

I guess that's why the called Prost "the professor".

I'd have to agree Prost was the man for the eighties. Difficult to split Senna and Schumacher for the nineties, also Hakkinen could be a strong contender.

Other guys with strong claims would be Lauda for the seventies and Jack Brabham and Graham Hill for the sixties. Can’t really dispute Fangio as the star of the fifties.

In the end this is all a bit of a pointless exercise, because everybody in F1 has different machinery, career opportunities and luck.

In the end this is all a bit of a pointless exercise, because everybody in F1 has different machinery, career opportunities and luck.
And that's why they call it racing, and not bench racing.

And that's why they call it racing, and not bench racing.

Huh? :confused:

You know what I think that michael schumacher is a god, but I also think that rubens barrichello is way under rated. I feel that Rubens is quite possibly the 2nd best F1 driver currently next to Micheal Schumacher. :2cents:

i agree 100%.... michael owns, but there is some ppl on his trail (barrichello).... u guys excited for the grand prix this weekend ?

Come on guys, get real. If Michael Schumacher is "a god" how come he cannot perform in a less than great car? Just like any other top driver he does the job when he has the equipment. The only difference between him and everybody else is that he has been lucky/well managed enough to have the best car more often.

Huh? :confused:
I mean, if you start getting into the "well if so and so had such and such's equipment" or "if so and so did such and such instead of doing such and such way back then", then why even bother running the races if it's all relative?

I wasn't doing that. Maybe others were, it would be just as fun an exercise.

My point was that "Greatest" is relative. It can take a bigger effort to drag an ill-handling car into 10th place than to cruise a superior car on a lights to flag victory. Look at the esteem Gilles Villeneuve, Ronnie Petterson or Stirling Moss are held in. Judging by statistics they aren't the greatest, but many of those fortunate enough to have watched them race disagree.

Ok i got a scenario: throw all of them into the exact same shifter kart with weight handicaps. Thats how i judge them my guess would be that schumacher would still be 1 or 2 pick your second. That would be such a cool race :evillol:

Well, Schumacher has performed well in less than perfect machinery (recall that the Ferrari F310B and F399 were hardly superior equipment, especially when compared to the same year McLarens or the Williams Renaults).

However, if I were to list the #1 drivers of the different decades it'd go like this.

50's - Fangio
60's - Clark
70's - Stewart
80's - Villeneuve
90's - Senna
00's - Schumacher

Villeneuve was definitely the fastest driver of the 80's...his untimely death reflected that he was obviously not the best.

Are you aware of the circumstances of Gilles Villeneuve's death?

Gilles was killed in qualifying at Zolder because he locked wheels with Jochen Mass. Mass was too far over on the racing line on his in-lap while Gilles was on a flyer. Gilles caught his left front on Jochen's right rear and went into the air.

This is actually not a serious thing in open wheel, except that Gilles harness failed and he was thrown.

We may never know just how much Gilles was able to accomplish because of his death, but his skill was apparant to anyone who knows auto racing.

Moreover, of all the drivers Il Commendatore ever commanded, he called Gilles Villeneuve "My Favorite". That's proof enough for me.

Yes, he was thrown from the car which was a byproduct of it being torn to pieces to the point where there was nothing left except the driver's compartment...there is no one questioning Gilles Villeneuve's speed, just his head...there were a number of occasions where gilles villeneuve paid the price for driving over his head, and he eventually paid the ultimate price for doing just that.