Greatest F1 drivers of the decade.

[RallyRaider]

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.

[cantgo2fast]

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

[Layla's Keeper]

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

[street_racer_00]

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

[Layla's Keeper]

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.

[street_racer_00]

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.