20 Best Drivers- a survey...

TN23

Rookie
I thought it would be interesting to see who people thought were there twenty best drivers in history. I'll try and set as few limits as possible, but:

  • No driver who is active and under the age of 30 (excluding Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso and Nico Rosberg) can be selected as it is too early to judge their careers
  • This is a survey for interest. It should not get into a 606-style slanging match. If you like, make your point about your choices, don't criticise someone else's choice, just use your own reasoning if necessary.
  • Please select pre-war drivers as well as post-war drivers if you wish.
There is a way of counting all the responses, it is as follows:
  • The position that you select a driver in is the score he will get.
  • Like FB's WDC scoring system, the lowest scorer will win.
  • Any driver not selected in your top 20 will, if he has been selected by any other person, score 21.
Here is my top 20, and it will meet and be scored by the above criteria:

  1. Ayrton Senna
  2. Juan Manuel Fangio
  3. Michael Schumacher
  4. Alain Prost
  5. Jim Clark
  6. Tazio Nuvolari
  7. Jackie Stewart
  8. Bernd Rosemayer
  9. Niki Lauda
  10. Nelson Piquet Sr.
  11. Alberto Ascari
  12. Rudolf Carriacciola
  13. Nigel Mansell
  14. Achille Varzi
  15. Stirling Moss
  16. Mika Hakkinen
  17. Jack Brabham
  18. Emerson Fittipaldi
  19. Gilles Villeneuve
  20. Mario Andretti
 
Couple of questions first - why no drivers under 30 (Alonso has done a pretty good job for instance) and why are we then allowed to include Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel in our lists?

Also I I thought the official F1 WDC as it stands now started in 1950 so which war are you referring to? Or is this pre F1 World Championship? This may sound pedantic so apologies, I'm just wondering if there are some typos before we get going that's all.
 
I'll edit mine, as I forgot about Alonso, apologies!

I don't feel its accurate to try and judge those who have been in F1 for a short time, and I'm looking to avoid a confrontational Vettel is Jesus/no he's not he's worse than Doornbos argument- there's a thread for that!

The official F1 championship did begin in 1950, but I reckon there are those who would like to nominate a pre-war driver. You can name a mixture (like I have done, of pre and post-war drivers), so its ok to use drivers from before and after the war.

I was on auto-pilot there, with the Alonso thing, that's all, apologies again!
 
No worries I thought that might be the case! Not understanding keeping Rosberg in though? He is one of my favourites but he isn't a race winner yet so maybe just stick to the WDC under 30 which does make more sense. Your thread. I'm useless though as I've only watched from the 90's so my list will be a poll spoiler.
 
  1. Juan Fangio
  2. Rudy Carracciola
  3. Schumacher (Guess which ;))
  4. Clark
  5. Senna & Prost
  6. Tazio Nuvolari
  7. J.Brabham
  8. J.Stewart
  9. Lauda
  10. Piquet Snr
  11. Our Nige
  12. Our Stirling
  13. Fittipaldi
  14. G.Hill
  15. Jochen Rindt
  16. G.Villenueve
  17. Ascari
  18. Chiron
  19. Mika
 
To be pedantic, if there are two equal thirds should not the next driver be fifth? After all, there are four in front of him.
 
1. Senna,Schumi
3.Clark
4.Prost
5.G.Hill
6. Stewart
7. Fangio
8.Hakkinen
9. G.Villuenve
10. Barrichello
11. Moss
12. Mansell
13. J.Villeunve
14. Scheckter
15. Hunt
16. D. Hill
17. Keke Rosberg
18. Alan Jones
19. Fittipaldi
20. Nelson Piquet Snr
 
1. Jim Clark
2. Juan Manuel Fangio
3. Ayrton Senna
4. Michael Schumacher
5. Alain Prost
6. Jackie Stewart
7. Niki Lauda
8. Jack Brabham
9. Stirling Moss
10. Nigel Mansell
11. Nelson Piquet Snr
12. Mika Hakkinen
13. Alberto Ascari
14. Graham Hill
15. Gilles Villeneuve
16. Emerson Fittipaldi
17. Ronnie Peterson
18. Mario Andretti
19. Jochen Rindt
20. Alan Jones
 
Current Scores (As of Johnny Carwash's post):

Senna 10
M.Schumacher 11
Fangio 13
Clark 13
Prost 18
Stewart 27
Lauda 47
Mansell 47
Moss 48
Piquet Sr. 52
Brabham 54
G.Hill 54
Nuvolari 55
Carriacciola 56
Hakkinen 56
G.Villeneuve 60
Ascari 62
Fittipaldi 67
Rosemayer 71
Barrichello 73
J.Villeneuve 76
Scheckter 77
Varzi 77
Rindt 77
Hunt 78
D.Hill 79
K.Rosberg 80
Jones 80
Peterson 80
Andretti 80
Chiron 82

All unstated drivers score 84.
 
I've never seen most of them, but from what I've gleaned (of post 1950 drivers)
  1. Jim Clark
  2. Juan Fangio
  3. Michael Schumacher
  4. Alain Prost
  5. Ayrton Senna
  6. Jackie Stewart
  7. Niki Lauda
  8. Emerson Fittipaldi
  9. Nelson Piquet
  10. Stirling Moss
  11. Mario Andretti
  12. Jody Scheckter
  13. Graham Hill
  14. Dan Gurney
  15. Mika Hakkinen
  16. Gilles Villeneuve
  17. Damon Hill
  18. Nigel Mansell
  19. Jenson Button
  20. Carlos Reutemann
 
Unfortunately I cannot remember 20 names but Fangio, Moss, Stewart, Hill, Schumacher, Senna, Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Clark would be my top 10 - and not necessarily in that order...:thumbsup: (apologies for bending the 'age' limits TN.)
 
1. Clark
2. Fangio
3. Schumacher
4. Stewart
5. Prost
6. Moss
7. Senna
8. Andretti
9. Denis Hulme
10. Gurney
11. Tom Kristensen
12. Sebastian Loeb
13. Fittipaldi
14. Pedro Rodriguez
15. Richard Petty
16. A.J. Foyt
17. Rindt
18. Jo Siffert
19. G. Hill
29. Chris Amon

The rules did not make it mandatory that they be primarily Formula 1 drivers, or even have participated in F1 at all. There have been, and still are, great drivers that never take part in F1 but excel in other forms. Kristensen is, to my mind, the finest sports car driver of the generation. Petty was the best stock-car racer ever. Versatility ranks high on my list of talents needed to be among the greatest.
 
Of the current crop of F1 drivers only Alonso makes my top 20. I also wanted to include Elio de Angelis as I rated him as far better driver than Nigel Mansell but, unfortunately, he was taken before he was able to prove his abilities to the World. I was also tempted to include Tommy Byrne but felt the need to include some rally boys.

1 Clark
2 M Schumacher
3 Fangio
4 Senna
5 Prost
6 Stewart
7 Lauda
8 Moss
9 E Fittipaldi
10 J Brabham
11 G Hill
12 Piquet Snr
13 G Villeneuve
14 Alonso
15 Mario Andretti
16 D Hill
17 Carlos Sainz
18 Ickx
19 Hakkinen
20 Walter Rohl
 
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