Best F1 Driver ever

[Senna 0]

Who is the `Best F1 Driver ever`

[Sato 0]

i picked Senna. Its easy to see he is best to me.

[Senna 0]

I agree. I also voted Senna. Michael Schumacher will undoubtedly be some people’s choice but, because of certain reasons (listed below), he’s not mine!

1. He uses team orders and thus never races his teammate who, incidentally, has never been particularly quick.

2. He cracks under intense pressure, notably in Adelaide 94 and Jerez 97, and also gets bored when there is not enough pressure and makes silly mistakes.

3. He is too arrogant, has no charisma and displays little emotion.

4. Despite what some people say he has more often than not been in the best car (94, 95, arguably at the end of 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03) and for the other few years he has always been in one of the top two best cars (excluding Jordan debut)

5. He is also not the rain-master that some people think – those people should take a look at Senna in Donnington 93.

6. Records aren’t conclusive – one must look at the circumstances in which they were won. Ferrari concentrate on Michael, his teammate helps him win the title and Ferrari has most of the top F1 people so its quite easy to dominate with that mix of talent. Further more Senna’s record of 65 poles has not been beaten; despite the fact Michael has contested more GPs.

[Senna 0]

Does anyone disagree?

[nichosnz 0]

Yes I disagree,

1. Teams mates never been quick, I will agree here. Uses team orders, because his teams have never been quick the few times this has happened have been high profile. Besides all of the best drivers have benefited from this, hardly a reason to single him out.

2. Adelaide the blame is still disputed (even by a few MS hates, hard to find but I have found some, note the plural), Jerez was instinct not cracking, difference is subtle but there.

3. IMO anyone who think MS is arrogant does not understand the German personality, nor beleive anyone who HAS ACTUALLY met the guy.

4. Rubbish, obviously not a lot of tecnical F1 knowledge, top line car yes, but the best 01, 02 but not the others.

5. No he is not THE Rain master, but neither was Senna THE rain master either. Both have outperformed the field in most wet races of their careers, but both have made stupid wet mistakes also. The word The implys there is only one, they are both rain masters.

6. No records are not conclusive the person with the best records may not be the best, but they are certainly one of the best. Interesting you state records are not conclusive, then quote a record to state Senna is better, beside the fact he holds (and never has) a single other record! You state MS team-mate have helped him win championships, not true you go back and reverse the 6 cases team orders have helped MS and you will see it change no championship result only the margin.

But I did not vote for reasons I have stated in another topic and have repeated below

I do not think he is the best of all time, I do not think Senna is the best of all time, nor Clark, nor Fangio. In any sport, paticually one that changes so much I do not think any driver deserves that title.

[nojvnof1 0]

had a hard time juggling between senna, fangio and clark, but I had to go for senna as I've seen more of him race whilst i've only read and heard about fangio and clark who were great in their own right.

shaun

[Senna 0]

In response to nichosnz:

1) “All of the best drivers have benefited from this, hardly a reason to single him out” In 1988 and 1989 Senna and Prost were partnered in McLaren. Senna also partnered Mika Hakkinen in 93 and Hill at Williams in 1994 for a short time and Senna beat them all without the use of team orders. He also raced against better drivers

outside of his team than Michael did e.g. Mansell, for a considerable time.

2) “Adelaide the blame is still disputed…Jerez was instinct not cracking”. I really don’t think the blame is disputed at Adelaide. Michael went of the track, slammed into the barriers, came back onto the track and then drove into Damon – the excuse he really didn’t see Damon doesn’t wash either! At Jerez, if you watch the onboard camera replay, you will see Michael looking into his mirrors before the corner! Then there is also the fact that Jacques was actually on the grass at the corner so Michael wasn’t simply taking the corner as he usually does and did in fact again decide to take his opponent out.

3) “Anyone who think MS is arrogant does not understand the German personality” Well…explain to me why Frentzen for example is nothing like Michael. They are both German and yet they have different personalities…surprise, surprise. Michael is unique in that he is very arrogant – Senna was very charismatic.

4) “Rubbish, obviously not a lot of tecnical F1 knowledge, top line car yes, but the best 01, 02 but not the others”. Well I’m glad you admit that he has always been in one of the best cars but I really can’t understand why you disagree on the rest of my point. In 1994 the Williams wasn’t working at all well at the start of the season – even Senna was struggling. By the end of the year perhaps Michael and Damon’s cars were equal but at the start Michael had an advantage. Have you seen 1995? Michael had the better car no question. For the next 3 years Michael was in the second best car, although as I have said, I believe at the end of 98 his car was the best. 1999 now. Michael was running away with the championship until his accident. Then after it even Eddie Irvine was able to challenge Mika in the Ferrari! With all due respect to Eddie, but he is not one of the best drivers of all time so clearly the Ferrari was better. In 2000 and 2001 the Ferrari was better but in 2002 the car was far better. I can understand why you dispute 2003 with the tyre issue and everything but the Ferrari was the best CAR over the whole season. McLaren were strong at the start, Ferrari in the middle and Williams at the end.

5) “No he is not THE Rain master, but neither was Senna THE rain master either”. As you know, Michael is regarded as the rain master and my point simply showed how Senna was better in the wet, in a worse car, and managing to overtake good drivers such as Hill and Prost, oh and Michael was at that race too!

6) I only mentioned the Senna pole record to show that Michael has not broken all the records. I agree with you on the records issue – Michael is certainly one of the best, just not the best. However having a servant in the team does help a lot!

[Jos 0]

I am amazed Fangio hasn’t got a vote!

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I could have voted Fangio, but I honestly can't do so because I didn't see his era. I voted Senna, not for any particular reason, but his name is quite embedded into what F1 is. And that legendary press-conference where he described a qualifying lap, that is just something really, really fabulous.

[nichosnz 0]

Alister Spink, I can dispute all those arguements and you will come back again, and so on and so on. In the end neither of us will convince the other, so I will say no more. Except that I agree with your 1999 comment (point 4) I was subconciously ignoring that season due to the fact MS did not contest the whole season.

[Senna 0]

I think the points that I have made give a very strong case for Michael Schumacher not being regarded as the Best driver ever – that honour for me goes to Senna. Please do respond as this is a forum – we don’t have to agree on everything or anything, and in this case I see we both strongly disagree, but that is good and it would be interesting to see what you think.

I can also see that some 72 people have viewed this topic but only 11 have posted. Please, more of you post, its good to get an overall view of as many people as possible. If you’re not voting because your choice isn’t there say so – tell us who your choice would be.

[rodders47 2]

I vote for Jim Clarke... I watched him race in Uk I did once meet him but he would never know that, but he was a great person and a very dilligent driver in cars that in those days were way inferior to todays cars.. I must admit to crying when he died in that horrific accident.. such a shame

[Senna 0]

Yep. The problem is that the old drivers don’t get as many votes as current or recent drivers because of obvious reasons.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Well, they also don't get as much votes because many can only know what they meant from reading about them. Seeing them in the flesh and racing live puts a whole new twist on everything.

[pumpdoc 2]

Clarke if you must he made the best out of not always the best

equipment, but I realy think Mario A. just because he won in every

thing that he sat in but this is a no win topic because you can't compare

when there has been so much diff. in cars bla-bla bla bla and as much as I

liked Senna to say he was not arrogent is stupid, charismatic? in what way? he of perpetual indifference? I've been watching my collection of past seasons going back to '84 and the Senna myth has holes abounding in it he was a great driver of that there is no dought but not infoulable.

and I'm tired of the bash Shumi for his SENNA like tactics or is it covenant

to forget his ramming abilaties????

[daz 0]

Schumi & Senna are miles ahead of the rest. It is very hard to say which one is the better one but I went for Schumi.. The records speak for themselves in the end and he pretty much owns the lot.

[Mika 0]

For me its got be Senna.

[marina 0]

:x

Alistair

Schummie is arrogant? Have you ever met him? I am 100% sure you havent, otherwise you would never say that.

Believe me there are drivers in F1 now and before that you could call arrogant, but Schummie is not one of them.

I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of F1 drivers in person and Schummie was one of them, and you can call him a very cold person (not like David Coulthard for example), doesnt talk a lot , but Kimi is even worse, he an go 2 hours and not say a word. Mansell was a very friendly person and the best of all of them was Irvine.

I could go on forever.

But arrogant or not, Schummie is the best driver, and the only reason is because he dedicates 90% of his life to f1 and like Berger used to tease Schummie - all you can do is F1, I like to do other things. Even Jean Alesi used to make fun of Schummie, because his life is F1, even during the holidays, his mind is on F1.