Who Was The Fastest F1 Driver Ever!

[Fed up 0]

with schumacher he never had a quick teammate, except for massa, but even massa was still learning then and wasnt at his best. schumachers teamates were PK past his prime, brundle, patrese past his prime, lehto, verstappen, herbert, irvine, barrichello, massa. it makes it very hard to compare him to other greats. with senna, he was teamates with prost, hakkinen and hill, thats 3 world champions, and berger was not too shabby. its gotta be senna. mika outqualified senna in portugal but a whisper, then senna replied by qualifying on the front row at suzuka and pole at adelaide winning both races. mika 2day is still considered quicker than schuey. its definately senna by a long way

Did you ever watch Senna drive and I don't mean on youtube. When Senna was alive and driving I can never remember any commentator referring to him as the best F1 driver ever - He was rated as very good, but he used to intimidate 90% of the field to such an extent that it was often said that other drivers used to get out of his way when being lapped - Eddie irvine even got a whack for daring to overtake Senna.

I am fortunate in that I watched him drive in his prime and maintain that his superhuman driving ability has only been bestowed on him posthumously.

[Elizabeth Sterling 0]

I heard them refer to him as the best all the time, going all the way back to 1988/1989. Not sure what feeds you were watching or which driver really. As for drivers getting out of his way when lapped... first, linking that to Irvine or calling it intimidation is nonsense. Did you ever see Schumi drive? Really? It wasn't that long ago. People used ot get out of his way even when they weren't being lapped. He was even a bigger challenger in his lotus days than people care to remember. I can't remember if it was 1986 or 1987 but he actually lead more laps than any other driver only to be let down by shoddy equipment.

[schumi4ever 0]

I heard them refer to him as the best all the time, going all the way back to 1988/1989.

Perhaps they refered to him as one of the best at the time, but surely they never said he was the greatest driver ever. That would be ridiculous considering at that stage he had only won 1 drivers championship. I think you have missed 'Fed Up's point. Without speaking on behalf of him, I think that his point is that it was only after senna's death that everyone started saying he was the best racer ever. During his racing years he was never head and shoulders above everyone else, albeit for a number of phenomenal performances. And as i was saying in my earlier post, often people only remember the great moments of someone after they have died, which is why people say senna was the best because they choose to only remember great drives such as his in the 93 european gp. Looking at his career as a whole though, he was never dominant over the entire field.

[clay 0]

Did you ever watch Senna drive and I don't mean on youtube. When Senna was alive and driving I can never remember any commentator referring to him as the best F1 driver ever - He was rated as very good, but he used to intimidate 90% of the field to such an extent that it was often said that other drivers used to get out of his way when being lapped - Eddie irvine even got a whack for daring to overtake Senna.

I am fortunate in that I watched him drive in his prime and maintain that his superhuman driving ability has only been bestowed on him posthumously.

so u go by wat the commentators say? thats weird. how many times have they said schumacher was the best ever? never. they always say something like "schumacher has the best record ever". you said senna was rated very good, BUT he used to intimidate 90% of the field? is that a bad thing. u tell me why the field was intimidated by him?

[Elizabeth Sterling 0]

Perhaps they refered to him as one of the best at the time, but surely they never said he was the greatest driver ever. That would be ridiculous considering at that stage he had only won 1 drivers championship. I think you have missed 'Fed Up's point. Without speaking on behalf of him, I think that his point is that it was only after senna's death that everyone started saying he was the best racer ever.

Again, I heard talk on it long before his death and I was certainly more or less of that opinion. Besides, consider the amazing talent he was driving against.

During his racing years he was never head and shoulders above everyone else, albeit for a number of phenomenal performances.

He didn't? Again, I beg to differ. When it came down to a driver's circuit he was very hard stop even for the likes of Prost.

And as i was saying in my earlier post, often people only remember the great moments of someone after they have died, which is why people say senna was the best because they choose to only remember great drives such as his in the 93 european gp. Looking at his career as a whole though, he was never dominant over the entire field.

This is more a result of the driving standards being higher in terms of his opposition and most of the cars he had save 1988/1989 where he and Alain absolutely dominated the world of F1 never being the best on the track. This all seems to come down to you having looked at the record books which tends to be the only way of looking at things for Schumi fans.

[Fed up 0]

so u go by wat the commentators say? thats weird. how many times have they said schumacher was the best ever? never. they always say something like "schumacher has the best record ever". you said senna was rated very good, BUT he used to intimidate 90% of the field? is that a bad thing. u tell me why the field was intimidated by him?

Or he would beat them up - The Eddie Irvine examaple is one such case in point. Mansell, however, couldn't be intimidated by anyone.

In my time watching F1, the drivers I rated included;

- Arnoux

- Salo

- Senna

- Piquet

- Prost

- Mansell

- Alesi

- Nakajima

- Mika

- Hill

- JPM

- Michael

- Kimi

- Nando

- Lewis

- Rosberg (jnr)

Only Michael was the outstanding driver in my viewing experience.

[DOF_power 0]

Care to explain how?

To gain back some control of the car after a bump instead of having a nasty accident. But instead of ant-wheel spin I'd chose a suspension sytem that can go over bumps/terain-changes like an active hydropneumatique system.

Extremely debatable, not to mention attributable to co-incidence.

Nope, that was Senna at his finest.

If wet tracks is where he shined, abrasive tracks is where he didn't.

I remember him being beaten soundly by Prost and even others in inferior equipment would overatake/lead him, maybe even beat him over the course of the race.

The smoothness and care Prost had for his tires and brakes on such tracks is something Senna couldn't match.

But the active ride car could compensate for that.

[DOF_power 0]

with schumacher he never had a quick teammate, except for massa, but even massa was still learning then and wasnt at his best. schumachers teamates were PK past his prime, brundle, patrese past his prime, lehto, verstappen, herbert, irvine, barrichello, massa. it makes it very hard to compare him to other greats.

True.

with senna, he was teamates with prost, hakkinen and hill, thats 3 world champions, and berger was not too shabby. its gotta be senna. mika outqualified senna in portugal but a whisper, then senna replied by qualifying on the front row at suzuka and pole at adelaide winning both races. mika 2day is still considered quicker than schuey. its definately senna by a long way

You're forgeting Prost.

Prost's team mates where Lauda (3 WDCs), Rosberg (1 WDC), Senna (3 WDCs), Mansell (1 WDC), Hill (1 WDC).

And with today's system, Prost beside his 85, 86, 89, 93 titles would have also won in 83, 84, 88 and came even closer in 1990.

That's 7 WDCs, just like Schumacher, with 5 world champions as team mates.

[Fed up 0]

True.

You're forgeting Prost.

Prost's team mates where Lauda (3 WDCs), Rosberg (1 WDC), Senna (3 WDCs), Mansell (1 WDC), Hill (1 WDC).

And with today's system, Prost beside his 85, 86, 89, 93 titles would have also won in 83, 84, 88 and came even closer in 1990.

That's 7 WDCs, just like Schumacher, with 5 world champions as team mates.

Prost was a an outstanding driver. He could teach Lewis a few tricks on nurturing a car through a race and was particularly adept at race strategy - I think history has diluted his achievements becuase of his whinging attitude and his refusal to drive in treacherous race conditions - His final Williams drive was a procession in the fastest car, but then again Senna had done that throughout his career.

Prost & Michael followed by Senna, Piquet, Mika & Mansell were the best IMHO

[Elizabeth Sterling 0]

I've heard people say that about Prost before, yeah, and he was very good but the fact is in those days you drove for the championship much as you do today. It was a case of he who wins most takes it.

His final Williams drive was a procession in the fastest car, but then again Senna had done that throughout his career.

Okay, now that one I really don't understand...

Also, I should say shame on everybody in this thread who hasn't even considered JYS thus far.

[Fed up 0]

I've heard people say that about Prost before, yeah, and he was very good but the fact is in those days you drove for the championship much as you do today. It was a case of he who wins most takes it.

Okay, now that one I really don't understand...

Also, I should say shame on everybody in this thread who hasn't even considered JYS thus far.

No opinion on JYS as I never saw him drive -

Prost only came back for the williams drive as he knew he would win his 4th WDC with little or no competition - In fact that is why Senna chose to join Williams as their car was the fastest on the grid.

Just my recollection

[Elizabeth Sterling 0]

Actually Senna had wanted to join Prost at Williams but Prost had prevented him doing so so Ayrton had to wait a year. Besides, there's no way the FW15 was anywhere near the B194 AKA the most illegitimate car ever. Besides, Mclaren had been on a downward curve since 1989, their basic design getting too dated to truly compete and Honda then split with them leaving them pretty high and dry.

[DOF_power 0]

Prost was a an outstanding driver. He could teach Lewis a few tricks on nurturing a car through a race and was particularly adept at race strategy - I think history has diluted his achievements becuase of his whinging attitude and his refusal to drive in treacherous race conditions -

True. Prost realy shined when it came to tracks that demanded nurturing the car, tires and brakes. I remember in such situations he could either mounth a late charge and win (he beated Piquet at some race, I think it was Austrian GP 83) or in some dominated from the start with not even Senna being capable to stand up to him.

On the wet on the other hand ...

His final Williams drive was a procession in the fastest car, but then again Senna had done that throughout his career.

Yes he had the better car in 93, but then again he won in an inferior car in 86. Senna had the best car for his 88 and 90

titles and reliability for 1991. In 1993 Senna was still a contender, and leading the championship until Prost's 4 wins coupled to his problems/no points scored in the same time.

[whiskee 0]

Off the cuff....

Senna

R

[Grabthaw the Hammerslayer 4]

The late female driver: Lella Lombardi.... if only she hadn't got that ladder in her tights which ruined the aerodynamic performance of her car...

We are well overdue another female F1 driver....

[Oli 1]

Ide.

[goferrarigo 0]

[quote name='Oli' post='226911' date='Oct 31 2007, 03:27 PM']Ide.[/quote]
I second Ide....