Greatest F1 Champion Poll - The Results

[TheCed]

The haters and nay-sayers can deny Hamilton now, but in a few more years, you'll have no choice but to rank him as the second best or the best ever. Schumacher set the bar really high but Hamilton is on pace to surpass him assuming nothing tragic happens to him. Its easy to say he just has the best car on the grid but there's no question he's undeniably talented and driven to win. His competition is also extremely fierce from his former teammate Rosberg, to Red Bull's pair of drivers to Ferrari's pair.

This.

I don't understand why there's so much hate on Lewis. He seems like a nice guy and that he's a great driver goes without saying.

 

[Glaurung]

Both Schumacher and Senna were natural born champions, and I think that on track both were quite at the same level.
What I consider that Schumacher had more compared to Senna, were his skills outside the race.
While Senna had a more lonely nature, Schumi was able to strongly attract the team around him and combined with superb test driving skills he helped Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes to address the car development in the right way.

 

[paracletus]

LH skill level is up there with the best of all time - definitely top five.
Probably needs one more DC to be considered an all time great imo, as the merc has been so dominant.
Can say exactly the same about MCs cars though, and SV.

 

[Ole Andreasen]

Well - Shumi was bound to win this one I guess - although I think he was, which we can also read in the writeup - gettings his wins and positions - often from questionable sportsmanship. For me this pulls him down - but hey, he WAS fast, no doubt.

As for the Le Mans winners - great idea. My fellow countryman will have a great shot there.

 

[Azfalt Raser]

My "opinion"...I would have to agree with a quote attributed to one of the old timers (Ascari? Fangio?) about blocking. This would mean "sportsmanship" as being a major factor in determining who the greatest world champion has been.

Whether people want to acknowledge it or not, the safer cars the have become and with increasing pressures of sponsorship, the less sportsmanship seems to be present. If I crashed out a championship contender intentionally in one of our club/league races so I didn't have to worry about him passing me, there would be a huge backlash. Yet we idolize the real life drivers who have done the exact same thing (some - MULTIPLE TIMES). Also, some drivers had their contracts to specify that their teammate was secondary. Just ask Irvine, or Barrichello or Massa. So, the statistics showing wins/podium finishes...is misleading. How can you say a world champion is the greatest when their teammate was forced to slow down or forced to give them victories or points toward the championship?

So, any driver who intentionally crashed out an opponent or used "dirty tactics" would be excluded in my book. This excludes people like Vettel, Schumacher, Hamilton, Senna, and Prost.

People?! When did it become okay to intentionally crash other drivers out?

 

[johnnymat]

I'm a little surprised to see Schumi win in such a dominant manner. No doubt he's one of the greats, but he had a car that was incredibly dominant, and, in my opinion, he didn't have the quality of competition that others did.

 

[mister dog]

I don't agree with nr. 1

 

[oneWonders]

This poll says more about the superficial and fanboyistic nature of the community than it does about drivers respective greatness.
It was obviously to anyone with sense who the top two by far would be. You may as well have named the poll "which driver do you rabidly fellate the most".

It's also sad that the top two drivers that people overwhelmingly fanboy over are the two that are the most horrible human beings in the sport. If Hamilton had managed to achieve third place then you'd have a full set!
Mind you, looking at how politics and society are all over the world, with huge cults of celebrity, larger than ever levels of selfishness in society and a buying into the idea that greed and decadence are good, is it really a surprise?

That the majority of people in this community are so dismissive of anything that happened "pre Senna" really tells you all you need to know. They do not even care to learn about the eras beforehand, let alone simulate or experience them. To them, it does not matter because anything old is boring and unless it has cult media status and is constantly pushed in their faces then they are not interested.

In reality, you have to look at not only what a driver has achieved, but the manner and circumstances in which it was done. Sadly, looking at it like that isn't superficial enough for most on here.

 

[Rodent]

Voted Schumi, feel he deserved the win. Really enjoyed that we in the thread could not only keep it civil but discuss other favorites.

Ham was worthy of more votes but I think the low amount of votes there stems more for the lackluster state F1 is in rather than Hams talents to drive.

 

[Joerg Baermann]

I'm a little surprised to see Schumi win in such a dominant manner. No doubt he's one of the greats, but he had a car that was incredibly dominant, and, in my opinion, he didn't have the quality of competition that others did.

The Benetton?
As for the Ferrari, it wouldn't have been so great without the driver, Schumi had a lot of influence upon it's development.

 

[Erwin Greven]

Schumacher had the capabilities to drive very fast with a bad car. The Ferrari was not dominant between 1996 and 1999. In 2000 the car became good also.
But even then Schumacher was not a king in setting up the car. He was just talented enough to be unbelievably fast with it. Irvine told a lot about it in an interview.

 

[Joerg Baermann]

@oneWonders
Pre Senna would mean Niki Lauda for me, before that doesn't really matter since that was not a part in my era, no matter how interesting it was in the early years of Formula 1.
After all, the poll asked for who people favored personally, which also means that most voted on a driver they could/can relate to.

 

[paracletus]

We don't need to be berating the poll results/forum users with immature smut. This forum is better than that - take it to msn chat or something.
The fact is every f1 champion on the poll deserves their accolades. I didn't cast a vote - too difficult to single one out.

 

[samcar304]

So, any driver who intentionally crashed out an opponent or used "dirty tactics" would be excluded in my book. This excludes people like Vettel, Schumacher, Hamilton, Senna, and Prost.

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't remember Vettel or Hamilton intentionally crashing someone out? Nor do I remember them using dirty tactics. Abu Dhabi 2016 is just slowing down to get your opponent caught out... Not dirty. And Vettel in Malaysia 2013 is not dirty tactics either. Well nothing as bad compared to what MSC, Senna and Prost done...

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Now that aint a bad idea at all! Only 63214 drivers to choose from

You can do one for 'Best winning team' to condense it a little bit and because Le Mans is more about the teams then the individual drivers anyway.

... ALthough if you want to account for class wins... 0_o

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

This.

I don't understand why there's so much hate on Lewis. He seems like a nice guy and that he's a great driver goes without saying.

I think it's so much as hate as that Lewis is still a very new face compared to a lot of the others (who had more time to build their 'legends' so to speak) and also because he is part of the "modern era" of F1 which in itself a lot of people don't like.

Or, otherwise put: Lewis does not have nostalgia on his side.

 

[Matthew327]

[...] and Ferrari's first World Champion in over 21 years Jody Scheckter with no votes at the close of our mini poll. [...]

If I recall correctly, Scheckter was Ferrari's LAST World Champion for 21 years, winning the title in 1979 - 21 years before Schumacher won Ferrari's next title in 2000. Prior to that, Ferrari won the 1975 and 1977 titles, with Niki Lauda taking both of them to Maranello.

 

[Azfalt Raser]

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't remember Vettel or Hamilton intentionally crashing someone out? Nor do I remember them using dirty tactics. Abu Dhabi 2016 is just slowing down to get your opponent caught out... Not dirty. And Vettel in Malaysia 2013 is not dirty tactics either. Well nothing as bad compared to what MSC, Senna and Prost done...

I respect your opinion. And the drivers you and I mentioned ARE great drivers in my book.

But my opinion is that determining the Greatest driver depends on the criteria being applied. And there are differing point of views on those criteria. As well as what era of racing you were exposed to initially. I think of racing as the fastest guy that wins by outright driving skill/speed without purposely forcing someone off track, blocking (to an extent), intentionally crashing, allowed to win/podium through contractual agreements.

I'm fortunate enough to watch a stream that shows seasons from 1958 through 2013 on a loop. The early seasons aren't complete though. You can see the difference in the racing. To me, as the cars/race tracks became safer, the more encompassing (dirtier IMO) the tactics became.

You can see older champions/drivers, after a mistake, hold their line and let the faster car pass, and then re-passing them after they recover. Today, a driver tries to block even if the speed differential is dangerous to do so.

There is no way we could compare Ascari or Fangio's era to today. To say one was better than another....It's just too different.

70's and before, if you crashed with another driver, you dealt with death. Today, you deal with marshals.

But it is pretty cool to see the passion people have about F1 through this forum.

 

[samcar304]

I respect your opinion. And the drivers you and I mentioned ARE great drivers in my book.

But my opinion is that determining the Greatest driver depends on the criteria being applied. And there are differing point of views on those criteria. As well as what era of racing you were exposed to initially. I think of racing as the fastest guy that wins by outright driving skill/speed without purposely forcing someone off track, blocking (to an extent), intentionally crashing, allowed to win/podium through contractual agreements.

I'm fortunate enough to watch a stream that shows seasons from 1958 through 2013 on a loop. The early seasons aren't complete though. You can see the difference in the racing. To me, as the cars/race tracks became safer, the more encompassing (dirtier IMO) the tactics became.

You can see older champions/drivers, after a mistake, hold their line and let the faster car pass, and then re-passing them after they recover. Today, a driver tries to block even if the speed differential is dangerous to do so.

There is no way we could compare Ascari or Fangio's era to today. To say one was better than another....It's just too different.

70's and before, if you crashed with another driver, you dealt with death. Today, you deal with marshals.

But it is pretty cool to see the passion people have about F1 through this forum.

Don't get me wrong i completely agree with you. My favourite drivers (Currently in F1) are Hamilton and Vettel. I was just curious because i knew Senna, Schumacher and Prost had done some dirty things in their time but I was just wondering what Vettel and Hamilton had done. So naturally I was a bit defensive . But my all time favourite drivers are Clark, Lauda and Rindt. Hamilton and Vettel I support now because they are currently racing but them three drivers are my top 3 (And i voted for Clark in the poll).

I love the 60's-70's Era's of F1, every morning before school whilst eating my breakfast there would be classic F1 races on from that time period on the ESPN Classic channel (If my mind serves me correct). I was infatuated by the cars the sounds and the era. For me i would take a Cosworth DFV over any F1 engine. The Air intakes in the 70's are so cool and the sleek missile shapes of the pre-downforce era cars are just gorgeous.

 

[Azfalt Raser]

Schumacher had the capabilities to drive very fast with a bad car. The Ferrari was not dominant between 1996 and 1999. In 2000 the car became good also.
But even then Schumacher was not a king in setting up the car. He was just talented enough to be unbelievably fast with it. Irvine told a lot about it in an interview.

I'm glad someone pointed that out.

I do believe that Senna and Schumacher did the most with inferior cars whether they won or not.
Senna in Lotus and later some of the Mclarens.
Schumacher in the Benneton V8, then some of the so-so Ferraris.

I remember an interview where someone was talking about comparing lap data with other top drivers and found that Schumi was on the throttle more throughout a lap and his consistency (when not battling with someone) his lap data was practically identical lap after lap....He was on the brakes so much less than his competitors too.

In the modern era, I would go with Schumacher if not for some of his "indiscretions" and team chicanery....and I'm not a fanboy of Schumacher either.