Greatest F1 Champion Poll - The Results

[Deleted member 130869]

There's no argument about the inferiority of Senna's cars from 1984-1987, and 1992-1993. 1993 was such masterful season of driving with his McLaren, achieving pole positions and race wins with a car that shouldn't have been so high up. The 1993 car had a very good chassis but a very underpowered engine. Though the gap was largest to Williams and its overall quality, and to Benetton especially on power, but not like his Toleman and Lotus. What he did at Lotus was absurd. It was an excellent midfield squad but already in the downfall era of Lotus, and he had no business challenging the McLaren, Williams, and Ferrari as he did.

Schumacher's Benetton was the second best car of the grid in 1992 and 1993. He had the best car by far in 1994, 1995, 2000-2004. In 1996,1997, and 1998 the Ferrari was not the top car but by no means it was not competitive. It was competitive. In 1999 it could compete with the McLaren very well as seen by Irvine's title challenge. In 2005 the Renault had struck gold and the McLaren was quicker but unreliable. Still, 2005 offered the 3rd best car of the grid and 2006 the 2nd. Only upon his return in a Mercedes did he not have a competitive car.

The cool video to which you refer I think is from 1995. Schumi vs Herbert at Silverstone possibly?Schumi was a clear talent and able to push consistently when leading, and his near-pole position laps in a row just before pitting were legendary.

 

[grahamw]

I think these results are not exactly shocking, may be because there is also an element of Race Department readers (sim racers) actually appreciate something other than the most wins from a driver but also how, when and in what car they won their accolades.

It was always going to be a some what predicatable 1-2 and no real shock that the two veterans of Jim Clark and Fangio are featured in that top 5.

Interesting to see Alonso in there you can't help but think if he had choosen better drives (teams) in the past few years he would have been winning more than the two titles he holds today. Sadly baring small miracles it will be an opportunity lost to both Alonso and motorsport in general as at 35 he is going to struggle against the young guns in his less than ideal car.

Would have been exciting to see him pitted against Hamilton in the Mercedes this year but it was always a pipe dream I fear although many must have thought it as well as me?

I think most who have watched any races in the modern era will agree it has become more a engineering battle rather than just one of a battle of the drivers and may be some how under the new stewardship (post Bernie) they will look to even the playing field?

However as with many sports (barring a few notable rare exceptions) money will be the driving force and those with the deepest pockets will always be able to achieve most no matter how you restrict teams or cars.

None can doubt these newer drivers have skill but you have to wonder how they would have fared in even an pre millenium car. I guess we will never know sigh.

 

[Blkout]

First of all It's easyer to get better stats with today's better reliability and more races.But that doesn't make you better than past drivers.Most of today's drivers might not even finish a race in Jim Clark's time.
In 15 years someone will get better stats than today's drivers .Does that make him the best ever ?
Second, anybody can win in the best car.And Rosberg is no where near as talented as Vettel or Ricardo just to name 2 of today's drivers.

Also if Senna would have lived and chose to continue in F1 he would have won the WC 94,95,96,97.
But let's say that he would have retired in 1990.Does that make him less talented ?

You can talk hypotheticals until you're blue in the face though. No one ever said comparing different eras was easy. Tom Brady is going through that right now after winning his 5th Super Bowl. Many people question if he is as good as some past great quarterbacks. It will always be that way since there's no proper way to do a direct comparison when there's so many changes between eras.

You're expressing your opinion on whether today's drivers could finish a race in Jim Clark's time, again, its hypothetical and we'll never know. I could argue the reverse also, how would Jim Clark do in today's modern era of complex F1 machines? We'll never know.

I disagree whole heartedly that anyone can win in the best car. I do believe the car plays a part for sure, but so does the team and the driver more so than anything else. For all of Alonso's accolades by his fans, he struggled to do any better than Jenson Button the past two seasons even though Alonso got all the upgraded parts first. That was a "supposed" better driver in a "better" car given he had upgraded parts. I also prove my point this upcoming season when Bottas won't even come close to Hamilton in the SAME car.

As for Senna, again..............we will never know, you're talking hypotheticals..............again, and ultimately its still just your opinion. Senna was unquestionably one of the greatest if not the greatest ever in the rain, however most races in a season are run dry, not wet. Fantasy match-ups are fun but lets not get carried away with believing that everything was better in the past than it is today.

 

[Erwin Greven]

One of the key factors of a successful driver is that he is capable to get the maximum out of his car. And the difference between a good driver and a great one is the extra percentage is added to the maximum of the car by the driver himself.