100%. If I may add to what he said... Senna raced in what I think is the most competitive era of F1. One of his best seasons (if not the best) in my opinion is '93 when McLaren switched engines from Honda to (a very non-competitive) Ford-Cosworth, and he was able to get really exceptional results even though he didn't win the championship. ESPECIALLY in the rain. He is the true rainmaster, truly magic. Then came '94, when he moved to Williams. Even though Williams was thought to be the superior car in the previous seasons (~'91-92), drastic rule changes which eliminated much of Williams' technical advantage (remember the banning of active suspensions which the Williams team perfected, among other things) sent the team struggling for speed and reliability. Senna was wondering whether he made the right move... but even then, he wrung 110% out of the car and still captured pole in the first four races of the season, including the fateful San Marino GP. He was faster than Schumacher, even in an inferior car. He just wasn't able to finish any of the first 3 races due to mechanical woes. Schumacher (IMO) was the best of the rest. No doubt, he is one of the greatest drivers the history of F1 has ever seen, and has brought a team from tatters to greatness. But in my mind, Senna could've done the same thing, and had he had a longer career in F1, Schumacher wouldn't have won that many championships. Heck, if Senna, Prost and/or Mansell (dare I say Hakinnen?) stuck around a bit longer, Schumacher would have shared a few of those 7 world championships. I must say, with the tragic loss of Senna, I have lost some interest in F1. I knew Schumacher would have no real competition, and would be the runaway champion. No offense to all of you Schumacher fans, but if you have watched F1 long enough to witness the racing and its personalities of the 80s and early 90s, you would have given your choice a second thought. JMO, ICBW. Cheers, Alex
Being the youngest doesn't make someone my favorite. Alonso's constant whining/excuse making (we he doesn't win it's always a conspiracy eh? ) is tiring. I vote MS. He made Ferrari what it is today (brought it back from the dead!), name another champion that has revolutionized his team and maintained it, year after year.
Although I agree that Senna was outstanding and one of the greatest drivers of all, we tend to romance the "good old days" and here is where I disagree: - Senna would have, could have if only he ...., well, he did not live that long. So we will never know what he "could have, would have, should have.." After this crash, if he had survived, he may have been spooked and hang up his gloves. Who knows. Fact is, he does not have the record. - Senna had more competitors, not so if you look at it correctly. MS had Senna, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Hill, lately Kimi (who will win a lot of races, since he is an excellent driver). Further he had to race against Williams domination of F1. So to say that he had it easier is not true. To say Senna would have, could have is nostalgia. That said, Senna is for sure one of the greatest drivers of F1.
Clark was as skilled as Schumacher and as classy as Cary Grant. He was the champion Michael wishes he could be. It's a shame that younger generations don't know about or understand his greatness.
Alonso Schumacher Alain Jones Nelson Piquet Nigel mansell Mario Andretti James Hunt Keke rosberg Senna Hakkinen Lauda Phill Hill Prost Jody Sheckter Damon Hill Stweart Jack Villeneuve Fittipaldi Great collection!
Thanks. Good job IDing them. Can somebody please point out from the list of champions the ones that are no longer with us?
Hello, I have to agree with Alex. With Senna's loss I too lost interest in F1. I also saw that the era of great racers was ending. With the exception of Mika, there were not many high level drivers to challenge Shuey. That's not his fault. Villenuve and Hill were mid pack racers that landed in the best car of the day. Alonso and Kimi have promise but it's difficult at this stage to see them in the class of the Prosts, Mansells and Piquets. No doubt Shuey has some of the greatest car control of all time. It just would have been nice to see him have a career going head to head with other legends. MDred85
I think a lot of you missed the actual question, because the question was 'who was your favorite ?', not 'who do you think was the best ?' ?????
But folks have landed in the best cars and sometimes go nowhere, and this also does not explain the failure of a team's second driver to be great. If Renault is the best car, then Fisi should be a close number 2 in points, and he is not, but if Ferrari is the best car, then Massa should be closer to MS in points, and he's not. And I think every single one of us here agrees with your last sentence, but it's not MS's fault.
I agree with you, in that there was a lot of could've, would've, nostalgia as you describe. I cannot dispute that, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. But again, the poll here is about who is your favorite driver, and for me, it is Senna. Just an opinion, no offense intended... Consider this... Senna had Prost as a teammate. 2 #1 drivers in the same team, and even though Prost won more championships than Senna, Senna still outdrove Prost at MacLaren, in what is essentially the same car. Schumacher never had this situation at Ferrari, nor at Benetton, he was the #1 driver from the outset, with the other driver in a definite supporting role. I would have to disagree that MS had the same caliber competitors as Senna had during his time. Villenueve won a championship because he was in the all dominating Williams at the time, and we all know now what he is made out of. Hill, same thing (a Williams driver), and for a time, he was #2 driver to Mansell, and even Senna. He was helped along the way when both his teamates bowed out of the picture and he suddenly became the #1 driver. Hakkinen is an excellent driver (they all are BTW), but wasn't as exciting in the beginning of his F1 career (as far as I remember) and I was dissapointed really when he decided to hang it up so soon after his 2 championships. Kimi shows promise, but too early to tell. If he does well, or even if Alonso continues to do well, F1 may just be exciting for me to watch again. To me, Senna (and a lot of drivers in his time) had more charisma than any of the more recent drivers. The battles were more epic (though undoubtedly there were some really good races recently). The qualifying sessions were more magical. Very much unlike what is going on right now. I can go on and on, but this is an opinion poll. To each his own. Cheers, Alex
FARINA, FANGIO, ASCARI, HAWTHORN, G. HILL, CLARK, HULME, RINDT, HUNT and SENNA I think that's all of them.......May they all rest in peace
It seems to me that the results of this poll are distorted because some participants are to 'young' to have follow GPs for more than 10 or 15 years. So, you keep seeing the same names again and again: Schumacher, Senna, Prost and so on. I have been following GPs for 45 years, and saw different eras. The 1500 cc era was dominated by Clark, and he won 2 titles in that 5-year period. In the early 3000cc era, Stewart was dominant until he retired. His mantle was taken by Fittipaldi who unfortunately went to run his own team without success. There was a Ferrari resurgence with Lauda, who won 2 titles, but lost one (by a short margin) to Hunt because of his accident. There were several 'one-off' like Hunt, Jones, Rosberg, Andretti, but no one was dominant until Prost arrived, and himself was seriously challenged by Senna after a few years. Since Senna's death, Schumacher had been dominant, no offense to Hakkinen. So, the contenders during the period I followed GPs are Clark, Stewart, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Prost, Senna and Schumacher. My favourite is Clark.
I'm partial to the earlier champions. Schumacher may have all the records in open-wheel cars, but the early champions raced all sorts of cars in F1, MM, TF, LeMans, etc. Trivia: Anyone remember who beat Schumi in the first round of the '04 Paris ROC in Ferrari 360s? (Okay, they penalized the contender 10 sec, as well as the guy who beat Loeb in the same round, because they'd lose the crowd if the champions were beat early.) For "favorite", I'd have to say Fangio. For the modern era, I'd be inclinded to say Lauda -- but I'd probably spark a debate about whether that was the "modern" era.
I am surprised tht Piquet and Rosberg have no votes so far, and both have sons racing today that may someday be world champions themselves.
I agree, Clark died when I was only 5 months old, so I never got to see him drive, but my dad is a life long Jimmy Clark fan, and from what you read and see, he was in a class of his own! I agree that he was the last of the gentlemen drivers, as well as being a 1st class person. I always thought that his life was a bit of a guy who made a pact with the devil... he came from nowhere, made it to the top, and then bam... gone with out a trace and nobody could explain how it happned.... G- Hill was a good driver but really was not able to match Clark in speed in the same cars... Clark was also someone who Enzo Ferrari had tremendous respect for!!!
