MS most popular Ferrari driver ever

**ioan** · 22nd Mar 07, 12:42

<<That is the finding of a survey conducted by the Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, which said 49 per cent of the 16,887 readers who responded voted for the recently departed German.>>

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...22100558.shtml

**harsha** · 22nd Mar 07, 17:46

he could be the most unpopular driver ever too you know,just a matter of opininon

**harsha** · 22nd Mar 07, 18:25

not in a German poll either,maybe a world wide poll

**BTCC2** · 22nd Mar 07, 18:44

I think MS will probably be the most popular F1 driver ever.

**Erki** · 22nd Mar 07, 18:55

No surprise here. Of course it also helps that he's the most recent world champion driving a Ferrari. And also he drove very recently, there's 25 years since Villeneuve last raced.

**Mifune** · 23rd Mar 07, 03:11

Originally Posted by Erki

No surprise here. Of course it also helps that he's the most recent world champion driving a Ferrari. And also he drove very recently, there's 25 years since Villeneuve last raced.

exactly.

**F1boat** · 23rd Mar 07, 06:54

Originally Posted by ioan

<<That is the finding of a survey conducted by the Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, which said 49 per cent of the 16,887 readers who responded voted for the recently departed German.>>

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...22100558.shtml

Hardly a surprise, Michael won 5 crowns for Ferrari, more than any other driver.

**ArrowsFA1** · 23rd Mar 07, 09:04

Originally Posted by Erki

And also he drove very recently, there's 25 years since Villeneuve last raced.

Exactly. I wonder how many of those who completed the poll (online?) ever saw Villeneuve race, or know how loved he was/is by Ferrari fans and F1 fans the world over.

**ioan** · 23rd Mar 07, 11:13

Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

Exactly. I wonder how many of those who completed the poll (online?) ever saw Villeneuve race, or know how loved he was/is by Ferrari fans and F1 fans the world over.

There is a 50/50 chance I would say.
Maybe only half of them saw GV drive for Ferrari but all of them saw MS drive.
Also the achievements of these two can't be compared.

**pino** · 23rd Mar 07, 13:13

I can't find this poll on www.gazzetta.it it must be an old one (last year ?) pity

**pino** · 23rd Mar 07, 13:32

We must also consider that in Italy most people over 40 years don't have internet access, or they don't use it everyday. Otherwise Gilles would have been much closer to Michael

**ArrowsFA1** · 23rd Mar 07, 14:15

Ferrari's register of drivers is a who's who of Grand Prix racing: Ascari, Villoresi, Gonzalez, Taruffi, Trintignant, Farina, Hawthorn, Castellotti, Collins, Fangio, von Trips, Hill, Behra, Brooks, Ginther, Baghetti, Bandini, Scarfiotti, Surtees, Rodriquez, Amon, Ickx, Regazzoni, Andretti, Merzario, Lauda, Reutemann, Villeneuve, Scheckter, Pironi, Tambay, Arnoux, Alboreto, Berger, Mansell, Prost, Alesi, Schumacher and now Raikkonen are just some of them

**ArrowsFA1** · 24th Mar 07, 09:12

**fizzicist** · 24th Mar 07, 09:29

Lest we forget that in these surveys, the most recent tends to be flavour of the month, which skews the result somewhat. A couple of years ago, the BBC conducted a poll to find the most influential musician of all time.

Robbie Williams was in the top 10 above Mozart...'nuff said.

**ioan** · 24th Mar 07, 22:32

Originally Posted by fizzicist

Lest we forget that in these surveys, the most recent tends to be flavour of the month, which skews the result somewhat. A couple of years ago, the BBC conducted a poll to find the most influential musician of all time.

Robbie Williams was in the top 10 above Mozart...'nuff said.

For sure they didn't do it in Austria!

**futuretiger9** · 25th Mar 07, 09:45

Originally Posted by harsha

he could be the most unpopular driver ever too you know,just a matter of opininon

You are probably right. Michael did tend to polarise opinion like that.

In a few years, I suspect that Gilles Villeneuve will be right up with MS again in the popularity stakes.

**ioan** · 25th Mar 07, 13:40

Originally Posted by futuretiger9

In a few years, I suspect that Gilles Villeneuve will be right up with MS again in the popularity stakes.

Could be true if GV would still be among us and able to win at least 1 championship, but it isn't the case.
In a few years the tifosi will still remember MS but fewer an fewer will know about GV, thus your point is somewhat mute.

**Garry Walker** · 25th Mar 07, 17:55

The most popular by quite a margin, and the best by even bigger margin. The Greatest

**futuretiger9** · 25th Mar 07, 18:37

Originally Posted by ioan

Could be true if GV would still be among us and able to win at least 1 championship, but it isn't the case.
In a few years the tifosi will still remember MS but fewer an fewer will know about GV, thus your point is somewhat mute.

Point taken. I suppose I'm just being an old romantic!

**Erki** · 25th Mar 07, 19:23

What is popularity anyway? Do they go on streets and ask people, who is the first F1 driver who comes into their minds? It's logical that they maybe only know Schumacher because he gets talked about so often - wait 25 years and he's not nearly as popular as he's now.

And you really can't say who's the most popular Ferrari driver ever. To get to know who is the most popular Ferrari driver ever, polls should have been made all the time, at least every year and then when you take time to study the results, then you can come to the final conclusion.