Mansell, Prost or Senna

[captin 1 VXR]

hard one this. senna just so fast from the off . mansell bulldog grit prost thinks about it and thinks till he finished the race . ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what one mmmmmm

mansell as he tryed to beat up senna and few others along the way

[jens]

Tough call between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Senna's raw speed was more impressive, but Prost was more "strategical" and scored more points than Ayrton, when they drove together.

[akv89]

Statistically speaking, Senna is the best and Mansell doesn't compare. Senna raced in about 40 races less than Prost but still had many more poles than him, and was also only ten victories and one championship short. If Senna was able to finish his career alive and participate in as many races as Schumacher, then his records would be on par with MS's (that's a scary thought).

[Cozzie]

Mansell was very unlucky to not win about four titles and he was not at his best when he was up against Prost at Ferrari.
IMO Senna wouldn't be rated half as great if it wasn't for Imola 94.

[futuretiger9]

Yes, Senna's legend has been inflated slightly due to Imola '94, but you have to say he was rated as one of the greats even before then.

On the other hand, Alain Prost's stock has fallen in recent years.

Mansell definitely deserved a world title, for the drama and excitement which he contributed to F1. However, he sometimes lacked the wily political skills of Senna and Prost.

[jens]

Death of course makes a driver more legendary (without Imola'94 Ratzenberger would be as unknown as for example Luiz Perez Sala), but I still voted for Senna. From those three I'd say Senna's raw speed was most impressive, especially in qualis and wet conditions. By raw speed in 1988 Prost and Senna were quite close, but in 1989 Senna was more clearly faster, just having several mechanical gremlins that prevented him to win the title. He also scored more wins on both seasons than Prost. At the same time from those three I'd say Prost was the most consistent racer as Senna and Mansell both made stupid mistakes sometimes.

Mansell was unlucky not to win more titles, but his reputation suffers due to quite clearly losing to Prost in 1990, despite having more experience with the team as Alain was new to the team. It was said that Ferrari favoured Prost, but we might expect that a team wouldn't start concentrating on someone without a good reason, which means that this #1 should be better as a driver to deserve being favoured.

[akv89]

Mansell was very unlucky to not win about four titles and he was not at his best when he was up against Prost at Ferrari.

You could say that all three of them were unlucky to win more titles. They all had their moments in 2nd place, Prost especially. And who knows how many more titles Senna would have won if he was not killed at Imola.

[wedge]

Senna, but only just!

As we all know they were unique in way or another and had their own driving styles, race-craft and tactics.

Prost was the ultimate tactician - hardly anyone would mention him after the race even though he won it!

Mansell was the underdog who used every grit and determination during the race with stunning overtaking manoeuvres. Mr Entertainment - which was why he was adored by many.

Senna was stupidly quick. I think his trump was that he turned racing/driving into a science and artform.

Piquet deserves a mention as well. He was a mixture of Prost and Senna, quick on his day but often drove whilst thinking of the Championship.

[Bezza]

Its Senna easily. All of them were absolute geniuses behind the wheel, in different ways, but Senna is the one who stood out above the rest. Unbelievable charisma, dogged determination, fiery temper, and blindingly fast in both the dry and the wet! Rain is a great leveller, and Senna was untouchable.

Donington 93 is the finest example of driving skill I have ever seen.

[fly_ac]

Senna - 1st (only just)
Prost - 2nd
Mansell - 3rd (only because there are no other options)