Top 10 Driver Rankings of past seasons

[jens]

This means that Michael could have done pretty much the same job, or better, driving a Jordan, Prost or McLaren etc. This puts it into perspective what a very Alonso-2012-like job he must have done that year. Especially when you consider that even though Irvine closed the gap from 96, he still had several races absolutely nowhere in the midfield. If this is true, then he should truly have been the hero of 1997 rather than the villain.

Read a little bit. Here is what I disagree with. Even when cars of certain teams seem fast, we have to take into account other aspects. Consistency (Jordan wasn't consistently good on every circuit), reliability (McLaren-Mercedes kaboom engines cost Häkkinen potentially 3 wins), team work and strategies - they were the best at Ferrari; Schumacher and also Irvine's strategies worked well in the wet.

Look at 1999. Irvine wasn't very fast at all, yet he was fighting for the championship. All down to the superb team work of Ferrari, who even if they didn't have the fastest car on many occasions (are at least looked like in midfield), they maximized every opportunity. Your average midfield team is not capable of doing that.

[jens]

Having read all that through now...

I am having a hard time ranking all the drivers, because as seen each season seems to have around 15 decent drivers, who had at least a few standout performances here or there, generally seemed solid enough, and it would feel a bit unfair to put some of them well down the list then.

I think it would be easier to create a list of 6 "worst" drivers of each season.

1997 season has always mystified me a lot. It is a bit hard to rate even driver performances. As you, rjbetty, mentioned - Johnny Herbert. Usually struggled against team-mates, but this time had a team-mate, who was nowhere and the car was good, so Herbert seemed good. Perhaps Sauber was really good, just like many other cars. And crucially the car was consistent, which was also important. On inferior Goodyear tyres and first year with Ferrari engines.

Anyway, in 1997 there were many teams, which could shine and have fast cars. But as explained in previous post, that doesn't mean Michael Schumacher would have won in all of them. Sometimes some cars could shine in unique circumstances (nailed the setup, tyres - Bridgestone - were superb, strategy happened to be perfect, weather/heat/circuit characteristics were perfect for the car, driver on superb form that day, etc).

What however unites all those teams is that your traditional midfield team is unable to sustain such challenge all season - sometimes mixing it with the leaders is the best they can do.

One interesting case of 1997 is Benetton. The drivers are often-maligned, but from what I recall, the car was pretty inconsistent too. Very fast on fast circuits, but when Alesi was 15th on the grid in Austria and Berger 18th, then - well - that very much shows the car was useless there!

Benetton is a great example of a team in 1997, who had race operations of a top team and could capitalize on other misfortunes - even if midfield teams could outperform them on pace, those teams didn't have the depth to collect many points over a full year. Benetton got results with consistency and reliability. Double podium in UK, 2nd and 4th at Nürburgring - purely down to reliability and good strategy, which several other less complete teams of the day didn't have. Outpointed McLaren even if McLaren seemed to have a faster car on average - but McLaren was much more unreliable.

[jens]

A few remarks.

1995
I would put Barrichello above Irvine. Granted, Eddie out-Q'd him, but in races Barrichello seemed faster and as mentioned, he lost a fair few points through incidents/unreliability.

Alesi would be my #2 too, behind him Häkkinen, Frentzen, Barrichello and only then Berger/Coulthard/Hill.

1996
Salo is an interesting driver. He is often considered to have "lacked speed", but he had an incredible knack for getting points on board at Monaco, in the wet in messy races with need for strategies/consistency. 1996 is perhaps Salo's best season. 5 points in Tyrrell-Yamaha. Was running even 3rd at Imola before car gave up. I'd rank him in top 10.

1998
For me Villeneuve and Frentzen were incredible close. HHF had a mid-season slump, but it can be claimed he outperformed JV in early and late season.

Alesi was one of the stars of the season for me, a top 6 driver that year. Often running in the points in the Sauber, but losing out due to misfortune (lost 5th at Monaco with oil leak, 4th in UK after a superb drive in the wet, good points in Canada and Austria with accidents).

Herbert was in the other Sauber and while overall he seemed to qualify pretty comparably with Alesi, the majority of race-related moments belong to the Frenchman.

Rjbetty, I consider it also strange that you rank Herbert 5th in 1997, but when Alesi shows him up next year, you move both of them well down the field.

-----

I have a soft spot for Alesi, so you can excuse me if I seem "overrating" him somewhat though I am aware since 1995 he never had such impressive season again.

The issue with Alesi seemed qualifying. In retrospect having studied the results I have to admit he wasn't stellar over one lap. He was out-Q'd by Berger even in 1995, which many consider to be an excellent season by Alesi. And in later seasons Alesi didn't have a very good qualifying record against team-mates either, I admit.

But conversely whenever Alesi's car was reliable and he avoided accidents, he often had a great race speed and could move well up the field.

I remember 1999 Brazilian GP. Alesi was around 15th on the grid. Then I was surprised that after 1/3rd of the race he was already in the points in the Sauber, overtook Fisichella, but then DNFd with car problems. Could have got podium that day!

[jens]

1997

Hmm... If I try to create a rating for this messy season...
M. Schumacher obviously first, behind him I'm inclined to put Häkkinen even second, but Coulthard and Villeneuve are also right up there. And Panis for his partial season. In the top 10 I am inclined to include also Alesi (for his consistency and podium-delivery), Fisichella (for his spark and speed on several occasions), Barrichello (often fast in unreliable Stewart-Ford), Herbert (consistency), Frentzen (closer to Villeneuve than points suggest).

This means I have to leave out some more inconsistent drivers like Berger, Irvine, Hill, R.Schumacher, Trulli. All of who had their moments under their sun, sometimes even truly spectacular moments, but not enough over a full season.

[jens]

I'd like to comment. But there's so much to take in, I can't be bothered.

Except to ask. If you only started watching F1 during 1997/98, how would you know how to put results in context?

What concerns seasons before 1998, I personally have watched quite a few full race videos plus FIA season reviews, which are two hours long and cover every race. So the past seasons almost feel like I have seen them as well in addition to the ones I have watched already live!

[journeyman racer]

What concerns seasons before 1998, I personally have watched quite a few full race videos plus FIA season reviews, which are two hours long and cover every race. So the past seasons almost feel like I have seen them as well in addition to the ones I have watched already live!

That's fine. You may have a lot of knowledge of seasons previous to when you started following to form a reasonable opinion. But sometimes, you might have to consider you're only seeing a part of the story, or a slanted view. Even when you watch a full race, you see it in a particular context, knowing the result. It's different when watching a race live and just taking it as it comes.

[journeyman racer]

Hmmm, ok I'm gonna consider this, but given that Hill and Coulthard both scored more poles than Schumacher, I'm not sure yet? Are you sure the Williams/Benetton didn't just have a bad/good weekend that one time regarding setup etc.?

If you're meaning if it was a one off? Then it wasn't a one off.

Well, though I think McLaren probably had marginally the fastest car over 2007, just as I think they were slightly slower than Ferrari over the balance of 2008, I don't think Lewis until now has come close to having as dominant a car as Villeneuve enjoyed. As for overtaking moves to win, what about Hamilton's Germany 2011 for example?

Villeneuve's is one of the all time great passing moves. If not, the best ever. Outside line of the Parabolica, where nobody ever drove on. Hamilton took advantage of a Ferrari on cold tyres.

(also, just to mention Villeneuve didn't win the 1996 Portuguese GP :P )

Didn't he?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Portuguese_Grand_Prix

As for team-orders, I don't know, but didn't Villeneuve finish ahead of Hill at both Magny-Cours and Hungary...?

Yes at Hungary. But I as having a pop at the specialist British press.

Hmmm I respectfully disagree. Though Hill scored far more points than Michael, I don't know of him doing anything like Barcelona '96. He did win some races by big margins but he had a great car. So I have to put Michael ahead, by a fair way too.

That's ok. I'm not as hung up about this disagreement, than I would with others. As good as Schumacher's Spanish GP win was, it was just one wet race. The Brazilian GP was also wet, and Hill lapped Schumacher. At what point do you say "Ok, that guy may've had the best car. But he still drove better than you/everyone else?" The Spanish GP adds to Schumacher reputation. But the Monaco GP was also wet, and he buried it in the wall on the first lap. Hill was leading by 30secs, roundabout halfway, before the engine blew as well.

It's good to discuss this stuff though.

Yes it is. As a hardened fan, I appreciate that you started these threads.

[rjbetty]

Didn't he?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Portuguese_Grand_Prix

Ahaha you're right! I realised yesterday I messed up here, got mixed up with France. But I was listing that from memory (all kinda fading just recently, guess I've just had a lot on).

[journeyman racer]

I won't hold it against you.

[steveaki13]

Right finally got a bit of time.

1994 had 46 drivers used that season. Thats insane when we look back. At the time though it was the norm for small teams to employ 6 drivers in a car.

I have left out Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger because its not fair to judge them in this sort of fun list.

This is a combo of the little I remember from the time (only being 8 or 9) and refreshing myself by looking at stats. The drivers 42-30 are all random really. How can you judge two drivers who only raced once.

44. Jean Denis Deletraz - Has to be last. Entered the Oz GP and by the time he retired (through tiredness he was 10 laps down)

43. Taki Inoue
42. Hideki Noda
41. Andrea Montermini
40. Dominico Schiaterella
39. Yannick Dalmas
38. Paul Belmondo - Looked poor all season. Even in a Pacific.
37. Aguri Suzuki
36. Franck Lagorce
35. Philippe Alliot
34. Philipp Adams

33. Bertrand Gachot - Actually Qualified a few times and was far better of the Pacific cars.

32. Alex Zanardi - A lot of disappointing races in a car not up to much.

31. Jean Marc Gounon - Cant honestly remember much about him, but appears to have done OK.

30. Mika Salo - Only 2 GP's but I remember some excitement about him.

29. JJ Lehto - I seriously didnt rate him in 1994. Lapped twice by Schumi most races and way behind. Average at best really.

28. Pedro Lamy - Finished well when he did finish in his few starts in 1994.

27. Olivier Beretta - I always liked Olivier and the multi coloured Larrousse. Not a top season though.

26. David Brabham - In a tough year for Simtek he finished lots of races and did a good job.

25. Michele Alboreto - A sad season for the great man. 1 point only.

24. Johnny Herbert - Scored 0 points for Lotus all season, but actually did a good job in that car.

23. Eric Bernard - Had an average season, but makes the top 25 for keeping it on track and getting a podium in Germany.

22. Gianni Morebidelli - Had terrible reliability but despite only finishing 4 races he scored 3 points.

21. Eric Comas - Look at his season and in the Larrousse he scored their only 2 points, but was very consistant generally in the top 10 when he finished.

20. Andrea De Cesaris - Did brilliantly in Monaco considering his reputation to finish 4th for Jordan.

19. Ukyo Katayama - Never really rated him, he did an OK job in the Tyrell scoring a few points, but nothing more.

18. Pierluigi Martini - He finished well when he actually finished and so is in my top 20.

17. Jos Verstappen - In the Benetton for a lot of the season he was often lapped by Schumacher and generally IMO did an average job.

16. Karl Wendlinger - Thought he was doing a reaaly good job until his crash in Monaco.

15. Eddie Irvine - I remember really liking Irvine when i was really young, but in the end I drifted away from him really. He did a solid job though in 1994.

14. Nicola Larini - Only got 2 Gps in 1994, but in the dark weekend at Imola actually got a nice podium.

13. Nigel Mansell - Only 3 GPs so quite low. Did win the Australian GP though so maybe could have been higher.

12. Christian Fittipaldi - In the colourful Footwork he scored a couple of 4th places and looked generally on the pace.

11. Olivier Panis - Slightly affected by the 2nd in Germany in that crazy race, but he did what Panis always did in that Ligier/Prost as was to become. He looked good in a poor car.

10. Mark Blundell - In a decent -ish Tyrell I thought he did a pretty good job. He squeezes into my top 10 looking back.

9. HH Frentzen - I thought he look marvellous at the time. He was new and fresh and did a good job IMO.

8. David Coulthard - Only his first season, but an interrupted one. Thought he did a solid job.

7. Jean Alesi - I always thought he was average but exciting to be honest.

6. Martin Brundle - I thought Martin did a great job in 1994, if not for his exploding Peugeot's he could have been 4th in WDC as opposed to 7th.

5. Mika Hakkinen - 4th in WDC. He was brilliantly consistent and again but for the unreliability he would have been 3rd in WDC easily. The first 6 races he finished he was on the podium.

4. Gerhard Berger - 3rd in the Championship was a decent effort and done a lot better than Alesi.

3. Rubens Barrichello - Only 6th in the Championship, but in a Jordan in his first full season. I think he was brilliant. For me he did a great job in 1994.

2. Damon Hill - As in the Championship, Hill did a great job stepping up after Senna's death

1. Michael Schumacher - Despite the fact that he won the title in "that" way in the last round, I still believe Michael was the best. His performance in that car shook up F1 after Williams and Mclaren years.