Who do you currently regard as the 3 greatest Formula 1 drivers and why?

[KL70]

Irrespective whether anyone named is currently deceased or is still alive (as in still racing, or they're currently retired from F1
pro racing) who are your picks of who you currently regard as the 3 best or greatest (whatever your own definition of that is)
Formula 1 drivers of all time in your view and please say why, for each fave 3 ones named (in order of greatness).

[leopard]

What about yours, Alex Yoong deserved a mention, didn't he?

[Mifune]

thats almost impossible for me to answer, i have nowhere near enough 1st hand knowledge of the sports history,
so ill only answer for those who i saw drive.

senna. took it to a whole`nother level in terms of physical and mental (emotional?) comitment

schumacher took it to another level in terms of motivating himself and those around him and maximizing absolutely every single variable on and off the track

prost the benchmark. without him senna wouldnt have been half as great or motivated

[jens]

I have never quite liked to select the very best(s) of "all times". As racing in different eras has been so different, then let's honour all the greats in their own era without trying to decrease or increase their greatness compared to drivers they has never raced against.

[Rollo]

1. Jackie Stewart - Triple World Champion and safety advocate. He had the testicular fortitude to stand up and tell the world that things were dangerous and then did something about it.

2. Sir Stirling Moss - Zero Times World Champion though should have been in1958. When Hawthorn pushed his car in Portugal, Moss argued on his behalf to the organisers. Moss' sporting attitude cost him race wins but he was and is a true gentleman.

3. Alain Prost - Four Times World Champion though should have been Seven. Lost in 1984 when the Monaco GP was only credited with half points and had it run to 75% completion Prost would have been World Champion.
In 1988 he outscored Senna but under the stupidity that was "points dropping" threw away points rather than DNFs
In 1990 Senna deliberately drove into him thus endangering his life and stealing the World Championship by criminal and unfair means.

[ShiftingGears]

3. Alain Prost - Four Times World Champion though should have been Seven. Lost in 1984 when the Monaco GP was only credited with half points and had it run to 75% completion Prost would have been World Champion.
In 1988 he outscored Senna but under the stupidity that was "points dropping" threw away points rather than DNFs
In 1990 Senna deliberately drove into him thus endangering his life and stealing the World Championship by criminal and unfair means.

I think it was Prost who was one of the people signalling to the pits to end the 1984 Monaco race. If if if. If Prost outscored Lauda in the other races under the points system he would've won.
In 1988 the points system was the same for everyone, and Senna scored more points.


Gilles Villeneuve - the most spectacular and talented formula one driver I've seen footage of or read about. "To Gilles, racing truly was a sport, which
is why he would never chop you. Gilles was the hardest ******* I ever raced against, but completely fair. If you'd beaten him to a corner, he accepted it and gave you room. Then he'd be right back at you at the next one! Gilles was a giant of a driver, yes, but he was also a great man." - Keke Rosberg

Jim Clark - super smooth, unbelievably talented and well natured. He was probably one of the unluckiest world champions but he was the dominant 60's driver.

My third favourite changes quite a lot.

[Osella]

In 1988 the points system was the same for everyone, and Senna scored more points.

Not quite true actually. To quote McLaren's then team manager Jo Ramirez "That year (1988) Ayrton won eight GP's, Alain won seven. In the end Alain scored 105 points, Ayrton had 94, but on the dropping-points rule Ayrton was champion by three points"

So, as you can see, Prost actually scored more points, but Senna was given the championship as he has more retirements (the best 12 of 16 races counted toward the drivers title). So Prost was more consistent, but lost the title scoring more points! Ironically enough, if Senna hadn't run into Williams' Jean-Louis Schlesser in Monza and prevented McLaren's clean-sweep of the year, he actually would have lost the title by winning that race!..

Personally I rank Michael Schumacher first, Prost second and Fangio third.
Michael top simply because he outdrove, outthought, outdeveloped, outstrategized and outraced his opponents, Prost was simply just blindingly quick, should have had more titles (1990 was a disgrace! And people complained about Schumachers driving, yet still hold Senna up as an idol of the sport!) and Fangio third because no matter how brilliant he was, he always jumped to the best car, didn't really show any loyalty, unlike Prost and Schumacher who made their teams the best, rather than the other way round (except 1993!!).

[ShiftingGears]

Not quite true actually. To quote McLaren's then team manager Jo Ramirez "That year (1988) Ayrton won eight GP's, Alain won seven. In the end Alain scored 105 points, Ayrton had 94, but on the dropping-points rule Ayrton was champion by three points"

So, as you can see, Prost actually scored more points, but Senna was given the championship as he has more retirements (the best 12 of 16 races counted toward the drivers title). So Prost was more consistent, but lost the title scoring more points! Ironically enough, if Senna hadn't run into Williams' Jean-Louis Schlesser in Monza and prevented McLaren's clean-sweep of the year, he actually would have lost the title by winning that race!..

Everyone knew how the points system worked. And Ayrtons best 12 results massed more points than Alains. So Ayrton scored more points than Alain, under that points system.

[Garry Walker]

Gilles Villeneuve - the most spectacular and talented formula one driver I've seen footage of or read about.

LOL. If he was so talented, why did he struggle against some of his teammates?

[jens]

So, as you can see, Prost actually scored more points, but Senna was given the championship as he has more retirements (the best 12 of 16 races counted toward the drivers title). So Prost was more consistent, but lost the title scoring more points! Ironically enough, if Senna hadn't run into Williams' Jean-Louis Schlesser in Monza and prevented McLaren's clean-sweep of the year, he actually would have lost the title by winning that race!..

How does that make sense? If Ayrton had won at Monza, he would have led 9-7 in the wins' contention. And that year it was basically clear that which driver scored more wins, won the title. Btw, the best 11 results counted... So Senna's 8 wins and 3 second places made up 90 points that counted in the WDC. Prost's 87 points that counted were a total sum of 7 wins and 4 second places.

What is funny that 1988 was the only year, when Senna had no retirements due to mechanical failures! Among his 3 non-finishes one was DQ (Brazil) and two were accidents (Monaco, Italy).