Times Online engages in comedy, their best 50 drivers of all time list

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Originally Posted by pettersolberg29

Nick outraced Kimi and Massa at Sauber, yet missed out on the McLaren seat to Kimi for no real identifiable reason. There is every reason to believe that Nick would be as fast if not faster than Kimi and Massa if given equal machinery.

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What reason? Read a bit more!
If Nick could beat Massa and Kimi in a rubbish Sauber why shouldn't he in a Brawn GP or Ferrari?

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Originally Posted by pettersolberg29

What reason? Read a bit more!
If Nick could beat Massa and Kimi in a rubbish Sauber why shouldn't he in a Brawn GP or Ferrari?

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Heidfeld beat a rookie Raikkonen. I trust Ron's judgement more than yours. Nick is solid, but is yet to win a single GP. One of the few drivers in the grid not to have a victory. To compare him to a WDC is preposterous. At best, his is on par with Jarno Trulli or Fisichella - good and solid. Spectacular no.

That's why we need Heidfeld in McLaren - to end all those debates to see, whether he is capable of winning (a) race/races in a top car or pose any kind of a WDC-threat.

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Originally Posted by jens

That's why we need Heidfeld in McLaren - to end all those debates to see, whether he is capable of winning (a) race/races in a top car or pose any kind of a WDC-threat.

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IMO he will be a great Nu2 driver in McLaren.

Heidfeld would be a great no. 2 for McLaren - consistent, but also in my opinion able to challenge for wins if given the right machinery. I'm not comparing Nick to a WDC - I'm comparing him to Rubens and DC. If Nick and Rubens were partners in Brawn next year, and I would bet everything on Nick beating him over the whole season.

I was simply using the point of beating Kimi to suggest he can be as good. IMO Nick wouldn't be as good as Kimi or Massa, but he would be very close and could certainly beat them on a few occassions (say 30%) if given equal machinery. That's good enough for a 2nd driver.

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Originally Posted by pettersolberg29

Heidfeld would be a great no. 2 for McLaren - consistent, but also in my opinion able to challenge for wins if given the right machinery. I'm not comparing Nick to a WDC - I'm comparing him to Rubens and DC. If Nick and Rubens were partners in Brawn next year, and I would bet everything on Nick beating him over the whole season.

I was simply using the point of beating Kimi to suggest he can be as good. IMO Nick wouldn't be as good as Kimi or Massa, but he would be very close and could certainly beat them on a few occassions (say 30%) if given equal machinery. That's good enough for a 2nd driver.

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With this, I can agree. :)

If Kubica can't beat Nick decisively, I doubt anyone would blow NH away, though I would expect that Lewis, Vettel, Kimi, and Fernando would, over a season, prove to better. Still, IMO it wouldn't be a Hamilton-Kovalainen type of beat-down, or a Rosberg-Nakajima type of beat-down.

There are very few drivers in my opinion who are either way above or way below the others.
Over a whole season, if everyone was given the same cars, I'd say Lewis, Alonso and possibly Vettel would be noticeably quicker, and Nakajima, Grosjean, Buemi and possibly Kovalainen would be way down in the points. Everyone else would be very, very equal.

Actually I may be giving Buemi a dis-service.

Why on earth do people try to compile "top drivers" lists, there is no basis of direct comparison between most drivers from the history of the sport, its a futile gesture that is only going to cause arguments rather than enlightening learned opinion.

PS. Also where was Ricardo Rosset in the list?? :)