The 50 Fastest F1 drivers ever

[ShiftingGears]

(According to a jury selected by F1Racing including the likes of Mosely, Whiting, Moss, Rosberg, Todt, Tambay)

50 Tony Brise
49 Jenson Button
48 Jean-Pierre Jarier
47 Riccardo Patrese
46 Dan Gurney
45 Jean Alesi
44 Rene Arnoux
43 Mark Webber
42 Jarno Trulli
41 Didier Pironi
40 Jo Siffert
39 Gerhard Berger
38 Johnny Servoz-Gavin
37 John Surtees
36 Tony Brooks
35 Carlos Pace
34 Hans-Joachin Stuck
33 Nino Farina
32 Jack Brabham
31 Damon Hill
30 Jody Scheckter
29 Tom Pryce
28 Carlos Reutemann
27 Mario Andretti
26 Jacky Ickx
25 Juan Pablo Montoya
24 Chris Amon
23 Francois Cevert
22 Alan Jones
21 James Hunt
20 Keke Rosberg
19 Stefan Bellof
18 Niki Lauda
17 Emerson Fittipaldi
16 Alberto Ascari
15 Nelson Piquet
14 Alain Prost
13 Kimi Raikkonen
12 Stirling Moss
11 Gilles Villeneuve
10 Jochen Rindt
9 Jackie Stewart
8 Fernando Alonso
7 Mika Hakkinen
6 Juan Manuel Fangio
5 Ronnie Peterson
4 Nigel Mansell
3 Jim Clark
2 Michael Schumacher
1 Ayrton Senna

Pretty comprehensive list there, However number 38 is a strange inclusion, as there were World Champions like Phil Hill and Mike Hawthorn that didn't make the cut. Also the magazine noted that one reason why Mansell is higher than Prost despite Prost being the higher pointscorer at Ferrari is that Prost with his super smooth style never seemed quick. What are your thoughts on this list?

[aryan]

To someone who started watching F1 in the 90s, the list seems comprehensive; but including the likes of Button and Webber while past world champions haven't made it is of course questionable. Also there are others who while obviously were quick, never achieved anything in F1 to reach such high numbers, e.g., Hans-Joachin Stuck and Gilles Villeneuve. Putting the latter at NO. 11 and Lauda at no. 18 should also raise some eyebrows. Jarno Truli? Yes he would have been multiple WDC if F1 races were less than 5 laps long but why is Truli here and not Fisichela who has more race wins to his name? Or Rubens or Ralf Schumacher for that matter... (not that I am advocating for their inclusion, I just want to know on what basis was Jarno included... Sorry pino )

[aryan]

and one more thing, why isn't JV here? Surely on the basis of his performance in his first 2 seasons he deserves to be included in the top50.

and JPM at 25 while his teammate who nearly got as many points as he did in Williams isn't in the list?

On second thoughts, the list seems rather imblanced to me, but these top 50 best ever kind of things can never really satisfy anyone, can they?

[jens]

Where is for example Graham Hill?

But anyway, is there even a point to discuss or even draw up such standings? It's quite impossible to make a ranking for even the current drivers, let alone the rating of all times. The rankings may be whatever, it's always possible to find a lot of debatable there. For example in these rankings Berger is 39th and Alesi 45th, whereas the Frenchman was marginally better. Or Peterson 5th and Andretti 27th - it was a different story, when they were team-mates.

And another question that raises. How can that "fastness" be measured? Quickness in qualifying? Fastest lap in the race? The final race standings? But even the race may not show anyone's speed accurately as different strategies and situations often prevent valuing of the exact speed.

The only thing we can read out from these standings, is that how highly those persons in that jury generally rate each driver.

[akv89]

I can't see anything wrong with the top 3. However, one thing that I don't understand is how Senna is almost untouchable when it comes to speed in qualifying but only has 19 fastest laps in his entire career.

[ArrowsFA1]

It's funny how Prost is only at 14 because he never seemed quick, but certainly was, and yet Mansell is at 4 because he always looked quick...

Gilles Villeneuve defined quick, and yet only rated at 11

Lists. You've gotta love 'em mokin:

[BeansBeansBeans]

Gilles should be at the top. In my opinion, he was the fastest racing driver of all time. He wasn't the best, as he lacked many of the qualities displayed by the likes of Senna, Schumacher, Prost, Stewart....etc, but he was definitely the fastest.

[pino]

To someone who started watching F1 in the 90s, the list seems comprehensive; but including the likes of Button and Webber while past world champions haven't made it is of course questionable. Also there are others who while obviously were quick, never achieved anything in F1 to reach such high numbers, e.g., Hans-Joachin Stuck and Gilles Villeneuve. Putting the latter at NO. 11 and Lauda at no. 18 should also raise some eyebrows. Jarno Truli? Yes he would have been multiple WDC if F1 races were less than 5 laps long but why is Truli here and not Fisichela who has more race wins to his name? Or Rubens or Ralf Schumacher for that matter... (not that I am advocating for their inclusion, I just want to know on what basis was Jarno included... Sorry pino )

It's ok aryan I can take jokes now I seriously think Jarno deserves a much better position than 42th...I would say 14th, just after Kimi : And to put Gilles on 11th place is just he deserves to be in top 3

[Vitesse]

Sheer speed has nothing to do with success in motor racing.

Another pointless "how can we fill eight pages this month?" feature ....

[ShiftingGears]

I think it is a lot more about how drivers are perceived than really grinding down all the statistics - for instance, we could argue that Jim Clark is the fastest because he has the most number of races where he led the whole race, had the fastest lap and pole position. However even then we would have to take account of the fact that you must at least pit once in modern formula One, etc etc. You can manipulate statistics to tell you anything, really. I think most of this list is perception because while Andretti, for instance, beat Peterson in 1978, it is Peterson who is known for spectacular feats of bravery, like drifting through Woodcote. Likewise Prost was never a spectacular driver and it was Mansell who was right in the spectacular moments, such as passing Berger around the outside of Peraltada, wheel to wheel with Senna in Spain '91, reeling in and passing Piquet at Silverstone '87 - the list goes on.
Ultimately, I tend to disagree with parts of all lists but for me they're always an interesting read.