BBC’s Top 20 F1 drivers ever (list) (365 posts)

Topic tags: F1
  • Profile picture of S.J.M S.J.M said 11 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Mika definatley deserves to be in any top20, more so then the likes of Hamilton & Vettel. He was pretty much the only guy who could take the fight to Schumacher in the Ferrari dominating years (until Alonso arrived at the recharged Renault team) and win!

    Hard to comment who should be above who in this list, we’re lacking 13 other drivers, but I have no qualms with Mika being #14

  • Profile picture of Kingshark Kingshark said 11 months, 3 weeks ago:

    So far, the list looks like this:

    14 – Mika Hakkinen
    15 – Lewis Hamilton
    16 – Nelson Piquet
    17 – Emerson Fittipaldi
    18 – Jack Brabham
    19 – Graham Hill
    20 – Jochen Rindt

    I really think Hamilton is very overrated and Piquet, Hill and Brabham are underrated.
    Oh btw, the #22 and #23 OP was talking about are likely Raikkonen and Button, who else could they be?

    For the remainder of the list, it will likely look like this:

    13 – Sebastian Vettel
    12 – Alberto Ascari
    11 – Nigel Mansell
    10 – Gilles Villeneuve
    9 – Fernando Alonso
    8 – Sir Stirling Moss
    7 – Niki Lauda
    6 – Jackie Stewart
    5 – Juan Manuel Fangio
    4 – Alain Prost
    3 – Michael Schumacher
    2 – Ayrton Senna
    1 – Jim Clark

    ~ My prediction knowing it’s Walker and Benson.

  • Profile picture of snowman snowman said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    It’s not just Murray Walker and the worlds worst F1 journalist Andrew Benson. It is all the BBC F1 team putting the list together. “The BBC F1 team were asked to provide their own personal top 20s”

    I personally would rather Murray just done the list because I respect him and only he has seen all the greats first hand.

  • Profile picture of Kodongo Kodongo said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Is it just me or isn’t it abundantly clear that the remaining three active drivers are Räikkönen, Alonso and Schumacher? The last two need no explanation but Kimi’s body of work is so much more complete (versus Vettel, Button et cetera). He has every skill, superior talent and has been doing for a much longer period of time at the top level. I just don’t see how Vettel or Button could be in the top 20 ahead of Kimi.

  • Profile picture of Dizzy-A Dizzy-A said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    @kodongo – Vettel features in the intro of all of these, so I would believe that he’d be on the list.

    I also don’t really see how if Kimi was on the list, why Lewis Hamilton could be at number 15 and a minimum of 6 places ahead of Vettel, someone even younger, even more successful and often considered more focused (less distacted) than him.

  • Profile picture of Kingshark Kingshark said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Vettel needs to show up now, otherwise this list has little credibility imo.

    Don’t get me wrong, in 10 years more time and Vettel will likely be one of the all-time greats, but right now, he certainly doesn’t deserve to be put in the same bracket as Lauda, Stewart, Ascari, or even Alonso (who make up my # 6-9)

    Had it been my list, Hamilton wouldn’t have made the top 20; and the likes of Brabham, Piquet, Hill, and Fittipaldi would be higher; much higher.

  • Profile picture of Dizzy-A Dizzy-A said 11 months, 2 weeks ago:

    I agree that at the moment Vettel should not be in the top 10. I would have had him 14 or so. Hamilton is one of the stronger 1 time champs in my opinion so maybe would be on the fringes of my top 20 with Raikkonen.

    My top 10 is Schumacher, Clark, Prost, Senna, Fangio, Lauda, Stewart, Ascari, Brabham, Piquet Sr/Alonso.

  • Profile picture of raymondu999 raymondu999 said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    And Mansell takes up unlucky #13!

  • Profile picture of infernojim infernojim said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    13 – mansell

    below vettel… ridiculous… if seb is top 10 the list loses all credibility…

  • Profile picture of matt90 matt90 said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    I don’t know a lot about Mansell, but I do know that he could have easily been a multiple champion. If Vettel is higher than him based purely on potential I’ll think it’s ridiculous. Otherwise you’d have Bellof in there over most drivers too.

  • Profile picture of raymondu999 raymondu999 said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    @matt90 maybe Bellof ends up in P1 for his underrated Monaco 1984 drive? :P

  • Profile picture of matt90 matt90 said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    Exactly my point. It is difficult though. Villeneuve and Vettel have had careers of similar lengths (in terms of seasons, not races), and Vettel achieved so much more but is arguably no better a driver- so how they rank it will be very personal. I suppose the problem is that as I don’t rank him that highly I’ll think the list has little credibility every time a legendary name comes up before him.

  • Profile picture of infernojim infernojim said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    ^this.

    The higher Vettel gets, the less credibility the list has.

    I don’t think he’s a bad driver, by any means, indeed you can’t be a “bad” double-world champion.

    But there’s no way he deserves to get into a top 10 at this time. His first championship was inherited through Alonso’s Ferrari team mistake.

    Therefore, he should really only be a Single champ last season, and fair play, he exploited a superior car and dominated his team mate, and with consistent pace and reliability romped to the Championship, but that’s no different to what Button did in 2009, albeit easier, because Button had to handle the fact that for the second half of the season the car was no longer dominant and he took it to some great results to seal the deal.

    He should be top 20, but if he gets in to the top 10 then I’m basically writing this exercise off as a failure by the BBC….

    Mansell should have been a multi-champ, but look who he was fighting with, and who he was respected by… definitely should be above Vettel, as it stands.

  • Profile picture of Kingshark Kingshark said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    What if the fourth modern era driver turns out not to be Vettel, but Raikkonen? Or even worse, Button!

  • Profile picture of matt90 matt90 said 11 months, 1 week ago:

    “His first championship was inherited through Alonso’s Ferrari team mistake.”

    I wouldn’t agree with that at all. He did have the best car, but he also had the worst reliability of anybody that year, and Alonso would have 8 points less if they hadn’t openly cheated, less if they’d been properly punished.

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