[Anonymous]

The discussions about Sato and Kobayashi and Japan’s hope in F1 got me thinking who were the very best from their country?

Brazil? Senna or Piquet snr must fight for top honours.

Britain?

Germany? Should be easy ;P

Japan?

Italy? Have to go way back for that. Ascari for me. If it was pre-F1 then Nuvolari.

France?

America?

Finland?

Have you spotted any talent that could rise to the top of their nation? Are there any countries lacking or have more talent than you’d expect given their F1 history? Finland has loads more than I expected because of how much they lvoe rallying.

[Anonymous]

Only rankings after 1985-1990:

Brazil

4 Barrichello

3 Massa

2 Piquet Sr

1 Senna

Honorable mentions: Gugelmin, Moreno

Germany

4 Frentzen

3 R Schumacher

2 Vettel

1 M Schumacher

Honorable mentions: Heidfeld, Sutil

Italy

4 Capelli (@Leyton House)

3 Trulli

2 Fisichella

1 Alboreto

Honorable mentions: Nannini, de Cesaris

G Britain (+Ireland+Scotland)

4 Hill

3 Button

2 Hamilton

1 Mansell

Honorable mentions: Irvine, Coulthard

France

4 Alliot (no seriously)

3 Panis

2 Alesi!

1 Prost

Finland

4 Lehto

3 Salo

2 Raikkonen

1 Hakkinen

Austria

4 Klien

3 Wendlinger

2 Wurz

1 Berger

Japan

4 Sato

3 Suzuki

2 Kobayashi

1 Nakajima (S!)

Honorable mentions: Katayama, Takagi

*My long shot is Pietro Fantin for Brazil. Let’s see how he does.

[David-A]

Germany

1. M.Schumacher

2. S.Vettel

3. R.Schumacher

4. N.Rosberg

5. H.Frentzen

Great Britain

1. N.Mansell

2. L.Hamilton

3. J.Clark

4. J.Stewart

5. J.Button

Brazil

1. A.Senna

2. E.Fittipaldi

3. N.Piquet Sr.

4. F.Massa

5. R.Barrichello

Finland

1. M.Hakkinen

2. K.Raikkonen

3. K.Rosberg

4. H.Kovalainen

5. M.Salo

Japan

1. K.Kobayashi

2. T.Sato

3. A.Suzuki

4. S.Nakajima

5. K.Nakajima

France

1. A.Prost

2. R.Arnoux

3. J.Alesi

4. O.Panis

5. J.Laffite

Australia

1. J.Brabham

2. A.Jones

3. M.Webber

United States

1. Mario Andretti

2. P.Hill

3. D.Gurney

[Rucknar]

Germany

1. S.Vettel

2. N.Rosberg

3. M.Schumacher

Great Britain

1. N.Mansell

2. L.Hamilton

3. J.Stewart

4. J.Clark

5. J.Button

Brazil

1. A.Senna

2. E.Fittipaldi

3. N.Piquet Sr.

Finland

1. M.Hakkinen

2. K.Rosberg

3. K.Raikkonen

Japan

1. K.Kobayashi

2. T.Sato

France

1. A.Prost

2. R.Arnoux

3. J.Alesi

4. J.Laffite

5. O.Panis

Austrian

1. Jochen Rindt

Australia

1. J.Brabham

2. M.Webber

United States

1. Mario Andretti

[karan01]

I would put Coulthard in there under Britain.

[Magnificent Geoffrey]

Hungary

1. Baumgartner

[Ned Flanders]

Similarly:

Malaysia

1. Yoong

2. N/A

[rampante]

It must be an age thing here as I can’t see how some of the very best have been left out.

Brazil

1, Senna

2, Piquet

3, Fitipaldi

Britain,

1, Stewart

2, Clark

3, Hill G

(Can’t believe Hamilton and Mansell are above Stewart and Clark with some)

Germany

1, Schumacher

2, Von Tripps

3, Vettel

Italy

1, Ascari

2, Farina

3, Nuvolari

France

1, Prost

2, Cevert

3, Alesi

USA

1, Hill

2, Andretti

3, can’t think of another worth mentioning

Finland

1, Hakkinen

2, Raikonen

3, Rosberg

Austria

1, Lauda

2, Rindt

3, Berger

[Magnificent Geoffrey]

I agree rampante. For me, I’d place Sir Stirling Moss, Clark and Stewart above Hamilton, Mansell and the Hills easily.

[Ned Flanders]

I think Hamilton has shown enough alreadyn to put him up amongst the likes of Stewart, Moss and Clark. Within a few years I believe we may well be conidering him to be the best British driver ever.

I agree that the likes of Mansell, Button and the two Hills are a step below this lot though

[Anonymous]

Italy – De Angelis

[Scribe]

Yeah the Britain ratings baffling, Clark was considered to be the special one of his generation, Stewart says he considers him the best driver he’s ever raced, certainly a better driver than himself, those once in a generation miles out in front.

By the time he died he’d already won the most races ever at that time.

Britain.

1 Clark

2 Stewart

3 Moss

4 Mansell

5 Hamilton

6 G Hill

7 Button

8 D Hill

9 Surtees

10 Hawthorn

Everything else, I’d agree with David A’s list.

[rampante]

Ned, Hamilton has a very long way to go to be considered alongside Stewart and Clark.

They may well pre date you but Clark was one of the very best ever and Stewart( my first favourite driver and that’s from an Italian!) was a 3times WDC when just surviving 2 seasons in the sport was seen as exceptional.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with Rampante. I think Hamilton could one day be up there but certainly not now for me. He can’t think like other British champions could, he still makes errors and I’m not sure if he is the naturally fastest out of them. I really believe he could be better than all of them one day but not now.

[paulgilb]

Most successful driver from each country:

Argentina – Juan Manuel Fangio

Australia – Jack Brabham

Austria – Niki Lauda

Belgium – Jacky Ickx

Brazil – Ayrton Senna

Britain – Jackie Stewart

Canada – Jacques Villeneuve

Chile – Eliseo Salazar

Colombia – Juan Pablo Montoya

Czech Republic – Tomas Enge

Denmark – Jan Magnussen

Finland – Mika Hakkinen

France – Alain Prost

Germany – Michael Schumacher

India – Narain Karthikeyan

Ireland (Republic) – Derek Daly

Italy – Alberto Ascari

Japan – Takuma Sato

Liechtenstein – Rikky von Opel

Malaysia – Alex Yoong

Monaco – Louis Chiron

Mexico – Pedro Rodriguez

Netherlands – Jos Verstappen

New Zealand – Denny Hulme

Poland – Robert Kubica

Portugal – Tiago Monteiro

Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) – John Love

Russia – Vitaly Petrov

South Africa – Jody Scheckter

Spain – Fernando Alonso

Sweden – Ronnie Peterson

Switzerland – Clay Regazzoni

Thailand – Prince Bira

Uruguay – Eitel Cantoni

USA – Mario Andretti

Venezuela – Johnny Cecotto

And if we extend to Friday practice drivers, we have:

Israel – Chanoch Nissany

[Author]

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