F1 Fanatic

heroes for me

NIGEL MANSELL
DAMON HILL
DAVID COULTHARD
LEWIS HAMILTON
JENSEN BUTTON
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
MARK WEBBER
RUBENS BARRICHELLO
JOHNNY HERBERT
MARTIN BRUNDLE
MIKA HAKKINEN
NICO ROSBERG
RICARDO PATRESE
JEAN ALESSI
GERHARD BERGER
SEBASTIEN VETTEL
KARUN CHANDHOK
FELIPE MASSA
KEKE ROSBERG
EMERSON FITIPALDI
ALAN JONES
JUAN MANUEL FANGIO
ALBERTO ASCARI
STIRLING MOSS
GRAHAM HILL
JIM CLARK
JACKIE STEWART
GILLES VILLENEUVE
PHIL HILL
JAMES HUNT
ALEX ZANARDI maybe more so in indycar

villains for me

FERNANDO ALONSO
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
KIMI RAIKKONEN
RUBENS BARRICHELLO beacause he HAD to know there would be team orders joing Ferrari with Schuey
FELIPE MASSA because he should have known Alonso would force the team to order him aside
ALAIN PROST
NELSON PIQUET SNR
AYRTON SENNA
EDDIE IRVINE all his life
MICHAEL ANDRETTI

Heroes-

M. Schumacher
N. Rosberg
K. Raikkonen
S. Vettel
A. Prost
F. Massa (yes, even now)

Villains-

V. Liuzzi (for crashing into Massa then having people blame the Ferrari)
A. Senna (still respect him)
M. Webber (respect him a little)
D. Coulthard
J.P. Montoya
D. Hill
J. Villeneuve
M. Hakkinen (I respect him)
D. Pironi (haven’t seen him, but I don’t like what i’ve heard)
L. Hamilton (like him but he drives for Mclaren, and will likely do so for the rest of his career)
N. Piquet Jr.

My HEROES:
Gilles Villeneuve – what needs to be said?
Alain Prost – Love the calculating driving style, brilliant.
Olivier Panis – Great things for Ligier/Prost before the accident. Thoroughly nice, hard working chap too.
Giancarlo Fisichella – Did remarkable things in unremarkable cars, but couldnt do them in good ones.
Jean Alesi – Any rookie who can take it to Senna in a Tyrrell is a hero.
Gerhard Berger – Great sense of humour, loyal and honorable chap.
Niki Lauda – “To Hell and Back”. You’re damn right.
Nelson Piquet – Great sense of humour, but massively underrated too in my opinion.
Jarno Trulli – Mr Qualifying (post Senna obviously)
Fernando Alonso – Metronomic, meteoric. Complex and interesting chap, but he’s my favourite driver of all time for reasons I’m not entirely sure of.
Mark Webber – Gritty, determined, a proper racer.
Alex Zanardi – He’d be in my list of all time heroes, never mind just an F1 list.
Juan Manuel Fangio – The greatest ever?
Tazio Nuvolari – pre war legend
Andrea de Cesaris – Often punched above his weight – I like that in a driver.
Juan Pablo Montoya – You broke my head you forking idiot…
Jacques Villeneuve – Hmmm what colour shall I dye my hair this week?
Pedro de la Rosa – Too old, not that great in the first place, but loves the sport so much.
Ukyo Katayama – Magnificent for Tyrrell in 1994. If only we knew then why his potential would vanish so quickly.
Keke Rosberg – Anyone with a tache like that is a hero in my book
Ivan Capelli – Heroic perfomances for March/Leyton House
Organisers of the 1960 Italian GP – Hilarious but brilliant.

VILLAINS:
Didier Pironi – I know too much is made of his part in the GV saga, but I cant really let it go…
Lewis Hamilton – Undeniably talented, but too much PR speak or too much putting your foot in it.
Ayrton Senna – Most talented driver ever, but he went too far to prove it.
Kimi Raikkonen – You drove for the two best teams in the worlds most prestigious motor sport. You won many races and a world championship, SO SHOW SOME BLOODY EMOTION!
Eddie Irvine – Just shut up. Please.
Sebastian Vettel – Gloat! Gloat! Moan! Moan!
Alberto Ascari – Don’t know why.
Nigel Mansell – “Winning this championship was harder than it looked”
Jaime Alguersuari – For being younger than me.

OTHER:
Michael Schumacher – Currently would list him as a hero, but it would be hypocritical of me to do so because I used to hate him so much. I cant list him at the moment.

HONOURABLE MENTION:
Ralf Schumacher. Thankyou for all the laughs.

I really could go on forever and there are lot more guys that, thinking about it, I would list, but they didn’t come to my head quick enough so they’ve missed out. Sorry Massa, Button, Arnoux, Coulthard, Hakkinen, Alboreto…Everyone will just have to guess where I’ve placed you!

Seeing Dan’s list has made me remember a few :

Heroes:

Nuvolari. Without doubt. One of my all time racing heroes.
Trulli for speed
Lauda.
Capelli
Moreno

Villain-
Nelson Piquet was underrated as Dan said but I couldn’t warm to him.

@Dan I’m guessing Massa was top of your heroes list or at least he should be ;P

villenueve junior, forgot about him , he bacame a right burke

Heroes:

Niki Lauda – Recovered from a horrifying crash and being led the last rites to come back that season. Criticised by Old Man Ferrari for retiring from a sodden race that season but that will never take away from his bravery and his sheer ability to come back after a 3 year break to win a third WDC

Jackie Stewart – Bravery is required to race the cars of his era, but to stand up against fans, the governing body and some of your fellow drivers required bravery of a different sort. No-one has put as much back into the sport as this man.

David Coulthard – Despite having the measure of Hakkinen in 1997, never became the WDC that he arguably could have. A brilliant man, although as a driver relied too much on confidence

Damon Hill – Perhaps not the most talented or strong-willed driver to win the WDC, but certainly one of the biggest-hearted. An all-round decent guy who deserved his moments of glory. Defined by Hungary 1997.

Fernando Alonso – Vilified in the press but still proves himself to be a great driver on numerous occasions. Had things been different we could well be looking at a 4x WDC

Michael Schumacher – There is a reason why F1 is so popular in Germany. This is it.

Villains:

Michael Schumacher – Adelaide 1994, Jerez 1997, Rascasse 2006 not to mention the subjugating of team-mates, etc. etc. etc.

Fernando Alonso – Scandal and controversy does seem to follow him wherever he goes. Co-incidence?

Rubens Barichello – perhaps sounded like a bit of a winer in recent seasons but like any wine has got steadily better and more palatable with age.

Nelsinho Piquet – OK under pressure etc but at the end of the day, endangered lives of others for the gain of the team.

Sebastian Vettel – As so eloquently put earlier “Whine whine whine, moan moan moan, grump grump grump”. Also his alarming tendency to turn right when there is a rival nearby is not particularly endearing…

Helmut Marko – Not as a driver but his politics as a team-member aren’t the best…

Ayrton Senna – I think best driver of always, and a good person out of the car, something Schumacher can’t say of himself.

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Actually Schumacher has done lots of charity work and donated millions. This is always something that gets forgotten.