[Pete H]

Who is the most ruthless F1 driver?
Schumacher must be up there after many contentious moves, not least his crash in 94 to rob Damon Hill of the title.
Interested to get your opinion, from these and previous generations.

[matt90]

Senna and Schumacher are the obvious ones. Prost supposedly knew how to play the politics game, so perhaps he could be considered ruthless in that respect.

[Craig Woollard]

I suppose for ruthlessness you need to consider how each driver went about trying to win. Senna was ruthless in every race in some respects because he simply drove flat out, and there was that occasion where he took out Prost. Prost used other tools at his disposal (i.e. great knowledge of the politics) to be ruthless, and to do whatever it took to deny Senna the title. Schumacher was similar in some respects but was able to build a strong team around him, reinforcing any weaknesses he may have shown. We have seen drivers change their mentality too. Hamilton of old was absolutely ruthless when one-on-one with another driver (usually Massa), but as we saw in 2012 he is beyond that now. To a degree Vettel had been the same on track, and then Malaysia came along. That was a big sign of ruthlessness.

Every driver wants to do everything they can to win, however some of the things they do are not morally right, nor are they in the rulebook. I don’t think there’s a straightforward answer to this question.

[Aish Heydrich]

Maldonado, Grosjean… Jokes aprt, I think currently it’s Vettel, Raikkonen… but before between 97 to 2006 it was Schumi, Raikkonen and definitely Montoya.

[Roald]

Montoya was the first driver to come to mind. Wish he’d still be in F1 though.

[DC]

Senna and Schumacher. Great guys off the track, but in the race, stay away from them because they take no prisoners.

[Kingshark]

G Villeneuve, Mansell, Senna, Montoya, Schumacher and today Vettel and Hamilton.

[Simon]

Perez certainly showed his ruthless side at the weekend!

[David-A]

Senna, Schumacher, Prost, Alonso, Vettel.

[R.J. O’Connell]

I’m seeing a lot of modern-era champions here, I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

What about Nino Farina? A very tough and ruthless racer in his own time, involved in a couple of fatal accidents in the pre-championship era. Certainly not in the vein of Stewart or Clark.

[Ash]

Gotta be Montoya

[Cristian]

Schumacher, Senna, Piquet and Alonso of course. You might add Prost, Fangio, Farina, Montoya, Mansell
Vettel, Kimi and Hamilton are more moderate than those above.

[Author]

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