F1 Fanatic

For the last two years, I’ve been asking the community their top 10 F1 drivers of the 21st century to date. Here were the 2010 and 2011 results, with my scoring based on the current points system (25 points for a 1st, down to 1 point for 10th).

2010
1. M Schumacher – 621 (20 1st’s)
2. Alonso – 519 (6 1st’s)
3. Hamilton – 402 (2 1st’s)
4. Raikkonen – 310
5. Vettel – 196
6. Hakkinen – 161
7. Montoya – 160
8. Button – 110
9. Massa – 93
10. Kubica – 80
11. Barrichello – 63
12. Webber – 53
13. Coulthard – 26
14. Rosberg – 18
15. Heidfeld – 8
16. Fisichella – 3
17. Trulli – 2
18. Villeneuve – 1
19. Kobayashi – 1
20. R Schumacher – 1

2011
1. M Schumacher – 871 (31 1st’s)
2. Alonso – 674 (5 1st’s)
3. Vettel – 502
4. Raikkonen – 426
5. Hamilton – 379
6. Button – 266
7. Hakkinen – 177 (1 1st)
8. Montoya – 114
9. Kubica – 90
10. Massa – 88
11. Barrichello – 43
12. Coulthard – 40
13. Webber – 33
14. R Schumacher – 12
15. Rosberg – 11
16. Heidfeld – 8
17. Fisichella – 1
18. Villeneuve – 1
19. Glock – 1

After the 2012 season (which saw no less than SIX champions on the grid), who do you rank as the greatest drivers of the century? For those who voted before, did your assessment change? Remember, assess them based on their performance this century AS A WHOLE, not just based on their performance this season.

Here’s my 2012 list. It’s mostly unchanged from my 2011 list, but it does have two changes. One is much more controversial than the other.
1. Michael Schumacher (same)
2. Sebastian Vettel (up 1) – This one’s VERY close. But three titles in a row is a VERY rare achievement.
3. Fernando Alonso (down 1)
4. Lewis Hamilton (same)
5. Kimi Raikkonen (same)
6. Jenson Button (same)
7. Mika Hakkinen (same)
8. Felipe Massa (same)
9. Rubens Barrichello (same)
10. Mark Webber (returning, replacing Juan Pablo Montoya)

@bobthevulcan Indeed – that’s why Hakkinen is relatively low on this table. Had we been talking about a Top 10 drivers of the 1990s, though, he’d be right up there – probably Top 3. I’d have DC in the lower part of the 90s list – somewhere from 8th to 10th.

@mnmracer Karthikeyan in the Top 10? Interesting choice…

Any chance you could link to the old threads, @journeyer, so we can see how we voted before? It would be embarrassing if I had ranked Michael Schumacher top last time but accidentally went with Takuma Sato this year. It could happen!

Oh gosh. @journeyer does this rating include 2000? Or does it start from 2001?

@estesark: I think 2010 was in the old forum and is now lost to history. But 2011 is here: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/groups/f1/forum/topic/top-10-drivers-of-the-21st-century-%e2%80%93-2011-edition/

@raymondu999: I start from the year 2000.

@sigman1998: Base it on their performance in the 21st century ONLY. That would explain why Hakkinen is relatively low in the Top 10 despite his 2 titles.

1. Michael Schumacher
2. Sebastian Vettel
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Kimi Raikkonen
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Jenson Button
7. Mika Hakkinen
8. Felipe Massa
9. Nick Heidfeld
10. Nico Rosberg

1. Michael Schumacher
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Kimi Raikkonen
5. Sebastian Vettel
6. Felipe Massa
7. Jenson Button
8. Juan Pablo Montoya
9. Rubens Barrichello
10. Mark Webber