Top 10 Formula One Drivers Of All Time

Emerson Fittipaldi doesn't have the most glittering Formula 1 CV, but he is still a two-time world champion and a master at his trade, so he gets my No. 10 spot. Amusingly enough, he also had a 10-year F1 career to go with his No. 10 slot.

He drove for three teams over his career: Lotus, McLaren and Fittipaldi Automotive.

149 races with 144 starts.

He is a two-time WDC (1972 and 1974).

14 wins, 35 podium finishes, 281 career points, six pole positions, six fastest laps.

First GP was the 1970 British GP, First win was the 1970 United States GP, last win was the 1975 British GP, and his last race was the 1980 United States GP.

Sir John Young Stewart, the Flying Scot, is one of Britain's best-loved former F1 drivers. He makes number 9 and still remains a figure in the sport to this very day as a safety advocate.

His F1 career spanned 12 years. He was also the principal of The Stewart F1 Team in partnership with his son, Paul, from 1997-99 .

He drove for two teams over his career: BRM and Tyrell.

100 Races with 99 Starts.

3 WDCs in 1969, 1971, and 1973 .

27 wins, 43 podium finishes, 360 career points, 17 pole positions, 15 fastest laps.

First GP was South Africa 1965, his first win was the Italian GP in 1965, last win was Germany 1973, and his last race was The United States GP 1973.

Still probably the best Austrian driver ever seen in many people's eyes, Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda makes it to No. 8 on my list and had a remarkable points haul in his 11-year F1 career. He even had a two-year break from racing between 1979 and 1982. Niki also has an astonishing pole to win conversion rate.

He drove for five teams in his career: March, BRM, Ferrari, Brabham, and McLaren.

177 races with 171 starts.

Also has 3 WDCs (1975 , 1977 and 1984).

25 wins, 54 podium finishes, 420.5 career points, 24 pole positions, 24 fastest laps .

First GP was the 1971 Austrian GP, his first win was the 1974 Spanish GP, last win was the 1985 Dutch GP, and his last race was the 1985 Australian GP.

Brabham was one of the most successful Australian Formula One drivers along with Bruce McLaren. Brabham's career spanned 15 years, and he makes it in at No. 7 on my list.

He drove for three teams over his career: Cooper, Rob Walker, and, of course, his own Brabham racing teams.

128 Races with 126 Starts.

Another three-time WDC (1959, 1960 and 1966).

14 wins, 31 podium finishes, 261 career points, 13 pole positions, and 12 fastest laps.

First GP was The 1955 British GP, first win was the 1959 Monaco GP, Last win was the 1970 South African GP, and his last race was the 1970 Mexican GP.

Michael Schumacher's biggest rival and main threat between 1998 and 2001, Mika Pauli Hakkinen makes No. 6 on my list.

I wish I could have placed Mika higher up the list, but sixth is where he goes. Schumacher even said Mika was the rival he respected most. Mika had a 10-year career in F1, and he is still the most successful Finnish F1 driver, unless Kimi Raikkonen wins the 2008 WDC.

He drove for two teams over his career: Lotus and McLaren.

165 races with 161 starts.

2 time WDC in a row (1998 and 1999) .

Today's Must Reads

10 reasons why College Football is better than the NFL

---

Does Michael Vick deserve a second chance?

---

Because we know you miss Sam Cassell, we present: The All-Time All-NBA Ugly Team

20 wins, 51 podium finishes, 420 career points, 26 pole positions, 25 fastest laps.

First GP was the United States GP in 1991, first win was the 1997 European GP , last win was the 2001 United States GP and last race was the 2001 Japanese GP .

Alain Marie Pascal Prost makes it to No. 5 on my list. Many people will argue that he should be much higher than this. On a statistically based top 10 list, then yes; but this isn't a stats-based list, it's a personal favourite list, so five is where he sits. He had a glittering 13-year career.

He drove for four teams in his career, all of them the top teams in F1: McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, and Williams.

202 races with 199 starts.

4-time WDC (1985 , 1986 , 1989, and 1993).

51 wins, 106 podium finishes, 798.5 career points, 33 pole positions, 41 fastest laps.

First GP was the 1980 Argentine GP, First win was the 1981 French GP, Last win was the 1993 German GP, and last race was the 1993 Australian GP.

Nelson Piquet Souto Maior takes No. 4 on my list. He had a 13-year career in F1 and still remains one of the most popular Brazillian F1 drivers the sport has seen. Let's hope his son can reach the heights of his legendary father.

He drove for six teams during his career: Ensign, McLaren, Brabham, Williams, Lotus, and Benetton.

207 races with 204 starts.

3 time WDC  (1981, 1983, and 1987) .

23 wins, 60 podium finishes, 485.5 career points, 24 pole positions, 23 fastest laps.

First GP was the 1978 German GP, first win was the 1980 United States GP West, last win was the 1991 Canadian GP, and last race was the 1991 Australian GP.

"El Chueco" or "El Maestro" takes No. 3 on my list. He dominated the first decade of Formula 1 racing, and he was a staggering 39 years old when he raced his first F1 WC race in 1950. He took an astonishing four titles in a row, yet was only racing for eight years in F1.

He drove for four teams during his career: Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes, and Ferrari.

52 races with 51 starts.

5 time WDC (1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957).

24 wins, 35 podium finishes, 277.64 career points, 29 pole positions, 23 fastest laps.

First GP was the 1950 British GP, First win was the 1950 Monaco GP, last win was the 1957 German GP, and his last race was the 1958 French GP .

Definately Formula 1's most successful driver in terms of WDC's and records, but Michael is not my No. 1 of all time; he is second. ,

This is mainly due to the fact that Michael had a tendency to let himself down. Without doubt, he was an awesome driver, a master behind the wheel of an F1 car, but he cheated a few times (Purpose collision with Hill, and Villeneuve and his tricks at Monaco, plus the way he was bigger than the Ferrari Team) .

This is one of the two things that have kept him off the very top spot of my list. The other is the fact that the winner is my absolute hero. Michael had a glittering 15-year career in F1.

He drove for three teams over his career: Jordan, Benetton, and Scuderia Ferrari.

250 races with 248 starts.

7 Time WDC (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004).

91 wins, 154 podium finishes, 1,369 career points, 68 pole positions, 76 fastest laps.

First GP was the 1991 Belgian GP, first win was the 1992 Belgian GP, last win was the 2006 Chinese GP, and last race was the 2006 Brazillian GP.

We are here. Ayrton Senna Da Silva is my No. 1 favourite F1 driver of all time. I've said many times that I couldn't really split Ayrton and Schumi, but when push comes to shove, I've chosen Senna over Michael.

The thing that actually ended up being the deciding factor in splitting these two was when Ayrton stopped his car in the middle of the blanchimont corner at Spa Francorchamps to tend to Frenchman Eric Komacs after he had crashed horrifically.

Why would a F1 driver, who could of been on for a fantastic result stop his car to tend to someone else, knowing another driver was going to take the win? Because he was a true professional, a true sportsman, and a nice man all-around. He was a real legend.

Would we see Michael Schumacher doing this No, Michael had many opportunities over the years to tend to stricken F1 drivers. He could have stopped to tend to Ayrton himself as he lay dying on the Imola Circuit, but he drove on and was eventually given the win by default.

Ayrton won The Monaco Grand Prix a staggering six times. No man has done that before. Only two men have come close with 5 each (Hill and Schumacher).

Ayrton drove for four teams over his career: Toleman, Lotus, McLaren and Williams.

162 races with 161 starts .

3 time WDC winner (1988 , 1990, and 1991) .

41 wins, 80 podium finishes, 614 career points, 65 pole positions, 19 fastest laps.

First race was the 1984 Brazillian GP, first win was the 1985 Portuguese GP, last win was the 1993 Australian GP, and his last race was the tragic 1994 San Marino GP.

There were a few other drivers who I had in mind for this list, including Jim Clark, Graham Hill , John Surtees, Albert Ascari, Bruce McLaren and even Damon Hill. Unfortunately, they didn't make it, but are all still true legends in their own rights .

We can debate as much as we like about is Michael the best? Is Ayrton the best? We must remember that Michael drove a completely different car for most of his career.

Ayrton never had the luxury of these seven-speed sequential gearboxes that Michael was so used to; instead he had to use manual gearboxes like you would find in a road car.

So to win three WDCs, all in a car where his thoughts weren't entirely on the track in front of him but he had to change those heavy gears as well, is quite an achievement.

Michael also had the luxury of clearly being the best by a huge margin during his Ferrari domination era where he won four titles in a row.

No one could match him or his machine, so his majority of WDCs were easy compared with champions who went before.

Also Michael got to pick his teammates, which I think is wrong. That surely made him bigger than the team.

He was also gifted a fair few wins because his teammates were told to slow down to allow Schumi past. Could you see such a thing happening between Prost And Senna? I feel not!

Some feel this damaged the sport of Formula One, because it was just like an advert for Ferrari and Schumacher. I wouldnt be so harsh as to say it was Michael who damaged the sport, rather a combination of Michael being great behind the wheel and the rest of the field not so great.

Senna, on the other hand, was plying his trade in an extremely competitive field with the likes of ex-teammate Alain Prost, who was highly successful during this period. At this time, Schumacher was merely a boy learning.

Some also think that the reason we think upon Senna as the greatest was because we watched him tragically lose his life, live on our TV screens. I can't speak for every Senna fan out there, but that is as far from the truth for me as you can get. In fact, I would call that an insult to Ayrton's memory that people think this.

I do believe that the record books would be completely different had Senna not been killed at Imola in 1994. Indeed Schumacher, would not have had it all his own way.

Some say Senna was at the end of his career when he died, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. I beg to differ.

At 34 years old, he easily had another one or two seasons left in him and ultimately one or two more WDCs. This would have taken him to four to five titles, which in turn would have meant Schumacher may not have had seven altogether .

Ayrton Senna is my No. 1 for his natural ability against the very best in the sport. His charisma, his sportsmanship, his raw pace in the most dangerous cars, but most of all his ability to switch between race driver and real person in the blink of an eye are traits money cannot buy.

So we can stop all these comparisons between two completely different drivers in different cars. In no way will we ever find out who was the absolute best unless they were to both drive a modern day F1 Car against each other.

Perish the thought!  I know who would win that battle; he wouldn't be German!

A lot of people aren't going to agree with my views or choices, but if you do happen to agree with me or even just like the article, then use the star box just below to rate the article, and even the Pick Of The Day box up the top.