Who Is the Best F1 Driver of All Time?

Prost’s achievements are put into even greater perspective when considering his adversaries over this golden age of racing.  As well as Senna, Brazilian Nelson Piquet won three titles over this period.  Damon Hill, Jean Alesi, John Watson, and Keke Rosberg, all once in a generation drivers, played second fiddle to the French racer. 

He then came back in 1993 and won his last title despite the brilliance of one of the greatest British F1 drivers Nigel Mansell—who won the 1992 title by a then record 52 points.

Scotsmen Jim Clark can lay claim to the throne of the greatest driver in the sport.  Clark was a dominator in the 1960s forming a great collaboration with team owner Colin Chapman—and for all of the speed of his cars, their tenuous nature restricted the flying Scotsman to only two world titles.

Clark was involved in a terrible accident in 1961 when his Lotus collided with the Ferrari of Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips.  Wolfgang was killed along with 15 spectators in what was a racing tragedy.

Clark’s real claim to fame was his ability to drive any car.  As well as being World Champion in 1963 and 1965, he also won the Indianapolis 500, the British Touring Car Championship, and came third in the 24 Hours race of Le mans.  He tragically died in 1968 in a Formula Two race at the Hockenheim ring in Germany.

But the Grandfather of Formula one racing is Juan Manuel Fangio—the Argentinean genius to whom all great drivers are compared.  He won five World championships, including four consecutive titles from 1954 to 1957.  He won his titles with four different teams, and while he only achieved 24 wins, a number surpassed by many drivers, he accomplished this in just 51 races, a strike rate unmatched by any other driver in history.

But the fact that he won his first championship at the age of 40 is the greatest statistic considering his best racing years were behind him.  His greatest foe Stirling Moss, remarked that Fangio was in a different league to all the other drivers—and he set the standard for racing etiquette.

I watched many of Schumacher’s racers, and he was no doubt a force beyond anything the sport had seen—but there were factors that aided his reign.

But if going beyond pure statistics, I would select Juan—as his strike rate and switching of teams indicates a dominance that was no aided by race advisers, ascendant cars or aggressive team orders.

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