I’m sure a lot of car enthusiasts including our the Freeman Motoring editor Lord Seno (the lord of the tracks), will disagree with this list. But in his book “The Top 100 F1 Drivers of All Time”, author Alan Henry (who has followed the F1 paddock for 35 years and has covered 568 races and almost 2 million miles in the process, has been a monitor racing correspondent for Auto car and editor-at-large for F1 racing and Grand Prix). Of course it would be a crime to leave the likes of Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Alain Frost and Jim Clark from the top ten. But Henry said although skills behind the wheel and winning are notable factors, dignity, tenacity and the ability to inspire the team around him. You may not agree with Henry’s choices, but it’s a personal opinion from one of the sport’s respected journalists in the world. Here’s Henry’s list.
1. STIRLING MOSS (Great Britain) What Moss at number one? Moss never won a world championship but has joined 66 Grands Prix with 16 victories. In 1958, Moss was all poised to win his first-ever world championship in Casablanca, but Mike Hawthorn of Ferrari, spoiled Moss’ dream, winning by one point. Moss retired in 1962 after he crashed his Lotus during a race leaving him in a coma for almost a month. Moss died April this year at age 81.
2.JIM CLARK (Great Britain) Clark was world champion in 1963 and 1965 and almost won in 1962 and 1964. Clark then 31 years old, died in a minor league F2 race at Hockenheim, Germany in the spring of 1968. He was second in the 1963 Indianapolis 500 Classics.In 1972 Grand Prix, he was in pole 33 times, winning 25 race and finished second only once.
3.AYRTON SENNA (Brazil) 61 Grands Prix, 41 wins. Was world champion in 1988,1990 and 1991. Senna was killed when his Williams FW16 crashed while leading the 1994 San Marino GP at Imola. Earlier Roland Ratzenberger was killed in practice. They were the first F1 drivers to be killed in 12 years.
4.ALAIN PROST (France) 199 Grands Prix, 51 wins. World champion in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 2003.Prost joined Mc Laren in 1984 alongside Nikki Lauda and taught him the tricks although Alain won seven races and Nikki only five, it was Nikki who clinched the championship by the narrowest margin ever, half a point.
5.ALBERTO ASCARI (Italy) 32 Grands Prix 13 wins World champion in 1952 and 1953 (Lancia, Maserati). Born into a motor racing family, Ascari died during an impromptu test of a Ferrari sports car at Monza, in 1955, by coincidence on the same day of the same month as his father Antonio who died contesting the 1926 French GP at Montlhery. Ascari was a quite, pleasant and universally popular man as well as a formidable competitor. The legendary Juan Manuel Fangio five-time world champion, said “I have lost my greatest opponent”.
6.JUAN-MANUEL FANGIO (Argentina) 51 Grands Prix, 24 wins. World Champion in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. He was F1 racing’s senior citizen, respected and revered as an icon from another era. He was still racing even in his 80s. Although he won only 24 Grands Prix he did it in a career, just covering 51 races.
7. BERND ROSEMEYER (Germany) 33 Grands Prix, 10 wins. A son of a successful garage-owner, Rosemeyer began racing motorcyles at an early age. In 1935, Rosemeyer had his car racing debut in Berlin. He was killed in 1938 near Darmstadt after losing control at over 270 mph. His wife, famous aviatrix Elly Beinhorn received a letter of condolence from Adolf Hitler. Rosemeyer was buried with full military honors.
8.JACKIE STEWART (Great Britain) 99 Grands Prix 27 wins. World champion in 1969, 1971 and 1973 Stewart worked with a range of global corporations as an international ambassador. He was a driving force behind sweeping safely improvements. In his youth, Stewart was diagnosed as suffering from dyslexia, which he overcame.
9.TAZIO NUVOLARI (Italy) 75 Grands Pix 11 wins. Nobody expected Nuvolari to win the 1935 German GP at the Nurburging, but he upset the rated Manfred Brauchitsch of Mercedes. In 1948, Nuvolari, who has been diagnosed with tuberculosis, joined the Mille Miglia but his car was not ready. Enzo Ferrari stepped in and provided him a car. He was leading all the way until on the return leg, his car spun to a halt with a broken spring. Drained and exhausted he was rushed to a hospital. He died of TB in 1953.
10. MIKA HAKKINEN (Finland) 161 Grands Prix, 20 wins, world champion in 1998 and 1999. World champions Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher were both impressed with Hakkinen who was prepared to go wheel-to-wheel with his competitors.
As I said earlier, a lot of debate will rage on this list that ranked Lewis Hamilton at number 30. But when this book came out, Lewis was only 22 and just starting, coming within a point of winning the world championship in his first attempt. Now 35, Lewis is a six-time champion and could eclipse Schumacher’s seven titles. Will Lewis become the best F1 driver of all time? Your guess is as good as mine.
Other great F1 racers in Henry’s list include 11. Schumacher 12. Gilles Villenueve 13. Chris Amon 14. Tony Brooks 15. Carlos Reutemann 16. Achille Varzi 17. Emerson Fittipaldi 18. Jack Brabham 19. Mario Andretti and 20. Nikki Lauda. Those who miss the top 20 are James Hunt, Alan Jones, Graham Hill, Clay Regazzoni, Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya, Bruce McLaren, Fernando Alonso and Nigel Mansell. But where is Sebastian Vettel?