Sebastian Vettel: Is Red Bull star greatest Formula One driver ever? -Poll inside-

[DIEK]

Sebastian Vettel: with fourth consecutive world title in sight, is Red Bull star greatest Formula One driver ever?

Sebastian Vettel is about to secure his fourth Formula One world title in a row, so the question has to be asked: is he the greatest?

As he closes in on a fourth consecutive world drivers' title, the debate still rages: is Sebastian Vettel a great driver? Or merely a very good driver in a great car? We ask the experts, and you can vote on who you think is the greatest of them all:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...iver-ever.html




Results today at 14:47 pm. (Madrid time, GTM+2)



Vote!

[Greig]

For me it's MS that I have seen race, Alonso is very close though so I will vote Alonso since I am still mad at MS

If you read this Michael, then let that be a lesson to you!!!!

[Alonsomaniac]

For me there is no doubt at all : nobody has even been close to Senna's magic.
I'm following F1 since 1973, so I have seen a lot but never something like Senna.
Schumacher is the most successfull driver, I rate Alonso just as high or maybe even a bit higher, so it would be Senna, Alonso, Schumacher.
Vettel is very fast, but so are and were many others.

[Rishu]

MS for me. Then Senna, Alonso, G. Villeneuve
& Prost would complete my top 5.

[Mike996]

Seriously, I don't think that the current standings of this poll does justice to any of the drivers.
Fangio just 5%, racing with cars that had suspensions like modern UPS trucks, safety features (err, what?) like a sheet metal bucket as a helmet and goggles, racing at the original Nurburgring track 2 minutes per lap faster than the next opponent (yes, minutes!! talk about a mere 2 secs from SV at Singapur), and death being your ever-present company.
I don't know. There is no "greatest ever".

[Alonsomaniac]

Seriously, I don't think that the current standings of this poll does justice to any of the drivers.
Fangio just 5%, racing with cars that had suspensions like modern UPS trucks, safety features (err, what?) like a sheet metal bucket as a helmet and goggles, racing at the original Nurburgring track 2 minutes per lap faster than the next opponent (yes, minutes!! talk about a mere 2 secs from SV at Singapur), and death being your ever-present company.
I don't know. There is no "greatest ever".

Of course there isn't, but everybody has his personal "greatest ever", that is why I said "For me there is..."

[Mike996]

Of course there isn't, but everybody has his personal "greatest ever", that is why I said "For me there is..."

I do agree with you that Senna was special, maybe the most naturally gifted driver ever, at least in his generation.
Would have been nice to see him race against MS more often than we were allowed to. MS wouldn't be a 7 times, would he? Then again, MS was on a steep learning curve, Senna at his peak.
Also, MS took physical fitness to a new level which helped him a lot. What most people don't know is that the reason behind most driver errors is not (stupidity/lack of talent/boredom/insanity), but plain physical exhaustion. It was obvious that with the cornering speeds that modern race cars reached, physical fitness would become more important, but MS was the first to profit from that. Nowadays, it is just a given that the drivers are high performance athletes. JB for example is doing triathlon.

[PURE PASSION]

For me there is no doubt at all : nobody has even been close to Senna's magic.
I'm following F1 since 1973, so I have seen a lot but never something like Senna.
Schumacher is the most successfull driver, I rate Alonso just as high or maybe even a bit higher, so it would be Senna, Alonso, Schumacher.
Vettel is very fast, but so are and were many others.

my thought exactly!!!

[racingbradley]

It just has to be Michael from the drivers I have watched.
Vettel has the perfect car and I think Senna had a mean machine.
But Michael won in a Benetton Ford on two successive years when Macca and Williams were the top teams!!!!!

I believe that in his time Fangio was something else!!!!!!!

[Gerhard Berger]

I only started following F1 in the mid 90s so i can't rate the likes of Prost, Senna, Fangio, Clark etc.

From the drivers i've seen whilst following F1, i would say Schumacher. Second would probably be Alonso.

As for Vettel, I think the majority of fans still don't rate him as the best on the current grid, let alone the best driver ever.

[Senna4Ever]

For me there is no doubt at all : nobody has even been close to Senna's magic.
I'm following F1 since 1973, so I have seen a lot but never something like Senna.
Schumacher is the most successfull driver, I rate Alonso just as high or maybe even a bit higher, so it would be Senna, Alonso, --------
Vettel is very fast, but so are and were many others.

nothing more to say ... except: I never liked Schumacher, Nevertheless I respect what he achieved - especially with Ferrari ...

To Fangio ...
I think with the introduction of the use of a carbon fibre composite monocoque a new era was started - an era which can not be compared to those with Senna, Schumacher and Alonso ...
today they are great men for me ... some of them more likeable some absolutely not and of course Biber ..

But men like Fangio, Moss, Berghe von Trips, Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt ... those men like heroes from another planet ...

[Mike996]

As for Vettel, I think the majority of fans still don't rate him as the best on the current grid, let alone the best driver ever.

He is only 26 though and yet a soon-to-be 4 times champion, while Hulk is just 7 weeks younger than him and regarded as a promising talent still. Was Alonso at his best when he was 26 or is he now (or 2012)? One can't ignore that SV is still learning and improving, at an already impressive level. Will be interesting to see how much further he can develop and what more he can achieve. Fast forward to 2020 and do this poll again.

In the mean time, I would rate Alonso's skills highest for the last 8 years or so, MS for the 8 to 10 years before, and Senna for the same period before MS. 10 years from now, who knows. I wouldn't put one over the other, because every career has an incline (learning phase), a peak (fully developped, still quite young and good physique) and a decline (time taking its toll). SV is still in phase 1, FA probably rather in the second half of phase 2, MS in 2012 was clearly in phase 3. Or would anybody suggest that NR was a greater driver than MS, just because he was able to score more points than him in their years at Mercedes?

[F2008]

World titles don't mean that much, Vettel still has a lot to prove. I have watched all seasons since 1975, not sure who is the greatest driver, but I must say Alonso is a genius. The most talented driver will always be Gilles for me, but he lacked long-term vision.

[ManFromMilan]

For me there is no doubt at all : nobody has even been close to Senna's magic.

No one was, has been and probably ever will be in my opinion.

I know people say you can never judge drivers from different eras, but Senna had that something no one else ever will.

He is the greatest.

[stefa]

My opinion is that drivers from different times (let's say decades) cannot be compared. By this in each decade - 1950-1960; 1960-1970; 1970-1980; 1980-1990; 1990-2000; 2000-2010;2010-2020 we should pick best drivers and they, but I don't say it is possible (not just looking into statistic) to draw out a conclusion which one is the best of them all.
I'll vote like this:
Schumacher
Senna
Prost
Lauda
Stewart
Fangio

[Meiga]

MS for me. Then Senna, Alonso, G. Villeneuve
& Prost would complete my top 5.

I would switch Villeneuve for Fangio and change the order to Prost-Senna-Fangio-MS- Alo/Clark/probably some other too (depending on the day I am having)

I am not too strict with the order above, but as much as I like Alonso he is below Prost (the clearest comparison for me).

[Alonsomaniac]

No one was, has been and probably ever will be in my opinion.

I know people say you can never judge drivers from different eras, but Senna had that something no one else ever will.

He is the greatest.

Yes...in a way he was a strange phenomenon.....I mean I have seen that man do things I haven't seen any other driver do. It's not that he was doing that in every race, but there were races or laps where he did things we would consider impossible. Schumacher, Alonso, Villeneuve, Prost, you name it, they have all driven wonderful races, great laps, no doubt about it.
But not what Senna did.....allthough I can't explain it, it was different, it felt like seeing the impossible happen sometimes.

[FFFerrari]

Fernando is in the top 10 in my books, but not even close of the top 5. And surely not the greatest ever. Senna has that place.

[Nova]

It is hard with the different era's. I dig most the drivers on the list. Thing is, when I read the thread, everyone has certain fav drivers, but Vettel isnt mentioned in any of them. I think Fangio was amazing, for that era. Lauda..and Gilles was a blast.
Its hard to pick actually...I loved watching Senna, wasnt crazy about Prost, yet he was really good.
Loved watching Michael, same for Alonso now.

[Hermann]

Interesting that here nobody would vote for Fernando yet he is still leading the poll by quite a margin

[diesel08]

My opinion is that drivers from different times (let's say decades) cannot be compared. By this in each decade - 1950-1960; 1960-1970; 1970-1980; 1980-1990; 1990-2000; 2000-2010;2010-2020 we should pick best drivers and they, but I don't say it is possible (not just looking into statistic) to draw out a conclusion which one is the best of them all.
I'll vote like this:
Schumacher
Senna
Prost
Lauda
Stewart
Fangio

good

[FFFerrari]

Interesting that here nobody would vote for Fernando yet he is still leading the poll by quite a margin

It's distorted by some spanish F1 community. We have had this top driver of all time discussion before when BBC was unveiling their top 20 (where Vettel was positioned atop Alonso).

[Hermann]

Really? How do you know? I voted for Fernando, and i'm not spanish. Come on- maybe you don't like the picture, and now for you its 'distorted'.

[Mike996]

There’s a radio station around here where I live and every Easter holidays, they present their own charts that you could call: „greatest songs ever“, a list of 1000 songs and it takes 4 days to play the entire list. People can vote by phone during a period of two weeks or so prior to that. Each year so far, there have been different singers and bands in the top 50, with songs that were 12 months old at most. In the following year, the same songs usually were down at places between 500 and 1000, and the next year they don’t even make it into the list at all. Some other great classics always make it into the top 100 though, every year. Only time will tell if a song is truly that great, or just a short-lived hit.
I guess it is pretty much the same with F1 drivers. 10 years ago there were many F1 fans that said: well, Schumacher is quite good, but he is not one of the truly greats. It always takes some distance to be objectively able to judge if a driver makes it into the hall of fame or not.

[Hornet]

It's distorted by some spanish F1 community. We have had this top driver of all time discussion before when BBC was unveiling their top 20 (where Vettel was positioned atop Alonso).

Do you have any evidence for this?

Just last weekend, Sky did a quick pole and a large majority of people doesn't think Vettel is the greatest.

[Greig]

Why no Kimi on the list?

I tend not to trust votes that let you vote over and over for your choice.

[FFFerrari]

Do you have any evidence for this?

I have seen this happen way too many times regarding internet polls to not trust most of them. If someone truly thinks Fernando is the greatest, that's fine with me but the majority of F1 fanatics doesn't agree to that.

Just last weekend, Sky did a quick pole and a large majority of people doesn't think Vettel is the greatest.

It's very different to ask "Is Vettel the greatest of all time?" than ask "Who is the greatest of all time?" - and give a limited number of drivers to choose. I think majority can agree that he isn't the greatest,
but it's a far cry from actually agreeing who is the greatest.

[Hermann]

the majority of F1 fanatics doesn't agree to that

Who is that 'majority of F1 fanatics'? Fanatic fanboys of others drivers? of course they won't agree!

I actually don't care who voted in this poll i think its quite funny Fernando seems to be winning it, especially for those who believe him to be the 'F1 villain', they must be foaming.

[Hornet]

I see your point, but I don't think it's fair to say the Spanish fans distort it. Maybe the Italian tifosi voted for Alonso too, who knows. Pretty sure Spanish aren't the only fans who thinks Alonso is their greatest driver. Otherwise one may also say the German fans gave Vettel any votes at all and distort it .

[Firnas]

I am from Sri Lanka & been watching F1 from 2000. And I have voted Alonso as the greatest driver. I do not have an idea of the level of drives prior to 2000. But in my view Alonso is greater than Schumi, Vettel, Hamilton etc.