Your all time Favourite Formula 1 driver

G-Money

Hey,

I thought about starting a poll on this regarding everyone's favourite Formula 1 driver but I don't seem to know how to do so.

Instead I just thought I would start a thread.

For me, this is an easy question, my favourite driver ever was Senna. I was watching the San Marino Grand Prix live in 1994 and seen him crash. As seemed to be the case with a lot of crashes, you simply expect to see the driver unhook the steering wheel and get out of the car. But it didn't happen.

I was 16 at the time and it completely put me off Formula 1 for quite a while. I think I barely watched a race for the rest of the year and maybe even into the following year.

For me anyway he is the best ever. I know sometimes his on track behaviour may not have been perfect, but I honestly didn't care what he did.

These days, my allegiances seem to go back and forth. I was living abroad for most of last year so I didn't get to see much of Lewis Hamilton's debut season as the coverage where I lived was crap to say the least. I quite like him though and it would be good to see him do well.

I used to like Alonso but I seem to have completely went off him as a driver, not sure why.

kaimera

Senna

Xavi6

Used to really like Fisichella when he was at Jordan. Liked Alesi and Berger when they drove together for Benetton and Hakkinen was great as well.

Schumacher was the man though really. A fantastic driver with a nasty streak when he wanted. Brilliant.

ODD-JOB

Alesi - !! full of charisma , skill , and anger !
was a pleasure to see Alesi in the wet .

Mika Hakkinen - if not for his driving , then for his press conference skills.
Fantastic dry humour .....

rua1972

I also saw the crash of Senna on tv. I saw the doctors at work, i saw the helicopter, i saw the race being restarted. And still i thought the next race he will be there, because Senna couldn't i thought at that moment. It wasn't to be. I also saw his funiral on tv, it was impressive. So for me he is the greatest driver. I know Schumacher is on top of almost every recordsheet. But in percentages of driven races Senna still has the most pole positions. On the other hand it is hard to compare drivers from different era's.
After Senna my favorites were hill, villeneuve ,hakkinen, raikkonen and despite his little things i loved seeing Alonso beat schumacher twice.

G-Money

I like Jacques Villeneuve also. I loved the way he always tried to take mad corners flat.

I remember reading that on his first test with Williams he did one lap of Silverstone and on the second lap tried to take Copse flat and promptly went off the track.

He had a few big spills at other times. I know he went off at Eau Rouge trying to take it flat.

Lucy Lu

Gilles Villeneuve, one v passionate driver.

elmolesto

Ayrton Senna no doubt, a master on wet condition watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA3Hy0pTjNk&feature=related

He was also a magician for pole position, here is my favourite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYikdflJSUU

I miss him a lot

Muff_Daddy

Jean Alsei for me.

I only started watching in 1995, so I never really saw the likes of Senna, Prost or Mansell, bar old tapes. My faveroute race of all time was the Canadian GP 1995 - I remember the whole pit lane celebrating Alesi's first and only win. Two Jordan's on the podum as well - it's my fondest memory of F1 racing.

Liked Hakkinen and Villenuve as well, for the simple reason that they beat Michael Schumacher, whom I always hated.

elmolesto

Muff_Daddy wrote: »

Jean Alsei for me.

Well, I'm french and never like him neither Alain Prost. Alesi was a reckless driver, he drove for some of the best teams benetton, ferrari althought ferrari were not the best team and he only managed a single win out of 201 starts.

Alain Prost great driver but he was a whinge bag, always looking for excuses ( blaming everybody except himself ).

G-Money

Prost was grand enough but seemed a bit boring. Alesi was good, but seemed too emotional at times.

I liked Hakkinen as he had a good sense of humour. M Schumacher was good but when he started winning all the time unchallenged it kind of got boring. Plus I never really liked that he always had a team-mate who was definitely not equal to him.

IanCurtis

Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill are all among my favourites, but nobody can outshine this guy

SouperComputer

Alesi and Senna would be my faves. Alesi for his aggression, passion, perseverance and silky skills behind the wheel. Senna for his undoubted skill in the car control dept, but even moreso for his mental ability. Head and shoulders above anyone else, in any time period IMO in terms of mental/psychological strength and ability.

Irvine I think is a legend, didnt take things overly-serisously and always found time to really enjoy what he was doing, somthing F1 is seriously lacking today. Its prettymuch become a dorkfest these days.

G-Money

Irvine was funny. I just seen a clip of him talking about Alesi after they had a bit of a crash, he called him a "funny wee man" or something along those lines.

Andrewf20

The passionate years for formula 1 interest for me were late 1993 (when I got into the sport 1st), 1994 and 1995. The 1st of May 1994 stands as one of the most emotionally powerful days in my life. I was beginning to really get to terms with who this Senna character was, and when he was killed that day, I felt empty inside. I was robbed of what could have been one of the best seasons in F1. I felt robbed of more oppourtunities to see this great man in action. I feel as emotional today about the subject as I did then. I was 14 years of age then, when I heard on the 98fm news that evening that Senna was pronounced dead.

To see Senna on youtube getting the pole in Aida, on a track that suited the lightweight Bennetton more, stands as an example at which level this man was at. Also, to see his qualifying time on Monaco in 1988, versus Prosts time who was 2nd on the grid. He was 1.4 seconds faster than Prost. Awesome.

Senna is sorely missed. He gets my vote.

G-Money

I think I got into Formula 1 around 1989 or 1990 as I remember watching Senna drive into Prost at the start of the 90 Japanese Grand Prix.

I remember when Senna died I was very upset about it, even more so than I was about a guy I knew who was in my year at school, who died. That might not be a good thing to admit, but it wasn't on purpose, it was just my reaction and how I felt.

BrianD3

The 1st of May 1994 stands as one of the most emotionally powerful days in my life.

Same here, I will never forget the weekend of the 1994 San Marino GP or the days that followed. I remember when I went in to school after the weekend myself and others who were known to be F1 fans were taunted over Senna's death.

Senna wasn't even my favourite driver although I acknowledge that he was probably the quickest of his era and possibly of all time. My favourite driver was probably Nelson Piquet for his personality and his battles with Mansell. He was also one of the few drivers that claimed to like the monstrous, dangerous, ground effect era cars (that era was before my time however)

SouperComputer

I remember when Senna died I was very upset about it, even more so than I was about a guy I knew who was in my year at school, who died. That might not be a good thing to admit, but it wasn't on purpose, it was just my reaction and how I felt.

Just curious, was this Neil Shanahan?

eoiner-galway

wihtout question ayrton senna.... r.i.p

The tax man

5

rua1972

The tax man wrote: »

5

Nigel Mansell? Has was known for the red no 5, and for making quite a show of his victories.

The tax man

rua1972 wrote: »

Nigel Mansell?

Spot on.:)