FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Gilles 27]

Senna out-qualifying Schumacher three times out of three at the beginning of the 1994 season in a slower, less driver-friendly car is not a bad piece of evidence that Senna was the faster of the two.

Yeh I did ponder that but I reckon the Williams was an ultimately faster car although not very approachable at first. It did look a handful in Brazil but it was being driven by a driver who preferred knife edge setups. I would agree that Senna was the faster qualifier, probably the fastest of all time.
It depends on how you interpret 'fast'. Is it over one lap of a GP distance? Some people are 'faster' racers than noted 'fast' qualifiers. For me Senna is the undisputed 'fastest' driver over one lap but I think there are other contenders for 'fastest' racer...

[McLaren Fan]

I kind of agree. Over a single lap, Senna was virtually unbeatable. In the race itself, though, the problem was not so much how fast he was, but that he sometimes pushed too hard and I'd say a fair chunk of technical problems, for instance, were caused by that, certainly up to and including 1990.

[darwin dali]

I kind of agree. Over a single lap, Senna was virtually unbeatable. In the race itself, though, the problem was not so much how fast he was, but that he sometimes pushed too hard and I'd say a fair chunk of technical problems, for instance, were caused by that, certainly up to and including 1990.

I've been thinking and saying that all along - there are better race car drivers in F1's history. Fastest or fastest qualifier doesn't make you the greatest or best.

[nsaqam]

The question in the title is "Fastest ever F1 driver"
While some may disagree I think that not only was Senna the fastest ever but also the greatest F1 driver ever.
A few years ago there was a poll taken of current and former F1 pilots and they quite easily chose Senna as the best F1 pilot ever.
Just think of the competition Senna faced his entire career! Schumacher didn't face nearly the same caliber of competition. Not to mention the fact that Senna had drivers of the highest caliber on his own team for much of his career. Or the fact that Senna had to harness the lightswitch like 1000bhp powerband of the turbo era while still being untouchable in the wet.

[McLaren Fan]

I kind of agree. Over a single lap, Senna was virtually unbeatable. In the race itself, though, the problem was not so much how fast he was, but that he sometimes pushed too hard and I'd say a fair chunk of technical problems, for instance, were caused by that, certainly up to and including 1990.

I've been thinking and saying that all along - there are better race car drivers in F1's history. Fastest or fastest qualifier doesn't make you the greatest or best.

True, DD. But that does not mean to say that because there may be a couple of people who were better drivers in the race that Senna was bad at it. Senna had a number of other attributes as well that contribute to status amongst Formula One greats.

[darwin dali]

I kind of agree. Over a single lap, Senna was virtually unbeatable. In the race itself, though, the problem was not so much how fast he was, but that he sometimes pushed too hard and I'd say a fair chunk of technical problems, for instance, were caused by that, certainly up to and including 1990.

I've been thinking and saying that all along - there are better race car drivers in F1's history. Fastest or fastest qualifier doesn't make you the greatest or best.

True, DD. But that does not mean to say that because there may be a couple of people who were better drivers in the race that Senna was bad at it. Senna had a number of other attributes as well that contribute to status amongst Formula One greats.

I agree again with you - something must be in the water, eh? On my list I usually put him in the top 3 or 4 of F1's greatest drivers for all those reasons. But I refuse to drink the Kool-Aid like so many on here and overlook his flaws that detract from his greatness.

[Gilles 27]

Ok so Senna seems to get a lot of coverage on this here forum (rightly so imo) but any thoughts on Stefan Bellof?

[zurich_allan]

I kind of agree. Over a single lap, Senna was virtually unbeatable. In the race itself, though, the problem was not so much how fast he was, but that he sometimes pushed too hard and I'd say a fair chunk of technical problems, for instance, were caused by that, certainly up to and including 1990.

I've been thinking and saying that all along - there are better race car drivers in F1's history. Fastest or fastest qualifier doesn't make you the greatest or best.

Definitely true! Especially if you consider that Andrea de Cesaris was considered to be phenomenally quick by nearly every team boss in the 80's / early 90's. Indeed if you look at some of the positions he managed to drag dogs of cars onto on the grid, or even into the top six in the finishing order, he could put together some astounding individual laps. Problem was that he's make at least one major mistake every second race!! Eddie Jordan reckoned de Cesaris was one of the quickest drivers he'd ever seen, or so he says in his autobiography. Nobody could ever argue that he was ever great at anything apart from crashing spectacularly, in spite of his sheer speed!

As for the poll in question, I went for Senna, though there are a number of missing individuals that should be included in the poll. If it was sheer speed over the course of a single season I'd have to go for either Senna 1988 or Schumi 1995 / 2004.

[texasmr2]

Ok so Senna seems to get a lot of coverage on this here forum (rightly so imo) but any thoughts on Stefan Bellof?

I witnessed some superb drives from him and frankly liked him as a person through what I saw in interviews. His death did have a great effect upon me as I was watching the race live on ESPN.

[Gilles 27]

I witnessed some superb drives from him and frankly liked him as a person through what I saw in interviews. His death did have a great effect upon me as I was watching the race live on ESPN.

Yeh he seemed like a good guy. My old German teacher grew up with him... He just seemed to do impossible stuff on a fairly regular basis. The greatest 'what if' in F1 imo is 'what if he hadn't had his accident?'

[McLaren Fan]

It's a real pity what happened to Stefan Bellof. He was a bit before my time, but I've read a lot about him and can say he that with the correct equipment he would have been a Formula One champion. Also going through the history books, Ronnie Peterson was another classy driver who would have won championships in better cars.

[7UpJordan]

Bellof still holds the all time lap record around the Nurburgring.

[EwanM]

Too many drivers missing in that poll.
I've stated my opinion previously, but I would agree with Peterson and Bellof.
Clark is still the s*** though.

[Vettel_Fan]

my list:

1st fangio
2nd senna
3rd michael

fangio competed in so much difiicult time talking about drive a race car, there is zero electronics helps, traction control, active suspension etc. the cars didn't have wings or any protection to the driver, that´s the reason to I chosen him.

about bellof

I saw the entire 84 monaco race, senna did a fantastic presentation but stefan starting from the back had a strong possibility to win that one by passing senna and prost...

[Gaz]

I vote Senna your right about pushing too hard tho but thats racing.