I don’t know if you could call the FW14 the “most nervous and twitchy car” in the field in '94… keep in mind, the field at this time still included Simtek, Minardi, and Pacific- not exactly builders of the best-handling vehicles.
Ahh, but dutchboy208, there was no car in the field with the horsepower of that remarkable 3.5 litre Renualt v10 at the time. Certainly the Ford Zetek v8 which Schumacher used to win his World Title of 1994 was a potent weapon - but it was also married to an extremely capable chassis in the Benetton of that year.
The FW14 of 1994 had more horsepower than any other car - it was part of the reason that Senna was so blatantly disloyal to Ron Dennis when he decided to leave McLaren - but what no one could have predicted is that the Williams of 1994 was also so incredibly inferior to the previous year’s chassis. By extension, the combination of the field’s most potent engine, with an inferior chassis made it the field’s most twitchy and nervous car by virtue of the fact that it was consistently going into corners faster than other car on the grid. It took 2 years for the Williams team to finally catch up to Benetton once again - whereupon Schumacher had moved onto Ferrari.
Have to second Michael Schumacher …if only for the way he joined a poor team and turned it into a dominating force. That displayed a combination of political, commercial and personal skills that no other driver has come close to. Also, for his innovative, breathtaking use of his equipment on track, which I’ll summarise in 2 words …Barcelona, 1996.
BTW,type Barcelona 1996 rain into google…the first result is about that race.
I don’t think we can let slip mention of Jackie Stewart in this company.
He was meticulous in set-up, but maybe more than this, he was one of the prime forces in setting up a drivers union whose object was to improve safety measures.
This meant operating at the highest levels in the sport, in opposition to interested parties, it meant he had to have information about the forces involved in crashes, how these forces could be moderated, the behaviour of cars whilst sliding into barriers and the thousand and one things that go into reducing drivers risks.
Add to that he won three world titles.
This is a great site.
Yes it is! I happen to know one of the guys that runs it. Great, insightful articles. They used to do a fantastic “Who? What? Where?” Monthly Quiz too, where you had to guess from a picture which driver, car, and GP it was. Really hard at times, and great fun to do. Unfortunately, they stopped doing that.
Oh, and another website the F1 afficionado cannot miss: Formula One Rejects!
It’s run by two blokes from Australia, and focuses on the lesser Gods of F1. Hilarious stuff! 
The one, or rather two things that puts Schumacher completely out of the reckoning for me is his deliberate attempts to put other drivers out of races.
F1 was dangerous, and can still turn up some nasty incidents, Riakkonnens slide on turn 1 at Hockenheim is a good example of an honest racing incident, even if Ralph was blamed.
Michael Schumacher deliberately took Damon Hill out of a critical race, Schmacher had hit a sidewall and damaged a suspension arm, there was no way he could win, so instead he took Hill out.
It was fortunate this was on a slow corner, would he have done the same on a faster corner, who knows?
One thing is sure, he attempted the same thing on Jacques Villeneuve at higher speed so that may answer it.
To me there is a differance between uncompromising during a drag down to a corner where there is a struggle for position, but in neither of these events was that the case.
Despite Michael Schumachers wonderful talents, these incidents disqualify him as a great driver for me, to deliberately run into your opposition, putting their lives at risk, in an inherantly dangerous sport iabsolutely nothing short of a criminal offence,and by that I mean he should have been prosecuted for them.
We have had, all too rarely, a number of field sportsmen who have been taken through our courts and convicted of crimes, and I would rank Michael Schumachers behaviour alongside that of a Rugby forward attacking an opponent and causing injury in off the ball incidents.
Sorry but Schumacher M should not ever be in the reckoning for the greatest driver, perhaps attempted killer maybe - too strong for you ? Look at the list of F1 deaths and then justify the needless extra risks that he deliberately imposed on other drivers - 'nuff said.
“The one, or rather two things that puts Schumacher completely out of the reckoning for me is his deliberate attempts to put other drivers out of races.”
The question was who was the cleverest racing driver of all time, not the greatest or the most ethical, and my post was in that context. If the question was the greatest, I’d probably name Aryton Senna, his in-car skills probably give him the edge.
But I do find the criticism over the Villeneuve/Hill inicidents somewhat hypocritical … I believe 90% of F1 drivers would have done the same thing in the same circumstances, and I include Aryton Senna in that 90%. F1 is the pinnacle of world motorsport, and it’s drivers are paid millions. I expect those drivers to fight to the knife, and the knife to the hilt, for it’s World Championship. Whether Schumacher has the right to impose his resolution of the risk/glory equation on another driver is of course a debatable point, but not, I believe, one that would detain many other F1 drivers either. But that’s a whole different discussion.
I can see your point, both Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were guilty of taking each other out, but both those incidents were fights on the entry to corners, where neither would yield and knowing the inevitable result.
I seriously doubt that other F1 drivers would do the same things deliberately, Andrea de ‘Crasheris’ was notorious in making his car as wide as possible but it still was not in the deliberate way which Schumacher M carried out his acts.
Even if it were the case, Schumacher M is the driver others look to, he surely understands that, his attention to detail is such that he would hardly miss it and this just piles on the ignominy.
Now compare him to Juan Fangio or Graham Hill, both of whom started off building cars and knew exactly what made racing machines work, neither of those would have ever dreamed of behaving like Schuey, and it’s worth noting that both had stopped to drag fellow competitors from burning wrecks, Hill whilst leading a race.
Both Hill and Fangio had plenty of technical and tactical skill, Hill was racing against the likes of the gifted Jim Clark who was in a far more advanced car, the racing was hard but they never lost their sense of priorities.
Boo Boo Foo, you didn’t answer the OP. I’d be most interested to know which driver would win your vote for the “most cleverest” title.
Hmmm… all things considered… in American Indy Car history, my money is on a toss up between Rick Mears and Emerson Fittipaldi - they both showed extremely good strategical racing combined with great career longevity - especially Fittipaldi considering his emigration from Formula One.
Carlos Sainz in Rallying. Michelle Mouton deserves an honourable mention too considering the battles she had to fight being a woman.
In NASCAR, I’ve always had immense respect for Roger Petty considering the evolution of the sport from the late 60’s through to the mid 80’s.
But of 'em all, in terms of pure speed AND chassis empathy etc, my money is on Alain Prost actually. They didn’t call him the professor for nothing. His record of 4 World Titles might not be as impressive as compared to Fangio and Schumacher, but when one considers his rivals of the time - Rosberg, Mansell, Senna, Lauda, Piquet - particularly during the turbo era when fuel maxiums and boost maximums changed from year to year - Prost consistently showed a tremendous ability to pace his car so that it was always coming home with the greatest speed in the final 25% of a Grand Prix.
In the context of the OP, that is, the cleverest driver of all - not the ballsiest or most aggressive etc - I tip my hat to Alain Prost. Some subtle stats to consider in his favour are how few (in relative terms) occasions he went off due to driver error, or how few occasions he did his tyres in too early, or how few occasions his fuel consumption proved too high, or how few times he didn’t win after securing pole. When one takes into the context the quality the opposition he faced during his 12 years at the top, and the teams he drove for - from Renault, to McLaren, to Ferrari, to Williams - well, the number of times he won World Titles, AND the number of times he finished in 2nd place in the Championship is overall more impressive (for mine) than Herr Schumacher - but I say this in a qualified manner.
You see, this season Schuey has got some very impressive competition - which means that he really has to drive with Prost like brains to win the title.
One thing’s for sure, you never saw Prost doing the dirty dangerous stuff. Indeed, I recall an interview with the man not long after the end of his final season where he retired as World Champion in 1993 - but about 4 months before Senna’s fateful accident. He was asked how did he feel about his career after all those years and his response was amazingly prescient - “All I can think, looking back on all the racing I did, is thank God I survived. That’s all I can say, I’m just so glad I survived…”
Oh just as a point of reference regarding the earlier assertion that Keke Rosberg did NOT win a single race in his 1982 Championship winning year - if memory serves me correctly - he did in fact win one race that year - the Swiss Grand Prix (yes there was actually a Swiss Grand Prix there for a while) which was held at the wonderful Djion circuit in the Alpine forests of France. At the time, Grand Prix racing was banned in Switzerland due to an accident many years ealier where several spectators lost their lives, so the Swiss put the money up for a 2nd race to be held in France that year in 1982.
I’m very sure that Keke Rosberg won that race, but at the time the William’s car was still using the venerable (but underpowered) Cosworth V8 - rated at about 520hp - and the 1.5litre Turbos were coming on big and strong at the time. I’m pretty sure that Rosberg was in 2nd place with 3 laps to go and Rene Arnoux’s Renault started pumping out flames similar to a satellite during orbital re-entry and Rosberg took the win.
I liked Keke Rosberg. He was fucking fast and scary and he gave me the nerves just watching him get into the cockpit. He had a sense of humour too.
I understand his 1986 effort at Silverstone set a pole position lap speed average which stood for many, many years.
If there was one simple rule that I’d change in Formula One, it would be to ban tyre changes. Fuel top ups are OK, but by banning tyre changes, chassis designers would be forced to build cars which were incredibly forgiving towards tyre wear - and when the tyres started going off you’d see other drivers in slightly slower cars coming home faster. Also, it would place greater challenges on the driver to “pace” his car for the end of the race. The final quarter of a typical Grand Prix would be interesting stuff indeed I rather think.
I have to say you are in the minority here, and have made some points against the pro NASCAR arguements you are trying to make.
You mentioned NASCAR racing at Sears Point and Laguna Seca. Has there ever been more proof of the overall lack of skill in the series. Watching these races is quite comical. The fact is that some teams would bring in ringers for these races. And the truly skilled drivers, like Gordon and Scott, still do well. Guys, incidentally, with cart and open wheel experience. Not just oval and dirt track monotony.
How many Americans have crossed the pond and had success lately? Conversely, why are domestic motorsports dominated by people from…just about anywhere else? (NASCAR doesn’t count. There are some good drivers, but ovals are a specialized and uniquely uninteresting, and the technology is, well, they use carbs.) I think this is in great part due to cart racing from an early age.
My favorite driver? I have to say Senna. The poles, the performance in wet conditions. And while his temper has been mentioned, his great caring for the poor in his native Brazil has not. Reading over this thread, one might think he was some sort of tyrant or petulant child.
Took a long time for someone to mention Moss. Not sure if Clark has been, another great talent cut down in his prime. Jackie Stewart deserves a nod, just for having survived a horrifically dangerous era.
cough cough Donnington 1993 cough cough 
Anyway, you make a good case for Prost, BBF. Didn’t expect anything less of you. Well done.
And it turns out you were right about Rosberg being the winner of the 1982 Swiss GP. So, he DID win one race that year. But I’m sure you’ll agree he would never have been world champion had Villeneube and Pironi finished that year.
Incidently, the racing ban in Switzerland stands to this day, as far as I know. It’s a miracle Clay Regazzoni came as far as he did. Of course, there’s also examples like Gregor Foitek and Jean-Denis Deletraz to prove that as a country, you need a racing history to ensure your drivers aren’t complete pieces of shite.
I remember quite vividly the weekend that poor Gilles perished Coldfire. Indeed, I recall Nelson Piquet making some none too kind remarks regarding the poor chassis build of that year’s Ferrari - the last all aluminium monoquoque of the Scuderia if I recall. Piquet’s comments essentially asserted that any other team would have built a stronger chassis given the circumstances - his assertion being that Ferarri at the time didn’t give too much of a shit regarding driver safety.
Certainly, before Didier Pironi’s horrible crash at Hockenheim (where ironically he drove into the rear of Alain Prost at full speed prior to the Ostcurve in the wet after Prost was doing a pole warm down lap) well, my money was on Pironi for that year’s title - no doubts about that at all.
Ironically, 1982’s San Marino Grand Prix remains my favourite ever Grand Prix. A three way tussle from beginning to end featuring Prost in the Renault, and Villeneueve and Pironi in the Ferraris. If memory serves me correctly, with 4 laps remaining, Prost’s Renault lunched itself leaving Villeneuve and Pironi to fight it out no holds barred to the finish and Pironi - who chose to run front wingless that race (due to the awesome highspeed downforce provided by the body skirts at the time) passed Villeneueve under breaking into the hairpiin after the Tamburello with just one lap remaining.
But it’s a funny old thing - Ferrari won the Manufacturer’s Championship somewhat posthumously in 1982 even though Villeneueve and Pironi ended their season’s early but Rosberg won the Driver’s Championship. I recall that Alan Jones was asked to replace Didier Pironi for the remaining 4 races of the season after Hockenheim but the negotiations fell through somehow and Mario Andretti won that year’s Monza race in a one off cameo appearance - which would indicate that the Ferrari of that year was indeed a formidable weapon - unsafe as it was.
Still, I believe that Rosberg earned his stripes in later years when he proved he was quite capable of punting the Williams at formidable speeds.
Interestingly, Senna’s performance at Donnington of 1993 was very telling in some respects. In that particular year, Ford was providing the V8 Zetec engine to both Benetton and McLaren, and in 1994 Schumacher won the Driver’s title. I honestly feel that if Senna had stayed with McLaren he probably would have won both a fourth title in 1994, AND survived the Imola Grond Prix as well. But that would have been reliant upon McLaren sticking with the Ford V8 - but they had already committed to their ill-fated decision to run with the (unproven) Peugot Grand Prix engine in 1994 - hence Senna’s decision to jump ship.
Peugeot, actually, but it’s a prominent mistake. And boy, were they shite in producing F1 powerplants, despite their fantastic pedigree in rallying to this day.
Senna’s first lap at Donnington in 1993 remains one of my favourite “hot laps” of all time. It should be in the dictionary next to the word “cojones”. Starting from 6th position at a rainsoaked European Grand Prix, Senna muscled his way past 5 cars on the opening lap, thereby entering the second lap of the race as the leader. He won that race, not in the least place because of the almost comical string of pit strategy fuck-ups at Williams, as the track got dry and the rain ceased. I believe Prost still holds the record for “most pit stops in a race”, coming in an unprescedented 8 times for new rubber, if memory serves.
Good times, good times.
I knew that… I was just testing you…
By the way, if you’re gonna mention “hot laps” - who can forget the famous “John Watson charges” where he used to pass 3 or 4 cars in a lap near the end of his Grands Prix when he was driving for McLaren?
But that being said - my most fave ever Senna moment was the in car camera action in 1989 in the light rain at Spa where Senna was flat out on the back straight (open highway) at 300+kph on slicks. Man, that in car camera catched him working the wheel so hard - he was so totally losing control on that stretch of highway - but he never backed off - not once.
I raced Spa Francochamps twice on the old 14km circuit in cycling races - man it was a really steep up and down circuit. I’m so glad it’s returning next year. I was afraid it was gone forever actually.
Now here’s the “ultimate” Grand Prix…
OK, OK, I know I’m living in fantasy land here… but theoretically it could be done…
The link I’ve included here is a map of the remarkable Bathurst circuit.
The awesome, amazing Mount Panorama circuit…
For those of you who aren’t aware - it’s basically “Leguna Seca”, the old 22k “Nurburgring” and “Spa Francorchamps” all rolled into one incredible 6.2k circuit. It’s primarily used these days for Touring Car races - but back in the day it used to be raced by open wheelers and you’ll note if you open the link that the all time outright record is held by a McLaren F5000 from 1970.
Those of us down here in Australia who are true motor racing freaks - well we look upon both the Adelaide and Albert Park Grand Prix circuits as being dinky little toy circuits designed by interior decorators who would rather put pansies on their window sills than a used crankshaft.
We all agree that the true home of motor racing in Australia is Mount Panorama - and the world’s greatest Formula One race would be held if it were to be held on the “old” Bathurst circuit before they put the “slow 'em down a bit” chase along Conrod Straight.
In the old days, before the scaredy cats took hold, Conrod Straight used to be a 1.2 mile straight DOWN HILL! Imagine that! DOWN HILL! With rises and undulations along the way. And to give you an idea what a totally motherfucker circuit Mount Panorama is - consider this - in it’s 6.2km per lap - from it’s lowest point to it’s highest point it rises and falls a total of 630 meters - every lap! At it’s steepest point it’s actually 1:6 in steepness! What a circuit! And it then levels off for a kilometer when you reach the top and you race through high speed sweepers and esses and then you drop, drop, drop down Conrod Straight. GRRRRRR…
Grand Prix motorcyclists used to go over the “old” final hump at 175mph and their front wheel would stay off the track for 400 meters before hitting the brakes into the 90 degree left hander onto the start/finish straight.
Man… check this circuit out. Hold an F1 race there - real quick.