![]() In 1979, he won four races, but reliability issues with his Williams cost him a shot at the title, and he finished 11 points behind Scheckter. Unsuccessful stints followed with Renault and Sauber, and he was replaced with Robert Kubica midway through the 2006 season.Īlan Jones, the last Australian to win the world championship, had three fantastic seasons from 1979 to 1981. In his final season at BAR, Villeneuve was outscored by Jenson Button, and he asked the team to release him prior to the final race of the year, as reported on the CNN website. His first 11 races ended in retirement and, in five seasons with BAR, Villeneuve only finished on the podium twice. After one more season with Williams, he left for British American Racing (which had purchased Tyrell) and struggled to build the team. In 1997, with Hill replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Villeneuve won seven races and the world championship in a dramatic showdown with Michael Schumacher at the final race of the season.Īlthough Villeneuve would last another nine years in F1, he never won another race. By the end of the season, he had collected three more victories and finished second in the championship to his teammate, Damon Hill. The Canadian did not disappoint, scoring a victory and two second-place finishes in his first four grands prix. He had success in Japanese Formula Three and won the Ind圜ar championship and Indianapolis 500 before earning an F1 drive with Williams in 1996. the much higher reliability of today's cars), but by using percentages we can better compare those who drove when there were only eight or 10 races in a season with modern drivers, who have 18 or 20 races each season.Īll the statistics used in this article were compiled from the official F1 website, Wikipedia and, for the adjusted point totals, Mark Wessel's real points comparison site.ĭespite the shadow cast by his famous father, Jacques Villeneuve legitimately earned his place in F1. Not every variable can be accounted for (e.g. Each driver's total is presented at the top of their slide. These scores are added together, and the drivers are ranked according to their total score, with 160 the highest possible score. Pole Percentage: Percentage of starts where the driver qualified on pole.įor each statistic, the drivers are ranked and given a score-32 points for the top driver in each catergory down to one point for the 32nd driver. Number of Seasons: The number of seasons in which the driver started at least 50 percent of the races.Ĭhampionship Percentage: Percentage of seasons (as defined above) where the driver won the world championship. Points-Per-Start: This is adjusted so that all drivers are scored according to the system used from 1991 to 2002, with points to the top six finishers in each race (10-6-4-3-2-1). ![]() Winning Percentage: Percentage of starts won. It may not provide a definitive answer to whether Senna was a better driver than Prost, and it certainly will not tell us whether Fangio would beat Schumacher in the same car in their respective primes.īy adjusting the statistics to account for shorter seasons in the early years and different point systems over time, however, we should be able to make a decent comparison between all 32 champs.īefore we begin, here is the methodology.įive different statistics will be included in this ranking. ![]() Instead, we will use a quantitative assessment. And it was completely different in 1980 from what it was in 1950. F1 is completely different today from what it was in 1980. ![]() To do so, we cannot rely on subjective, qualitative assessments. Here, we are going to rank not only the drivers of a particular era, but every world champion from 1950 to 2013. Juan Manuel Fangio or Alberto Ascari? Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost? Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso? There are no easy answers. In 64 Formula One World Championship seasons, there have been 32 different Drivers' champions.Įven between drivers who competed directly against each other, there are debates among the followers of the sport about who is better.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |