there would be little doubt that micheal schumacher was the rain master of his own particular era putting together some inspiring drives in difficult conditions , before him was the mecurial senna surely the ultimate yardstick of any era in such conditions who dominated or won almost every wet / changeable / race in his own era from 1984 to 1993 in a variety of cars from the competitive to the mediochre with no driver aids in most of those cars - however this is not a thread to glorify these two demi gods of the sport ,there legacy will live for ever and needs no glorification , it is to ponder the question when will we see the next rainmaster , in my opinion we have not seen one since micheal"s first retirement in 06 , no driver of the current generation springs to mind as being a master of such conditions , sure the current quick boys are all very good in tricky conditions but none of them really stand out as comparison to micheal in his heyday and senna was from a planet they can only dream of when mother nature turned nasty , button would seem to have the knack of putting on the right tyre at the right time in such conditions but would seem to need the best car to allow him to win , hamilton is out of the picture as well as button would seem to have his number when the rain falls , alonso for all his talent has never seemed to consistantly impress in these conditions , as for vettel , he is the unknown quantity and for me if he continues to improve at the rate he is , as well as soak up knowledge like a sponge which by the rate of his improvement he would seem to be doing , his performances in the wet might start to mirror his dry weather skills - would be interested to hear if anybody thinks we have a genuine 100% rainmaster in the current era that can dominate whatever the level of performance he has from his car , or whether this era is lacking in such a quality --
I think in changing conditions (going from wet to dry) there is no-one better than Button. Alonso's chink in his armour has to be his wet weather skills. Sebastian is very good in pure wet (monza, china etc) but is a bit cautious when ist changeable. Hamilton similar but isnt as good as Seb in full wet either. Webber isnt great you have to admit!
we know all about vettel -- as i said if he continues to soak up knowledge like a sponge he may well dominate in such conditions which to date he has not really done -
Actually biased aside Seb has proved his wet weather worth many times during Toro Rosso and RBR. A rain master though? Hmmmm... That's a matter of opinion.
Lewis and Seb I would say are equal in the sense of driving in changing conditions and when the pressure gets put down by somebody like Jenson for example, will start to crack and make mistakes. Seb Canada/Lewis Hungary. Though I did bring up a few months back Sebs back of the grid to 2nd place in the wet, though it did become dry after about 10 laps and him and 1 person had the only dry tyres on the grid.
for me and it is just my opinion -- somebody that consistantly dominates thruout his era in such conditions with cars of different performance levels -
Hmm ok then, I don't think there is anyone who has dominated all the wet races but I think Jenson Button must be the closest. When you say a car of any level, I think the honda of 2007/8 can be argued to have been too bad even for him.
button would seem to have the savvy to be on the right tyre most of the time , not sure about his ultimate ability in the wet as i personally believe he needs the most competitive car on the day to do it , china 09 springs to mind as one he should of won , also canada this year despite a spirited drive i thought he was lucky to win it , without the multiple introduction of the safety car i dont believe he would have got anywhere near vettel --
There's only 2 stand out wet weather drives I will always remember: Lewis - 2007 Japan Seb - 2008 Italy Its hard to tell but the above drives from Lewis and Seb were exceptional.
How do you define rain master? Button is untouchable in changeable conditions for example, but im not sure there would be anyone special in a full wet race. Vettel, Hamilton, Button are all nominees and you know i still think schumachers pretty handy, but they are too close to each other for any to be a master.
You can add Hamilton's 2008 Silverstone win to that as well. Total domination that day. Back to the topic, I agree there is no stand-out driver. All the top guys have won in changeable and full wet conditions so there is no one who stands above all the others.
hamilton could hardly lose silverstone 08 saint , lets have it right . -- a useless team mate and his only competition on the day was a pair of ferrari"s that all season were allergic to anything that even resembled a damp track --
Oh yeah, you can add Belguim 2008 and the changeable conditions in that race too. Can you tell me how the Ferrari's were allergic to those conditions, as opposed to the drivers just driving badly? I mean, these are the same drivers who held it together in Brazil in 2008 for a 1-2 during 'allergic' conditions at the end of the race. Surely they should have been in the wall? He won by nearly 1 minuter in Britain. All down to the car? Come on, give us a break.
