Not actual skill, just (perception) you can change it as you see fit. For me: Tier 1: (Senna) Tier 2: (Fangio and Clark) Tier 3: (Schumacher and Prost) (Vettel and Alonso) Tier 4: (Stewart, Lauda, Brabham, Ascari) Tier 5: (Piquet, G.Hill and Fittipaldi) (Lewis and Kimi) Tier 6: (Mansell, Haikkinen, Rindt, Andretti, Hawthorn, Farina and Surtees) (Jenson) Tier 7: (J.Villeneuve, D.Hill, A.Jones, Scheckter, Hunt, P.Hill, K.Rosberg, D.Hulme)
It would be pretty hard to do as they were all in different eras and situations. Rules and regs and level of competition etc. Tier 1: (Senna and Fangio and Clark) Tier 2: (Schumacher and Prost) Tier 3: (Stewart, Lauda, Brabham, Ascari) Tier 4: (Piquet, G.Hill and Fittipaldi)(Vettel) Tier 5: (Mansell, Haikkinen, Rindt, Andretti, Hawthorn, Farina and Surtees) (Alonso) Tier 6: (Jenson) (Lewis and Kimi) et al that I have left out.
Tier 1: (Senna, Prost, Fangio, Clark) Tier 2: (Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso) Tier 3: (Stewart, Lauda, Brabham, Ascari, Fittipaldi) Tier 4: (Lewis, Kimi) Tier 5: (Piquet, G.Hill) Tier 6: (Mansell, Haikkinen, Rindt, Andretti, Farina and Surtees, Hunt) Tier 7: (J.Villeneuve, D.Hill, A.Jones, Scheckter, Hawthorn , P.Hill , K.Rosberg, D.Hulme, J.Button)
Pretty much agree with this, would however have Haikkinen in Tier 5 at the very least, if not Tier 4.
Hakkinen has always been a right car right time driver for me and would sit with those of the same caliber in tier 7 but as he won 2 I put him up one.
Fair enough, I guess my judgement is clouded a bit due to that fact that the flying Finn was one of my Fav. drivers..
Tier 1: (Senna) Tier 2: (Fangio and Clark) Tier 3: (Schumacher and Prost) Tier 4: (Stewart, Lauda, Brabham, Ascari) (Vettel, Alonso) Tier 5: (Hakkinen, G.Hill and Fittipaldi) (Lewis) Tier 6: (Mansell, Piquet, Rindt, Andretti, Hawthorn, Farina and Surtees) (Kimi) Tier 7: (J.Villeneuve, D.Hill, A.Jones, Scheckter, Hunt, P.Hill, K.Rosberg, D.Hulme) (Jenson) I swapped Piquet and Hakkinen as I think Mika is vastly underrated by a quite a few people purely because of the car advantage he had at McLaren at times, now where have I heard that before?
1. Senna, Fangio, Clark 2. Schumacher 3. Prost 4. Lauda, Piquet, Stewart, Vettel 5. Mansell, Hakkinen, Alonso, Lewis, G.Hill 6. Kimi, Jenson, Hunt, Surtees, Fittipaldi, Rosberg 7. D.Hill, J.Villneuve, P.Hill, Hulme, Andretti,
Tier 1: (Senna, Fangio) Tier 2: (Schuamcher, Clark) Tier 3: (Prost) Tier 4: (Stewart, Lauda, Brabham, Ascari, Vettel ,Alonso) Tier 5: (Haikkinen, Piquet, G.Hill, Fittipaldi, Mansell) Tier 6: (Rindt, Andretti, Farina, Surtees, Button, Hamilton, Raikkonen) Tier 7: (Villeneuve, Hawthorn, D.Hill, Jones, Scheckter, Hunt, P.Hill, Rosberg, Hulme) But its fairly pointless to rank the current with the past since they all have a big "so far" next to their name. Certainly for Hamilton, Button and Raikkonen i think the next few season will impact their standing massively. JB needs to lead McLaren, Raikkonen is running out of time and gambling with team choice has seen a few champions slide (im looking at Hill, Villenueve, Fittipaldi) and other gain ( Schumacher) the fate of his Mercedes stint will affect Lewis's position a lot.
No no, with perception I mean by the hype that goes with them, where would you rate them around about with the other WDC's. Has nothing to do with skill but the hype and aurora that surrounds them past and present, are they remembered for a short while, a very long time, the GOAT? something on those lines, sorry if any confusion I just wrote this up within a couple of minutes to create another subject. Of course we cannot give an accurate comparison with skill since we always get "Can't compare with different cars from different timelines etc" this has nothing to do with that. From this point in time where would you rate the current WDC's around the rest of history, how much influence will they leave behind if they retired right now with compared to the others.
Always worth remembering that the first time he qualified a McLaren in 1993, he beat Senna. He also dragged around the 94 & 95 McLaren's pretty well too. Definitely tier 4/5 material. Agree with the rest of the ratings too.
Agree with this too. I can also see Alonso maybe coming down a tier if he doesn't win another WDC. Lots of hype when he was young and won his 2 early ones, but a lot of toy throwing thereafter and no more WDC's.
Too hard to do right now as time will change how they are perceived. Clearly we have a grid that's packed with some amazing talent and some drivers that will be ranked with the greats over time. If Vettel continues his dominance of the championship he could really push the likes of Alonso and Hamilton way down the all-time greats food chain... however, if one of those (or any other driver for that matter) were to take the fight to Vettel and stop the title torrent, they themselves could find themselves top of the ladder.
Tier 1: (Senna and Fangio and Clark) Tier 2: (Schumacher and Prost) Tier 3: (Stewart, Lauda, Brabham, Ascari) Tier 4: (Piquet, G.Hill Vettel, Alonso) Tier 5: (Mansell, Haikkinen, Andretti, Hawthorn,) Tier 6: (Hunt, D. Hill, Jenson, Lewis and Kimi)
