Every sport, including racing, has its greatest athletes of all-time. This is the case for Formula One. Here are the 10 best drivers in the sport’s history.
Another Formula One season has come to a close. Lewis Hamilton won his fourth career championship this past season and his third in the last four years.
But the 2018 season is quickly approaching, as it begins on Sunday, March 25th with the Australian Grand Prix. In fact, none of the major racing series, including Formula One, IndyCar and, NASCAR, are in action right now, as all are now in the offseason getting ready for 2018.
With everything pretty much at a halt right now and still a solid amount of time until the 2018 seasons begin, this is a perfect time to look back at the history of each of these three racing in terms of their top 10 drivers of all-time.
This article will rank the top 10 drivers in the history of Formula One.
Note that these rankings involve only information from the Formula One careers of each of these 10 drivers. Statistics from any other races series, such as Formula 2, Formula 3 or any other FIA racing series are not factored into these rankings.
Without further ado, let’s get started with the driver ranked #10 in the rankings.
#10 – Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda earns the 10th and final spot in these all-time Formula One driver rankings thanks to a remarkable 12-year full-time career in the sport during which he won three championships, which is tied for 6th place on the all-time titles list.
The reason that Lauda is not higher in these rankings despite the fact that he won three titles is the fact that his win percentage is not as high as the win percentages of many of the drivers ahead of him. In fact, his win percentage of 14.62% is not even as high as the win percentages of some drivers who weren’t included in these rankings, including a driver who actually won more races than he did but only retired having won one title.
Lauda won 25 races out of the 171 he drove in over the course of his career, which puts him in a 9th place tie on the all-time wins list as one of 10 drivers in the history of the sport who have won 25 or more races throughout their careers.
Lauda is perhaps most well-known for being involved in a near-fatal crash at Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany during the 1976 season. A movie called Rush, which was directed by Ron Howard, was created in 2013 about his championship battle with James Hunt that season, which Lauda ended up losing in large part due to the fact that he was sidelined for two races following the wreck that severely burnt his face and left him in critical condition.
#9 – Jackie Stewart
Of the 10 drivers in these rankings, only two of them had shorter Formula One careers than did Sir Jackie Stewart, who drove in just 99 races over the course of his nine-year full-time career in the sport. However, those nine seasons were full of accomplishments for Stewart.
The two other drivers in these rankings whose Formula One careers lasted fewer races than Stewart’s ended with those drivers having fewer victories than Stewart, which makes sense. What shows just how great Stewart was is the fact that many drivers who have had longer careers than Stewart haven’t been able to match his career victory total, either.
This is due to the fact that Stewart’s win percentage was exceptionally high over the course of his nine-year career. That win percentage of 27.27% allowed him to be victorious in 27 of his career 99 races, giving him a win total that currently ranks in 8th place on the all-time win list. His career win percentage is better than the win percentages of five of the seven drivers who are ahead of him on that list.
In addition to both an exceptional victory total and win percentage, Stewart also racked up three championships throughout his nine-year career, and he won all three of those titles in the final five seasons of his career. With four other drivers, he sits in a 6th place tie on the all-time championships list with those three titles.
#8 – Jim Clark
Jim Clark earns the #8 spot in these rankings primarily as a result of his amazing win percentage even his career win total is only tied for 9th on the all-time list, which is still very impressive. He only drove in 72 Formula One races over the course of his nine-year career, a career during which he drove full-time in seven seasons.
Clark’s career was cut short as a result of the fact that he was killed in a Formula Two crash in 1968 after he opened up the 1968 Formula One season with a victory, which would end up being the 25th and final win of his career and his life.
With 25 victories in just 72 starts, Clark was killed with a win percentage of 34.72%, which ranks 5th on the all-time list when using start statistics as opposed to entry statistics. However, among all drivers who are in the top 5 on that list, Clark started the most races and won the most races.
Clark was also killed as a two-time champion in the sport despite the fact that he only drove full-time for seven seasons. That championship total is tied for 11th on the all-time titles list, which leaves many wondering just how good he would have been had he not been killed at the age of 32 when he was.
#7 – Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is still driving full-time in Formula One at 36 years of age. However, he has not had much success lately as a result of the fact that he has not driven for a competitive team in several years.
Alonso’s 32 career victories in the sport rank in 6th place on the all-time wins list. However, largely as a result of his recent lack of success, his win percentage of 11.00% in 291 career starts is very low among drivers who rank that far up on the all-time wins list. In fact, his win percentage is the lowest among the top 10 drivers on that list.
Alonso also has two career championships to his name, which puts him in an 11th place tie on the all-time titles list. While that statistic itself may not make him look deserving of the #7 spot in these rankings, you could argue that those two championships he won were the most impressive titles won by anyone in the history of the sport.
Alonso’s first career Formula One championship made him the youngest driver to ever win a title at the time he won it, and his second career championship made him the youngest driver to ever win two titles at the time he won it. Also, he won those championships in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and 2006 to end a historic five-year championship streak of a driver who has not yet been discussed in these rankings.
#6 – Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio is the only driver in these rankings who is not in the top 10 on the all-time wins list, yet here he is ranked all the way up at #6, and there a couple of great reasons for it despite the fact that he only won 24 races throughout his Formula One career.
First of all, Fangio only drove full-time in Formula One for seven seasons, and he only drove in 51 races throughout his career. So the fact that he was able to win 24 races in 51 attempts is extremely impressive. In fact, his win percentage of 47.06% is by far the best among all drivers throughout the history of the sport.
Secondly, in just seven full-time seasons, Fangio drove his way to five career championships, a mark that trails the title total of only one other driver in Formula One history. His championship percentage is by far the greatest in the history of the sport at 71.43%, and he never finished lower than 2nd place in the drivers standings, either.
Finally, four of Fangio’s five championships were won consecutively. To this day, only two other drivers in Formula One history have won four or more titles in a row, and he managed to pull it off despite driving full-time for only seven seasons. Neither of those drivers have been discussed yet in these rankings.
#5 – Alain Prost
Alain Prost may be considered underrated on this list by many people, as he was in 2nd place in the all-time wins list before the 2016 season ended and he is still in 3rd place on that list with there being not much of a chance that he falls out of the top 4 anytime soon.
Plus, Prost is also in a 3rd place tie on the all-time championships list behind just two other drivers. So why is he only ranked #5 in these rankings and not higher, where the basic statistics of wins and championships would suggest he should be ranked?
First of all, one of the drivers who trails him in the wins category trails him by just a few victories and is still an active driver. This same driver is also tied with him in the championships category. Secondly, another driver who trails him in the wins category has a nearly identical win percentage to him and did not get the opportunity to match him in wins or championships as a result of being killed in a wreck.
This is not to say that Prost’s statistics are not impressive; they are historically good. But the fact remains that there are two drivers, one of whom is still active, who have better cases to be made for them even though their win and championship numbers don’t quite measure up to his. Prost is definitely a top 5 Formula One driver of all-time.
#4 – Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna’s 41 career Formula One victories put him in 5th place on the all-time wins list, and his three career championships put him in a 5th place tie on the all-time titles list despite the fact that he only drove in the sport for 10 seasons as a full-time driver.
This leads to the question: just how much better would he have gotten had he not been killed in a wreck at San Marino in the 1994 season, his 11th season as a full-time driver in the sport, as a 34-year-old?
The answer that many can agree on is that he would have been even better than his final numbers suggest. One key statistic that suggests this is his career pole total. Up until this past season, he trailed just one driver on the all-time poles list with 65 in 161 starts. That other driver recorded 68 poles in nearly twice as many starts. He now trails two drivers on that list.
Senna had raw speed, and he showed it frequently, as evidenced particularly by that pole statistic. He now sits 3rd on the all-time poles list, but he has a far greater pole percentage than the two drivers ahead of him on that list. He will likely remain in the top 5 on the all-time wins list for several years.
#3 – Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is still driving full-time in Formula One at 30 years of age. While there are plenty of other drivers who you could make a case for as deserving the #3 spot in these rankings, the fact that Vettel has shot up in many of the all-time rankings in so many significant stat categories at such as young age is why he gets the spot.
Vettel’s win total is up to 47, which is good for 4th place on the all-time wins list. With 3rd place on the list being Alain Prost’s 51 victories, there is no reason to believe that Vettel won’t get to the top 3 in the wins category as early as next season behind only the two drivers ranked higher than him in these rankings.
Vettel’s championship total is four, which is good for a 3rd place tie on the all-time titles list. He won his four titles in four consecutive seasons back from 2010 to 2013. In doing so, he became the youngest driver to ever win a championship, the youngest driver to ever win two championships, the youngest driver to ever win three championships and the youngest driver to ever win four championships.
Only one other driver in Formula One history had ever won two championships by the age at which Vettel had already won four. With retirement not currently in Vettel’s mind, expect him to continue to climb toward the top of many of the all-time lists.
#2 – Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton is still driving full-time in Formula One at 32 years of age, and he continues to show that he is deserving of the #2 spot in these rankings. The fact that he could and likely will keep driving for a few more years makes him the driver who will most likely take over the #1 spot in these rankings if someone other than the driver who is currently in it ends up in it at any point in time.
Hamilton’s win total is now 62, which is good for 2nd place on the all-time wins list. His win total is rapidly approaching the top total on the list, as it started the 2017 season at 53. With 62 career wins, only five other drivers in the history of the sport have more than half of the amount of wins than he has.
Hamilton just secured his fourth career championship in the sport, vaulting him into a 3rd place tie on the all-time titles list behind only two other drivers. One of those drivers was already discussed in these rankings.
Having won three championships in the last four seasons,Hamilton could continue climbing up that list as well if he continues to keep driving despite the idea of a possible retirement floating around in his head.
#1 – Michael Schumacher
As if there is really any true debate about it right now, Michael Schumacher is definitely the greatest driver in Formula One history, and there is no one else who is really close to taking the #1 spot in these rankings from him at this point.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Schumacher’s 91 career victories in his 306 races over his 19-year career in the sport put him in 1st place on the all-time wins list, and that total of 91 wins is a total that is greater than 2nd on that list by 29 victories. In fact, only three other drivers in the history of the sport even have half as many wins as Schumacher does.
Schumacher’s championship record is also extremely impressive. While he sits atop the all-time titles list having won seven championships, only one other driver in the history of the sport has won more than four, and there are only four drivers who have won even half the amount of titles that Schumacher won.
Schumacher won his seven championships in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, with his last five titles giving him a record streak of five championships in a row.
Next: Who is the greatest Formula One driver of all-time?
Do you agree with the top 10 drivers in these all-time Formula One rankings? Who do you think should be ranked higher and who do you think is overrated? Are there any drivers not ranked in the top 10 who you believe deserve a spot in it?