Who are the top 10 Formula One drivers in the history of the sport? This list contains all-time rankings that were calculated by using a formula.
All-time rankings of players and athletes in all kinds of different sports are not uncommon in this day and age, and many racing series are no exception to that. Formula One certainly isn’t.
In many if not all of these rankings, the opinions of the people who create the rankings heavily factor into the rankings themselves. While there are still plenty of other factors, particularly important statistics, that go into creating the rankings, they typically end up being decided in large part by the opinions of the creators.
These top 10 Formula One driver rankings, however, were not based on anything except important statistics and how those important statistics were weighted, which was consistent for each and every Formula One driver in the history of the sport.
These rankings were compiled using a formula that involves the career championship total of each and every driver, the career win total of each and every driver, and the career Monaco Grand Prix win total of each and every driver since the Monaco Grand Prix is the staple on the Formula One schedule each and every season that is the one race that drivers particularly want to win.
These rankings were calculated using the following formula:
- Each driver’s championships are worth 10 points
- Each driver’s wins are worth 1 point
- Each driver’s wins in the Monaco Grand Prix, Formula One’s signature race, are worth 3 points
| Rank | Driver | Championships | Wins | Monaco wins | Points |
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | 7 | 91 | 5 | 176 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | 4 | 62 | 2 | 108 |
| 3 | Alain Prost | 4 | 51 | 4 | 103 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | 4 | 47 | 2 | 93 |
| 5 | Ayrton Senna | 3 | 41 | 6 | 89 |
| 6 | Juan Manuel Fangio | 5 | 24 | 2 | 80 |
| 7 | Jackie Stewart | 3 | 27 | 3 | 66 |
| 8 | Niki Lauda | 3 | 25 | 2 | 61 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | 2 | 32 | 2 | 58 |
| 10 | Nelson Piquet | 3 | 23 | 0 | 53 |
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As expected, Michael Schumacher ends up being by far and away the best Formula One driver of all-time when this formula is used, which can be expected seeing has how no other driver has won more championships or races than he has, and his Monaco Grand Prix win total is just one win away from being in a 1st place tie.
Schumacher is also typically the #1 driver on many opinion-based Formula One all-time driver rankings, including Beyond the Flag’s “Top 10 Formula One drivers of all-time” article from January, so it makes sense that he is ranked #1 here, and his sizable gap over 2nd place also makes a lot of sense.
Next: Top 10 Formula One drivers of all-time
Does this formula yield accurate results in terms of determining who the top 10 drivers are in the history of Formula One, particularly from 2nd place through 6th place since everybody knows that Michael Schumacher deserves the #1 spot?