Senna.... would do anything to win. genius in car. Schumacher... would do anything to win, could find the edge on a single lap immediately and stick on it. Hamilton... IMO would do anything to win, can find that one alp but no as consistently, is a guy who needs to be "angry" to be at his best alonso: another who has been proven as would do anything to win. really poor career choices. Should be in the above 3's category but is not lauda... as above. would do anything to win, was right on the edge too, much closer to the top 3 cos he delivered then theres vettel and prost... these guys deserve thier own category i guess cos they're politicial animals. I cannot bring myself to rate vettel anywhere near the top 3 there that i know about. In ye olden days as bad as it sounds i think vettel would probably have killed himself he makes that many silly errors. He's got 4 titles but all in the fastest car by a margin and he's right now got that but failing v hamilton then theres max. This guy is imo a guy who'd break any rule just to get to a corner first never mind win the race. Someday he might learn the hard way on this. theres a very big accident waiting somewhere in his future but we will see. nowadays they get way with it (largely) and don't really learn from them unless the team can't afford it. My view overall is F1 champions have to be ruthless, they have to have that raw edge of speed that delivers and they need to make the least mistakes. you don't need that touch of genius if you've the fastest car but the touch of genius is what draws the fans (rightly)
Drivers are only as good as their era allows. It's only been the last 20 or so years, maybe less, where the majority of the grid are professional athletes. Look at a certain Nigel Mansell, how do you think a guy with his body shape would cope today? He wouldn't even be on the grid, regardless of talent. Schumacher whilst not my cup of tea was the whole package, he had the natural talent, he put in the training, and he could politically manoeuvre. He was the first to do it all really. Even Senna was not as fit as he could have been, a fact that hampered him in certain conditions. Today's grid as a whole would wipe the floor with grids from years gone buy, the skills throughout are huge, even the pay drivers these days have talent to some degree. Then again these cars can't be compared to cars gone buy. They brake at 6G. They corner at 5G. Not a million years ago they couldn't even corner at 2G. How do you compare today's drivers to those in years gone buy?
We will never know the truth, only speculate. I suspect if all the drivers mentioned in this debate could compete against each other on equal terms (equipment, all taken at their peak) the result might be different to what any of us might imagine. Sadly, that is not to be.
Jackie Stewart said you can only be compared to drivers of your own era . I agree . Fangio would not even fit in a modern f1 car , let alone handle the technical / physical side . On the other hand , try getting any f1 driver into one of those old death traps , I doubt they would race it hard for all the tea in China.
That was unexpected, can the same be achieved in the race? obviously not 1.36. Not a lot to say, if this is indicative of tomorrow, Vettel will be deeply disappointed and he will need a DNF from Lewis if Lewis can translate the Pole to a win. Performance needs no words.
I did, thanks. I bought a yacht this morning so my head is elsewhere. Guess I could re post it but others will be saying the same.