Autosports Top 50 Drivers of 2004

[Dov]

Taken from CCF/CW:

Autosport reveals it's top 50 drivers of 2004.

Here's the top 20:
1. Michael Schumacher
2. Kimi Räikkönen
3. Sebastien Loeb
4. Petter Solberg
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Juan Pablo Montoya
7. Rubens Barrichello
8. Jenson Button
9. Marcus Grönholm
10. Giancarlo Fisichella
11. Mark Webber
12. Jarno Trulli
13. Sebastien Bourdais
14. Tony Kanaan
15. Nick Heidfeld
16. Mattias Ekström
17. Ralf Schumacher
18. Takuma Sato
19. Helio Castroneves
20. Markko Märtin

I'm somewhat surprised that Seb was ranked so low and Alonso ahead of Montoya and Fisichella ahead of Mark Webber has me scratching my head. They didn't even have one NASCAR driver (Jeff Gordon) ranked in the top 20.

[Adam43]

Other Champcar drivers:
13. Bourdais
30. Allmendinger
45. Junqueira

(off topic, Jimmie Johnson was 22nd amongst 5 NASCAR drivers. There were also 8 IRL drivers and 1 part time ALMS driver).

If Bourdais had competed against some of the 12 ahead of him (i.e been in F1) I'd like to think he'd be higher, but this reason scuppers his chances. He may just have sneaked into the top ten in my list overall anyway. I feel the current field is difficult to compare with outside ChampCar.

[Kicking-back]

Indeed.

You must remember it's a British magazine, which will inevitably restrict NASCAR drivers visibility.

But in terms of what he did against who he was racing against, I think rating Bourdais there is about right.

[Jordi]

I can see why this list is how it is... But Alonso ahead of Monty, Fisico or even Trulli surprises me. I agree with AJ being placed ahead of Bruno.

[Raglanparade]

Im suprised that Webber was so high, and im Australia.

Only MS, Kimi, Alonso, Montoya, Barrachello, Button and Fisco in front of them.

How can the 11th best driver in the world, and the 8th best driver in Formula 1 have never stepped onto a Formula 1 Poduim does make me wonder....

[Dov]

^ Jenson Button has been on the podium before.

[Dov]

Please disregard my post above. Now back on topic:Webber has proven that he is one of the best F1 drivers on the grid imo. Okay, maybe he hasn't been on the podium yet, but he's never had the car under him to bring about these results. I suspect that's the same reason why Autosport ranked AJ Allmendinger ahead of Bruno Junqueira.

[MLM]

Kimi 2nd? : He had a rather cr*ppy year.
Of course, F1 drivers would dominate the top of the list. I probably would have listed Jimmie Johnson AND Jeff Gordon higher than Sato or Ralfie (JMHO).

Bruno 45th? I'm not too impressed about THAT one. I don't think I would have listed Rubens that high, either.
JMHO, but that list is a little off the mark.

[N I Tram]

Kimi did a brilliant job in poor machinery, really shining at Sivlerstone, Brazil, Belgium and Hockenheim amongst others.

I would have Bourdais and Kanaan in my top 10 though - both won extremely tough championships where yu can't hide behidn your machinery. I'm not sure WRC deserves 3 drivers in the top 10, and agree that NASCAR deserves a little more respect.

[Kicking-back]

F1 and WRC are the only "World Championships" and will always carry more status.

[BootsOntheSide]

KB, a few years ago there was an international event taking place on gravel. Most ocuntries entered one rally driver, one motorcycle racer and one circuit car racer, but the US entered 2 NASCAR drivers (Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon IIRC) and bike star Colin Edwards, and won. The WRC standard can't be higher than NASCAR (or several other championships come to think of it) if something like that can happen.

[Kicking-back]

I didn't say it was a higher standard, merely a higher status from a global perspective.

The race of champions you cite is an interesting one, but I don't think it tells us much about the relative merits of anything, given that it's primarily a fun event.

[Fiorentina 1]

This list makes no sense. How is Fisichella tenth, he didn't do anything this season? How is Button only 8th, and how is Bourdais only 13th? How is Trulli, who won Monaco, behind Fisichella, Weber and so far behind Alonso? This list makes no sense what so ever. Also, since Autosport is a British rag, I would think they'd put Button top 5, maybe top 3 and Richard Lyons in the top 20.... I would have!


Editted to remove a pretty blatant autocensor-dodge.

[Jordi]

Fiore, Fisico did some good things in a Sauber. I agree about Trulli being too down.
One has to consider the merits the drivers did in the machinery they had. On that basis, the list is not too bad, though Montoya is a little too high - he didn't always look interested in what was a bad car. To be honest, it's really a moot point since this list won't change anything anyway...

[Kicking-back]

Exactly - these lists are opinion, and designed to generate discussion.

They work.

[Hazza]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

KB, a few years ago there was an international event taking place on gravel. Most ocuntries entered one rally driver, one motorcycle racer and one circuit car racer, but the US entered 2 NASCAR drivers (Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon IIRC) and bike star Colin Edwards, and won. The WRC standard can't be higher than NASCAR (or several other championships come to think of it) if something like that can happen.

Some people forget that a fair whack of NASCAR's drivers came up through FFord and then chose the path of NASCAR, it's not like they got up one day and said, "Cornsarnit, Ise thinks I'ma gonna gets me one of dem NASCAR drives and spin round in circles, h'yuck", most of them are pretty talented individuals in their own right.

[Biased Opinion]As for the ROC that's probably just Colin lifting up the entire team. [/Biased Opinion]

[luke]

Personaly I love looking at the Christmas edition of Autosport, the top 50 drivers is very intresting, but mainly based on driver success.
For example Sam Hornish JR is down in 49th place. A long with DC in 43rd.

Bruno Junqueira 45th-down 12

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by luke

Bruno Junqueira 45th-down 12

"That's not Fair!!"

[Snrub]

Meh, these lists are usually contriversial, but I'd say this one isn't that bad other than that it's very euro-centric. I'd agree that Bourdais and Junky deserved higher rankings and I'd put PT somewhere on the list too. I think it was very difficult to rank the F1 drivers this year so I won't argue too much on the ratings. I disagree that CC drivers are that difficult to compare to F1 drivers and I'd disagree to some extent that Bourdias and Kannan were in series where they couldn't hide behind their cars. Bourdais could have, but won in a manner that proved that he didn't. Kannan had a clear equipment advantage and essentially was competing against 4 other drivers and certainly did it in an effective manner and deserves kudos for finishing every lap.

[Ac.]

Originally Posted by Hazza

It's not like they(NASCAR drivers) got up one day and said, "Cornsarnit, Ise thinks I'ma gonna gets me one of dem NASCAR drives and spin round in circles, h'yuck", most of them are pretty talented individuals in their own right.

That's classic Hazza, but you are absolutely right about the talent some of those drivers posess.