10 Best Drivers Since 1994?

[MrSal]

10. Berger - Senna made him look silly, but who aside from Prost didn't in his company? A quicker, more competant, less whiney, more racey version of DC

I'm glad you put Berger in here. He wasn't helped by the fact he couldn't fit in the McLaren and move or steer properly. I always thought he was seriously underrated.

[x_dt]

1) Michael Schumacher
then in no particular order:
Mika Häkkinen
Damon Hill
Jacques Villeneuve
Fernando Alonso
Jean Alesi
Gerhard Berger
Rubens Barrichello
Juan-Pablo Montoya
Kimi Räikkönen

[fastracer]

1. M Schumacher- Class of his own
2. Hakkinen- One of the few drivers that really pushed Michael to his absolute best. Soaked up pressure better than anyother driver in the past 10 years and could pull absolutely brilliant laps when needed (Luxembourg '98). Some might argue that he was only really competitive from 98-00 but in '94 finished 4th in the championship and had some great runs in '97 that were overshadowed by bad luck.
3. Villenueve- Like Hakkinen, could really push Michael. A bit more racier than Mika. Unfortunately the demise of Williams and his move to BAR really only gave him 2 years in a competitive so it's a bit hard to completely judge how good he really was.
4. Montoya- Similar to Villeneuve and Hakkinen, blindingly quick and not afraid to battle Schumacher head on. His downfall really is that is lack of wins which necessarily isn't his fault but due to lack of reliability and Ferrari's domination
5. Alesi- Filled with natural ability but for some reason could never string a couple of strong races together.
6. Barrichello- On his day, absolutely fantastic. His drives at Germany in 00 and recently at Silverstone remain one of the best in the past decade. However like Alesi, far too inconsistent.
7. Irvine- Not the fastest driver, but consistently quick which almost got him the championship in 99 where he was almost always on the podium. He was an intelligent driver and rarely ever made stupid mistakes on the track, but made plenty off-track.
8. Hill- Why so low for a World Champ? Simply put was that he wasn't one of the best. Barely won the championsip in the best car and never could quite manage to handle the pressure. Why even under Irvine? Well, Irvine almost managed to win the championship while not driving the best car and Hill almost lost it in the absolute best car to a rookie teammate
9. Berger- Most underrated driver in the decade. Quick driver and on his day could compete with anyone
10. Fisichella- Well if the championship consisted only of Brazil, Monaco, Canada and Belgium then Fisichella would be up in the top 3. However he's never managed to be as competitive on any other track. Go fig...

Raikkonen/Alonso/Webber- Eventually will be in the top 10 after this year or next but as of now they haven't been around long enough to consistently win races.

[Inigo Montoya]

1. Michael Schumacher - Perhaps the best ever.
2. Giancarlo Fisichella - My favourite driver (lots of bias here), and yes, he's always overlooked, but everyone here will see once he gets a top drive that he deserves to be on this list.
3. Mika Hakkinen - Faster over a single lap than even Schumacher. Sorely missed.
4. Jean Alesi - A racer, fighter, whatever you want to call him. Very very fast.
5. Jacque$ Villeneuve - Yeah, I'm tough on him, and I make fun of him. But an Indy 500 winner, a CART championship, CART Rookie of the year, F1 WDC, and he messed with Michael's head. Surely he deserves at least the top ten of the last decade.
6. Damon Hill - Yes, he had the best car when he won the WDC, but what about that near win in the arrows?
7. Ralf Schumacher - He's proven that he's WDC material. Just a touch better than his much touted teammate.
8. Juan Montoya - I thought he was just another CART guy when he came into F1. How wrong I was.
Gap to the young guys:
Kimi, Fernando, and Mark. Stars of the future for sure. Stick any of them in a top car (Kimi is there already) and they are WDC contenders.

[Chaynes321]

1 - Schumy
2 - J P Montoya (my fav)
3 - Damon
4 - Hakkiman
5 - Kimi
6 - Rubens
7 - Alonso
8 - Jaques - used his head and moved to BAR (ha- ha)
9 - Berger / Alesi
10 - Webber / Button

[beau]

People who nearly made it to my list
Raikkonen (New guner)
Senna (if he was allowed on the list)
Herbert(maybe)
Salo (Nearly won a race)
Panis (Won a race)
Mansell (o.k he only did one race but still)
Trulli

[f1manoz]

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya
1. Michael Schumacher - Perhaps the best ever.

Yeah right!

[Inigo Montoya]

The really laughable thing is that you left a 5 time world champion off of your list.

A case of emotion winning over reason?

[climb]

Sorry f1manoz,
Inigo is right.
With maximum respect for anyone's opinion, it's hard to rate Barrichello and Irvine more than MSchumacher.

[Led ZeppF1]

1. M Schumacher
2. Hakkinen
3. Montoya
4. Villeneuve
5. Raikkonen
6. Barrichello
7. Damon Hill
8. R Schumacher
9. Alesi
10. Fisichella

[f1manoz]

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya
The really laughable thing is that you left a 5 time world champion off of your list.

Oopsy, that's my error. He should have been on there.

[Wrex]

Yes, you gonna look like a ditz leaving the guy that has one more than half the championships in the time frame we have.

Michael, Mika, Damon, Jacques (silly to leave any WDC off the list, but these 2 scrape in despite the last few years of each's careers).

Alonso, Webber, Fisi, Kimi, Montoya, Ralf.

[ASCII Man]

TGF is the best F1 driver on paper, but not in skill or raw speed. (definately not in skill)
Winning a title now means much less than winning a title in say, the 50's or 60's.

But that's just my opinion. (and i'm not the only one)

[Wrex]

Bold statement keystrokes, so who is?

[Glen]

Winning a title now means much MORE, in my opinion. Drivers have never been more intensively prepared, more fit and more skilled. How you can hold an era such as the 60's - when Surtees transferred from bikes and became champion - with now? The level has never been higher and still Schumacher manages to remain on top if it. On the grounds of the ever increasing level of perfection, I think it is perfectly logical to argue that MS is the best ever - but these discussions have nothing to do with logic!

[ASCII Man]

Maybe, but i'm quite sure that TGF would wet his pants in a 50's Ferrari at a damp and misty Nurburgring.

[Glen]

Don't think so. Whatever - just because it was more dangerous, doesn't mean it was more difficult. Indeed - increased safety and better cars means that today's drivers operate much closer to 100% much more of the time... the best drivers (well, most of them) aren't putting a charge on at a crucial point in the race, purely because the entire race is run at the level of "charge". This is one reason for a perceived lack of excitement in modern F1 - it simply isn't possible to find a little extra, because the extra is used up as a matter of course.

[Wrex]

OK, stay on topic people, lets not hijack DNQ's thread

[Glen]

How much more on topic do you want Wrex?

[darcym]

easy one this, and I'll stick my neck out....IN ORDER

1.) Shumacher M
2.) Irvine
3.) Hakkinen
4.) JV
5.) Montoya
6.) Webber
7.) Alonso
8.) Kimi
9.) Alesi
10.) Frentzen

[Irv the Swerve]

Originally posted by darcym
easy one this, and I'll stick my neck out....IN ORDER

1.) Shumacher M
2.) Irvine
3.) Hakkinen
4.) JV
5.) Montoya
6.) Webber
7.) Alonso
8.) Kimi
9.) Alesi
10.) Frentzen

I always noticed that darcym was intelligent

[SALEEN S7R]

1.M.Schumacher
2.M.Hakkinen
3.G.Berger
4.K.Raikonen
5.J.Wilson
6.F.Alonso
7.J.Montoya
8.D.Hill

[beef cake]

I've got to say, you people who have put Alonso, Webber and Kimi on the list, you have clearly only been following F1 since 2000!

Although I will admit that all 3 will be future stars (if you don't consider them to be already), the list of 10 really should be people who have featured heavily in the years since the loss of the one and only Senna.
Therefore, I don't consider two drivers who have had a year with Minardi and half a year with a top team (however impressive they've been) should appear on the list of the best drivers since 1994!

In no particular order then, here's my list (of 11):

M. Schumacher
M. Hakkinen
D. Coulthard
R. Barrichello
J. Villeneuve
J. Alesi
G. Berger
E. Irvine (however much they cheated, he did nearly win the title!!)
D. Hill
R. Schumacher
J. Montoya (he's not been around long either, has he?!)

[darcym]

I have been following F1 form the very late 80's and really started enjoying it in 91.

I included webber because a.) I have followed him in F3000, benneton tester, and Sports cars and he was GREAT, his performance in the Minardi and Jag this year have been great.

I included Alonso because a.) in the minardi he did wonderfull things, b.) the renault this year have been stunning.

Kimi, I'll grant you he did a god job at sauber, is doing well at Mclaren (not stunning) and I am told his F reault days where great and I'll certainly grant you berger in place of kimi I just think in their short time they have made a real impact, and I have included some old hands at the job too. had the rule been the 90's instead of 94 I would have had prost, pique, and a few others in there too

[darcym]

Additional comment just thought of.

people like Alonso and Kimi (for example only) may be doign well now, and may go onto win WDC, however they may not be as good a driver as say Frenzten or even Brundel (again for example) as they drove 900BHP cars without electronic aids. Although this argument could go back to Fangio (Senna was **** as he drove with a role hoop, fangio drove bare knuckles etc etc)