The Best All-Time F1 Driver

The tragedy of Senna's career being cut short while very much in his prime will forever lead to questions about how good Senna could have been. While he may not have gone on to record as many victories as Schumacher now has, how many would Michael have had taken away from him in the 5 or 6 years Senna had left in him?

Schumacher's antics in the '94 season when he ran Hill off the road in the championship-deciding race will always stay in my memory. That, added to all of the other controversies surrounding his career, including the '97 season decider when he tried to bump Villeneuve off the road but was caught in the act, all adds the disliking I have for the fellow.

I'm not arguing the fact that Schumacher was a great driver - I just prefer everything that Senna stood for, especially the way he raced, all the while considering the uncertainty surrounding the issue that we'll never know quite how great Ayrton could have been.

Who knows? In a couple of decades, maybe we'll be classing Lewis Hamilton amongst these heroes...

I've gone for Senna. Schumacher's records are beyond compare, but I think that he was lucky enough to dominate an era when there was no real competition. And when it finally came along in the form of Alonso he lost out twice. As for Alonso it's too early to say whether he's a very good or great driver, although my inclination is to the latter.

Senna had a long-running feud with Prost, and that's what makes the sport.

I think that's a given, although I don't think they'll be in direct competition until next year. Alonso will be lucky to get on the podium this season with that Renault!

"As for Alonso it's too early to say whether he's a very good or great driver, although my inclination is to the latter."

He's certainly better than most in F1 today, but I truly believe that his championships are more of a product of the car's performance and reliability than his own skill.  Was he faster than Raikkonen in '05?  No.  Was he faster than Schumacher in '06?  Debateable, but I'd still say no.  Was he faster than Raikkonen OR Hamilton in '07?  Hamilton yes, Raikkonen no.  Did you see all of the offs he made last year when he was attempting to run down Kimi and Felipe?  Remember Montreal when he went off on the same corner something like 4 or 5 times?  I don't recall ever seeing M. Schumacher make the same driving error repeatedly like that in a race.  Something else to think about is what impact the mass damper that Renault started using at the end of '04 played on his two championships.  I don't think it's any coincedence that the FIA banned them late in the '06 season and Renault hasn't been truly competitive since.  Plus, I've hated Alonso ever since the day he clinched his 1st championship and his pit men were all wearing "Schumacher Who" t-shirts.