http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/13/autospo...st-of-all-time/

Autosport: Drivers vote Senna as greatest of all time

Autosport recently held one of those this-has-to-be-about-creating-controversy polls to find the greatest F1 driver of all time. But this was more like the Screen Actors Guild Awards than the Oscars, in that it was 217 Formula 1 drivers -- going all the way back to 98-year-old Paul Pietsch, who raced in the 1930s -- doing the voting. From among all their peers, the group chose Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna as the number one F1 stunner.

Still, there are plenty of "What?!" moments. Ayrton we're solid on, and only three drivers from the past two decades made the top ten, one of them being Fernando Alonso at the number nine spot. But seriously -- Lewis Hamilton at number 17 ahead of Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, and Kimi Raikkonen? Jensen Button at number 30 ahead of Alan Jones, Guiseppe Farina, and Phil Hill? We say, "Hmmm..." Have a look at the list yourselves, where you can vote for whether a driver should be ranked higher or lower. Hat tip to Marien.

 

The greatest driver of all time is always up for debate & comes down to personal opinion.
My opinion: Senna's team-mate "Alain Prost" was better than him.

 

No surprise there for me, as I agree.

MS was great, and may have more wins/points, but there was something especially real about Senna, I just loved his drama.

 

Button at 30 is reasonable as is Lewis at 17. Button has only recently shown what he can do in a competitive car and in a half-assed car for the second half of the season.

Lewis still has years to go before he can rank up there at the top. He will need to build more equity to inch up higher.

Senna at numero uno is without argument the best choice. Schumi deserves his second place.

As this list is a compilation of all-time drivers, it may appear to be justified to some and not to others. Maybe a list of all drivers in the past decade would have seen Hamilton placed higher, but not by very much IMO.

 

I raised an eyebrow at Hamilton being that far up the scale, and Button too. Button I wouldn't have in the top 40 at all, Hamilton I think maybe around the 30-35 mark.

I think Mika Hakkinen should have been knocking in the top 10. I would have Jean Alesi in the list, near the 40ish mark though. A bit disappointed two of my favourites, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, didn't make the list, but given the company, understandable. I think Graham Hill and Fernando Alonso should be a bit higher up too.

 

Prost better than Senna? How do you figure?

 

I was lucky to have seen Senna drive in person. He was special. I named my first son after him. I still get goose bumps seeing his videos of his car control.

I have set of his driving gloves from Spa and one of his helmets that my son will get as he gets older.

He was and will be the man.

 

Jacques wadding up his car at Spa and running back to the pits to calmly jump into his back up as if nothing happened brought back memories of his dad

 

I admit my opinion is bias. Prost was my favorite driver of all time & I did not like Senna.
But I think you could compare the two since they went head-to-head in the same era. Their stats are similar with maybe a slight edge to Prost.

 

Heh heh, Jean Alesi was my favorite driver for a long while! Unfortunately, moments of brilliance in the driver's seat did not make up for his apparent inability to build a team around him and/or develop the car. Strictly as a DRIVER, I think he's one of the best ever. But that wasn't nearly enough in the Schumacher (btw, NOT one of my faves) era.