The F1 Stat Blog Your Home of F1 Statistics
Part two of my top ten drivers, part one here, with the top five ranked by stats and stats alone. As previously mentioned these are not my personal opinion and instead calculated and ranked by a formula using all of their various stats. As a little bonus I’ve put the full list of all 32 Drivers’ Champions at the bottom.
Alonso is often regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid and according to my stat rankings he is. In just over 200 races he has won 32 times, has 89 podiums but just two World Championships. With just 11 more points he could have been a five time champion, two points short in 2007, five in 2010 and four in 2012. Alonso has the fourth most wins in F1 and the third most podiums but down in fifth because he has had more races and poorer percentages than many drivers from previous years.
Fangio was by some way the best driver in the 1950s, he only entered eight seasons in F1 and won five championships, finishing second twice and 14th in his final year when he started just two races. His F1 career was only 52 races long but he won 24 of those with 35 podiums, only finishing off of the podium SIX times. There were far fewer entries in the early 50s, often with less than ten drivers finishing the race but that is still an incredible record.
3) Ayrton Senna
The start of the top three, Ayrton Senna, third most wins in F1 with 41 and the second most pole positions with 65. Michael Schumacher only had three poles more than Senna but Schumacher had over 140 more races. Possibly the best qualifier statistically but only third overall, despite 41 wins, 65 poles and 80 podiums Senna only managed 19 fastest laps. Senna was the youngest ever triple champion for 20 years until Vettel beat the record by six years in 2012.
2) Alain Prost
Alain Prost is a driver I’ve always quite liked, even though I was too young to see him race properly. In his 202 race career he won 51 times but finished on the podium a massive 106 times. He finished more times on the podium than off of it with 143 actual race finishes and an average race finishing position on 2.96, the best of any driver in recent years. Senna was close behind in average finishes with his being 3.15. Prost has the second most wins, podiums and fastest laps, but only the joint fourth most poles with 33 behind Schumacher, Senna and Vettel.
Fairly obvious who the number 1 would be in a list based only on stats. Schumacher has the most race finishes, the most wins, poles, fastest laps, podiums, points, wins from pole and championships. He dominated the early 2000s with Ferrari, he finished on the podium in every single race of 2002 and has won more races with Ferrari, 72, than any other driver has in their entire career. He won races in 15 consecutive seasons from his first win in 1992 to his first retirement in 2006.
Full list of driver rankings
32) Phil Hill
31) Mike Hawthorn
30) Keke Rosberg
29) Giuseppe Farina
28) John Surtees
27) Jochen Rindt
26) Denny Hulme
25) Jody Scheckter
24) James Hunt
23) Jacques Villeneuve
22) Mario Andretti
21) Alan Jones
20) Jenson Button
19) Graham Hill
18) Emerson Fittipaldi
17) Jack Brabham
16) Alberto Ascari
15) Kimi Räikkönen
14) Lewis Hamilton
13) Damon Hill
12) Mika Häkkinen
11) Nelson Piquet
10) Niki Lauda
9) Nigel Mansell
8) Jim Clark
7) Sebastian Vettel
6) Jackie Stewart
5) Fernando Alonso
4) Juan Manuel Fangio
3) Ayrton Senna
2) Alain Prost
1) Michael Schumacher
