Moss named best F1 driver

cimardinius wrote:

Since the author is not only British but English as well, I simply cannot understand why he did not choose Lewis Hamilton.

I read some F1 race reports on ITV's web site last year and they were certain that Hamilton was not only the world's greatest driver, but also God...

I sincerely hope you are joking... He has not done anything to cement his name in a list of greats such as Moss, Schumacher, Senna, Fangio etc. Hamilton has been given arguably the fastest car for the last season and a half and has, comparatively done LITTLE. As another member has stated. Mark Webber is just one who has shown, arguably, more promise albeit with terrible reliabilty in lower teams as hamilton has in McLaren. Kubica in BMW is another example... Alonso has shown far more class than Piquet who has only one fluke standing due to pace car shenanigans.

Yes, the boy has speed but just take a look at the qualifying records from the late 80s. You only have to look for one name; Senna. 85, 86, 88, 90, 91... Sure, in 88, and 89 the McLaren was by far the best car but 13 poles to 2 when your team mate's name is Alain Prost - that's speed! And even with the lesser Lotus cars of 85 and 86, the Brazillian was racking up 8 poles in a season. The closest contenders those years had 2 and amongst them were names like Piquet, Prost, Mansel, Rosberg Snr and Lauda.

Hamilton has been unable to out-qualify Massa who currently shares the same number of P1s thus fur in 08 and in 07 despite the Brazillian having to face technical problems such as fuel, gearboxes and other reliabilty issues during Qualifying.

In races he has shown that he is not yet level headed. He makes mistakes when the pressure is on and then makes more trying to make up for them. Brazil 07, China 07... The crane lift, according to F1 Regulations, was illegal in Germany 07 as cranes are only supposed to be used to recover vacated cars from the circuit. Hamilton's was parked against the wall in the gravel trap. The racers that were still lapping were doing so under caution so he was hardly in a dangerous position either.

The McLaren's have also had only two retirements; one for each driver. On the other hand, Ferrari have had six; three per driver - Massa's last one was on the 3rd to last lap of, what would have been, a ten point finish. But he finds himself just 6 points shy of the Brit despite an FIA that would love to make a Tiger Woods out of the new youngster - if only he could perform like one.

In return to another post....Moss was quite brilliant and is often overlooked. Senna was certainly brilliant. One of the greatest tragedies in F1 history was the death of Ayrton Senna. It has left a world full of deluded Schumacher devotees that look only at results. MSC himself stated in an interview following the Brazillian's death that he was beyond words. That he had fully expected Ayrton to come back and win the championship finishing with, "it shouldn't be me up here", or words to that affect.

Schumacher has a bit of a checkered past when it comes to facing the Brazilian... For example, Senna and others were adament that the way the Benetton handled through certain corners in Brazil 94 and the sound of the engine compared to Schumacher's normal driving style reeked of Driver aids (like LC and TC). After more comlaints and an detailed examination, the Benetton was found to have a hidden computer menu in its software with Traction Control etc. Benetton, naturally, denied it was every used in a race.

Something they were punished for was the fueling rig which handed Senna's lead to Schumacher in Brazil. Damon Hill, lapped by a Senna determined to catch the German back has never been compared on a "who's best" basis. Yet Hill was able to bring the 1994 championship down to the wire. The Englishman's constant breaking under pressure left Schumacher to run down a second title in 95. This was another that could have gone the way of Senna. The 96 and 97 titles were comfortably won by the Williams team and, providing Ayrton was still racing, there is no reason why he could not have won both. Put simply, had he not died, Senna's tally could have looked something like 88, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97 and god knows how many Poles. I'm not saying they were definites but the point is Schumacher's main rival and someone the German thought was most worthy died to soon.

The Williams FW16 of early 94 was a horrid car and Senna gave interviews commenting about how they were just getting it right at Imola yet he still managed to Pole the damn thing in every race he sat in it. The second fastest lap of Imola was the lap before he died... leading the race with one stop more fuel in his car than Schumacher. This is how I will remember him. Brilliant. To state bluntly that any other driver should be number one, other than Fangio, Moss, etc, is an insult. One has to have watched races or, at least, know why someone is on Pole, who has gone off, whose gearbox has failed, who has developed a puncture and slipped from P1 to P8 etc. Facts are useless without knowledge. Numbers mean little in a sport when one's tools are often KEY.

Apologies for spelling or grammar... its 3:20am here... I just get shitty when ill-informed morons post garbage with nothing to back it up.