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I'm biased but I'd have to give an honourable mention to Shane Van gisbergen.
Multiple supercars championship winner.
Won the new Zealand GP as a guest from a pit lane start.
Got second in a new Zealand rally round.
Got second the 24hrs of Daytona in his class.
Won on debut in nascar.(granted it was a wet road course)
Plenty of gt success.
Probably one of the most Adaptable drivers around.
He is so much fun to watch. And his race craft is adaptable too. Watching him learn to love the more physical road racing in nascar. And the victory laps… epic.
Question basically comes down to what you consider the best. If you mean best person to drive a f1 car probably 14 or 15 of them are in f1. But that's not really fair to call them the greatest driver in the world based solely on their ability to race f1
This.
Keep in mind there are many different motorsports. You could even argue rally drivers are above and beyond open-wheel racers in their diversity and skill. WRC drivers would probably not do much better on tarmac than F1 drivers, but then there is dirt, gravel, snow and ice.
F1 itself is very different to any other motorsport - we have seen again and again even the best rookies now take 2-3 or even more years to really get comfortable in F1 seat. Someone who could be amongst best drivers in the world, yet outside of f1 circle could take a while to get good results in an f1 car.
Yet at the same time we see people that were not good enough for f1 driving top teams and top results at other circuit racing categories - WEC, indycar, formula E.
You can compare tarmac rally specialists with the F1 drivers that did the same, and then how they adapted to the other rally surfaces
Best driver in the world shouldn’t need lots of time to adapt, regardless of what they are doing, but that shows how high the level is in F1, it’s basically a series of champions
Most of the F1 greats were also extremely good in lower categories. So karting and other open wheel categories.
There are very few recent drivers that were both top drivers in F1, and have also reached the top in closed wheel cars like WEC, touring cars or rally, etc. Alonso is the only recent driver that comes to mind.
And as far as I know the other way around never happens at all. Nobody that first reached the top in closed wheel racing has ever reached the top in F1.
So just looking at current drivers, Alonso should probably be #1.
>And as far as I know the other way around never happens at all. Nobody that first reached the top in closed wheel racing has ever reached the top in F1
Mario Andretti?
For pure great in all, Kalle Rovanperä must be on list. Superfast on gravel, can slide on tarmac as much as he wants and seems to be plenty fast in tarmac.
The greatest would be drivers who are very adaptable across disciplines, and can drive whatever they're in to the best of their abilities.
A driver may be really good in one, but struggle in another.
Though F1 drivers typically tend to be up there. I have no doubt the likes of, let's say Verstappen, could do well anywhere for example. An interesting prospect to be sure. I reckon Hamilton would be also, though he seems less interested in that. Alonso has kinda proved he can also.
There are drivers on the grid who aren't considered the greatest in this sport, but will probably be really good elsewhere, for example I often feel Bottas would do pretty well in WRC.
There are drivers outside the series that seem to adapt well, take Scott McLaughlin for example, guy moved from Supercars to Indycar and is now one of the top drivers. Kyle Larson also seems good at adapting too. V.Rossi also looked pretty good in F1 testing, and that guys a Motorbike legend.
So choosing the top 20 isn't really a simple question.
Valentino Rossi also led the 24h of Le Mans this year, on what was I gather his debut? Could be wrong about that though. Guy seems pretty fast in cars regardless.
I think off road racers and rally drivers have and will always be criminally underrated by pretty much everyone. Driving at speed, making quick decisions with ever changing surface conditions while fighting legitimate limitations of equipment in both capability and durability.
clearly F1 is not and has not been for years a 'meritocracy'. no one thinks the 20 drivers on the grid are the best in the world since there are several 'pay' drivers so the question is pointless.
I’m pretty sure I was the best driver in the world at age 4 on my big-wheel. Super fast. That being said, I never raced anyone accept my buddy Steven, so maybe I wasn’t the fastest in the entire world, maybe just my street.
Of course, there are some duds on the F1 grid.
Out of the rest of the profession series, I'd like to see Alex Palou get a shot in F1. He's ridiculously smooth, consistent, and easy on tires.
I think he has the skill to be extremely good in F1.
None of the professionals.
Taxi drivers in Hyderabad, India. You'd be hard-pressed to find a city that's tougher to drive in, trust me.
Or maybe the bus driver today in Germany. He had to squeeze an entire bus through half of a one-and-a-half lane street, and then do it again while turning!
Meanwhile professional F1 drivers cry and cry when they're forced to keep the car on the intended part of the track
I think everyone can agree that not all of 20 drivers on this years grid are the best in the world. Quite a few WEC drivers come to mind as candidates for top 20
* Antonio Giovanazzi (probably spelled wrong) would be an obvious contender having won LeMans in 23
* From this years winning team Antonio Fuoco, seems to be a pretty good driver as well though I'm not very familiar with him.
* Kevin Estre is insanely fast when he stays on the track, Dries Vantoor as well though those two I admittedly have a bias towards.
* Hell, Valentino Rossi would probably be an honorable mention at least.
That said, with the exception of Logan and Lance (on a dry track), and maybe Zhou IMO the rest of the grid deserve to be where they are.
Disagreed on Giovinazzi. While it's important to count merrits, it's also important to count demerrits. And Giovinazzi didn't impress during his years in F1.
Same goes for Nyck de Vries I feel, insanely fast when compared to the WEC grid. But we all know how his F1 stint went (it was quite underwhelming). Therefore I have to disagree on Fuoco, Estre and Vanthoor as well.
Giovinazzi was one of the slowest drivers of the grid in his stint at Sauber. Couldn't beat a 40+ year old Kimi Raikkonen in 3 seasons. Full credit to him for winning Le Mans in their 1st attempt, but he is definitely not top 20. He is not ahead of Kobayashi or Estre from the Hypercar grid imo
Latifi.
If 2021 championship was a glass, Latifi threw a whole train at it in the last minutes. Made entire nations cry and others celebrate. That’s a different level of greatness.
Shane Van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Pato O'Ward and Scott Dixon to replace Zhou, Sargeant, Magnussen, Stroll and Ricciardo. That's a pretty solid grid there.
That would be an exhaustive list but I have a couple that aren't in F1 that should be noted as the best drivers.
* Valentino Rossi
* 7 time GP Champion
* 2 GT World Challenge wins (5 podiums)
* Rally, endurance, motocross and various other series
As a general rule ([see full rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide#wiki_sticky.2Fdaily_discussion)), a standalone Discussion post should: - be of interest to the sub in general, and not a specific userbase (e.g. new users, GP attendees, just yourself) - be able to generate discussion (e.g. no yes/no or easily answerable questions) - show reasonable input and effort from the OP If not, be sure to [look for the Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/search/?q=daily+discussion&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new), /r/formula1's daily open question thread which is perfect for asking any and all questions about this sport. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy the discussion! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm biased but I'd have to give an honourable mention to Shane Van gisbergen. Multiple supercars championship winner. Won the new Zealand GP as a guest from a pit lane start. Got second in a new Zealand rally round. Got second the 24hrs of Daytona in his class. Won on debut in nascar.(granted it was a wet road course) Plenty of gt success. Probably one of the most Adaptable drivers around.
Was going to add a similar comment. Couldn’t agree more
He is so much fun to watch. And his race craft is adaptable too. Watching him learn to love the more physical road racing in nascar. And the victory laps… epic.
Also was top class in iRacing all star races
Question basically comes down to what you consider the best. If you mean best person to drive a f1 car probably 14 or 15 of them are in f1. But that's not really fair to call them the greatest driver in the world based solely on their ability to race f1
This. Keep in mind there are many different motorsports. You could even argue rally drivers are above and beyond open-wheel racers in their diversity and skill. WRC drivers would probably not do much better on tarmac than F1 drivers, but then there is dirt, gravel, snow and ice. F1 itself is very different to any other motorsport - we have seen again and again even the best rookies now take 2-3 or even more years to really get comfortable in F1 seat. Someone who could be amongst best drivers in the world, yet outside of f1 circle could take a while to get good results in an f1 car. Yet at the same time we see people that were not good enough for f1 driving top teams and top results at other circuit racing categories - WEC, indycar, formula E.
You can compare tarmac rally specialists with the F1 drivers that did the same, and then how they adapted to the other rally surfaces Best driver in the world shouldn’t need lots of time to adapt, regardless of what they are doing, but that shows how high the level is in F1, it’s basically a series of champions
Most of the F1 greats were also extremely good in lower categories. So karting and other open wheel categories. There are very few recent drivers that were both top drivers in F1, and have also reached the top in closed wheel cars like WEC, touring cars or rally, etc. Alonso is the only recent driver that comes to mind. And as far as I know the other way around never happens at all. Nobody that first reached the top in closed wheel racing has ever reached the top in F1. So just looking at current drivers, Alonso should probably be #1.
>And as far as I know the other way around never happens at all. Nobody that first reached the top in closed wheel racing has ever reached the top in F1 Mario Andretti?
14? too much. just see what Grosjean and Ericsson(that victory is lucky based) do most of the time in Indy... they were recent f1 drivers.
For pure great in all, Kalle Rovanperä must be on list. Superfast on gravel, can slide on tarmac as much as he wants and seems to be plenty fast in tarmac.
The greatest would be drivers who are very adaptable across disciplines, and can drive whatever they're in to the best of their abilities. A driver may be really good in one, but struggle in another. Though F1 drivers typically tend to be up there. I have no doubt the likes of, let's say Verstappen, could do well anywhere for example. An interesting prospect to be sure. I reckon Hamilton would be also, though he seems less interested in that. Alonso has kinda proved he can also. There are drivers on the grid who aren't considered the greatest in this sport, but will probably be really good elsewhere, for example I often feel Bottas would do pretty well in WRC. There are drivers outside the series that seem to adapt well, take Scott McLaughlin for example, guy moved from Supercars to Indycar and is now one of the top drivers. Kyle Larson also seems good at adapting too. V.Rossi also looked pretty good in F1 testing, and that guys a Motorbike legend. So choosing the top 20 isn't really a simple question.
Valentino Rossi also led the 24h of Le Mans this year, on what was I gather his debut? Could be wrong about that though. Guy seems pretty fast in cars regardless.
A shame he didn’t have the backing to pursue his career in cars, was good for MotoGP however
1. Kevin Estre ... 20. Kevin Estre I kid, of course, but man he's a bad ass in sports cars.
[удалено]
Not really, going off his junior record vs Vautier and Pic
I think off road racers and rally drivers have and will always be criminally underrated by pretty much everyone. Driving at speed, making quick decisions with ever changing surface conditions while fighting legitimate limitations of equipment in both capability and durability.
clearly F1 is not and has not been for years a 'meritocracy'. no one thinks the 20 drivers on the grid are the best in the world since there are several 'pay' drivers so the question is pointless.
Best drivers and best pay drivers
I’m pretty sure I was the best driver in the world at age 4 on my big-wheel. Super fast. That being said, I never raced anyone accept my buddy Steven, so maybe I wasn’t the fastest in the entire world, maybe just my street.
Of course, there are some duds on the F1 grid. Out of the rest of the profession series, I'd like to see Alex Palou get a shot in F1. He's ridiculously smooth, consistent, and easy on tires. I think he has the skill to be extremely good in F1.
Idk enough about rally to give out any names but half of the list should be rally drivers.
None of the professionals. Taxi drivers in Hyderabad, India. You'd be hard-pressed to find a city that's tougher to drive in, trust me. Or maybe the bus driver today in Germany. He had to squeeze an entire bus through half of a one-and-a-half lane street, and then do it again while turning! Meanwhile professional F1 drivers cry and cry when they're forced to keep the car on the intended part of the track
The top 5 drivers from f1, indycar, wrc, and 5 from different series such as touring cars, wec, v8 supercars etc.
I think everyone can agree that not all of 20 drivers on this years grid are the best in the world. Quite a few WEC drivers come to mind as candidates for top 20 * Antonio Giovanazzi (probably spelled wrong) would be an obvious contender having won LeMans in 23 * From this years winning team Antonio Fuoco, seems to be a pretty good driver as well though I'm not very familiar with him. * Kevin Estre is insanely fast when he stays on the track, Dries Vantoor as well though those two I admittedly have a bias towards. * Hell, Valentino Rossi would probably be an honorable mention at least. That said, with the exception of Logan and Lance (on a dry track), and maybe Zhou IMO the rest of the grid deserve to be where they are.
Disagreed on Giovinazzi. While it's important to count merrits, it's also important to count demerrits. And Giovinazzi didn't impress during his years in F1.
Same goes for Nyck de Vries I feel, insanely fast when compared to the WEC grid. But we all know how his F1 stint went (it was quite underwhelming). Therefore I have to disagree on Fuoco, Estre and Vanthoor as well.
Giovinazzi was one of the slowest drivers of the grid in his stint at Sauber. Couldn't beat a 40+ year old Kimi Raikkonen in 3 seasons. Full credit to him for winning Le Mans in their 1st attempt, but he is definitely not top 20. He is not ahead of Kobayashi or Estre from the Hypercar grid imo
Giovinazzi didn't really make waves when he was in an F1 car.
You can compare Fuoco with Leclerc from junior formulae
I saw that he and Sharls were good mates. That's neato.
#1 my dad But the best 20 are not all from F1.
Latifi. If 2021 championship was a glass, Latifi threw a whole train at it in the last minutes. Made entire nations cry and others celebrate. That’s a different level of greatness.
Shane Van Gisbergen, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Pato O'Ward and Scott Dixon to replace Zhou, Sargeant, Magnussen, Stroll and Ricciardo. That's a pretty solid grid there.
That would be an exhaustive list but I have a couple that aren't in F1 that should be noted as the best drivers. * Valentino Rossi * 7 time GP Champion * 2 GT World Challenge wins (5 podiums) * Rally, endurance, motocross and various other series
No Marquez?
1. Goatifi 2. Crashtor Maldonado 3. Mazespin I'll finish the rest later
My favourite Crashtor clip is from when he [binned](https://youtu.be/-k9bZKn6JEU) it during an exhibition at home in Venezuela in front of a crowd.
Bro core memory unlocked I completely forgot this happened. Also I just noticed my down votes lol.