Formula 1's Best Ever Drivers

Whether it's Schumacher or Senna, Piquet or Prost, the Formula 1 has seen some massive stars. Here are our five best F1 drivers ever...

Ayrton Senna

When Ayrton Senna died in May 1994 at the San Marino Grand Prix, he had been fending off a challenge from a young Michael Schumacher. Today, commentators and fans alike maintain that had it not been for the tragedy, the two men would have undoubtedly developed one of the sport's greatest rivalries. As it is, Senna is still considered a trailblazer for the modern F1 stars, having prided himself on fitness and his mechanical understanding of the cars. Not only that, but with 41 wins and three world championships to his name, he was a properly brilliant driver, too - exciting, brave and daring.

Jackie Stewart

Jackie Stewart was a playboy millionaire who dined with royalty and spent much of his time in swanky Monaco. But there was way more to this driver than the pioneering lifestyle that comes as standard for today's F1 stars. And why? Because when race time rolled round, here was a man so stupidly quick that he bagged himself no fewer than three world championships. More than that, though, it was about the way he walked away from the sport following the death of teammate and friend, Francois Cevert. Appalled at the continued lack of safety standards, Stewart took a stand, left F1 and organised campaigns that led to many of the precautions we know today.

Michael Schumacher

The Marmite F1 driver, Michael Schumacher is one of those drivers you either love or you hate. The seven-time World Champion was the bee's knees during his time with Ferrari, with whom he picked up five titles. Trouble is, he wasn't what you'd call the most sporting bloke in the world. During his first title-winning season in 1994, he appeared to deliberately crash into Damon Hill, preventing the Brit from taking the championship. Three years later he tried a similar trick on Jacques Villeneuve, only for the authorities to expunge him from that year's records. And yet in spite of all this, his impact on the sport remains undeniable, even if he was an arse in the process.

Alain Prost

If Ayrton Senna was some extravagant flavour of Ben and Jerry's, Alain Prost was positively vanilla. He drove each race in exactly the same way - risk free, thoughtful and without getting involved in any silly shenanigans with his opponents. It was a policy that failed to win him many friends, but as his four World Championships demonstrate, it did win him a shedload of races.

Jim Clark

Picture this. It's 1963 and amid terrible weather conditions Jim Clark laps the whole field during the Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix in Belgium. Now consider this - in doing so he was effectively eight miles ahead of his nearest rival! Little wonder it was the race he's most famously remembered for. But on top of that, he also won two F1 championships during a dominant period in the mid-60s and excelled in saloon and rally races, too. In fact, Clark may well have gone on to record further victories, across any number of racing formats, had it not been for his untimely death at a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in April 1968.

By Si Wright