F1s Greatest Drives

[mbvinnie]

and jenson button brazil 2009

Jenson in Brazil started 14th, ahead of Hamilton (17th) and Vettel (15th) and was helped up to 9th after the first lap due to incidents and a yellow flag.
Jenson finished over 10 seconds behind both Hamilton and Vettel.

I know his drive had championship consequences, but surely a 'greatest drive' would require that the driver outperformed his closest competitors. No?

[KPGS]

Maybe not the best of all drives, but certainly deserves mentioning in any "greatest drives list".

After a stop and go penalty Jean Alesi decides it's time for something radical...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5QVLMrhpg[/youtube]

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Very impressive by Alesi. First I have seen of this race...1995 was a blackout year in F1 terms for me.

[Shaddock]

2000 in Belgium was fantastic for me. Hakkinen leading Schumi in the wet, then making an error(saving it expertly after getting the tyres on the painted section of the kerb), handing the lead to Schumacher, at which point Mika got his game face on and went Red Baron hunting, the speed that Hakkinen showed was incredible and that manouvre is just awesome.

Great Overtake, but great drive not so sure.....

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

2000 in Belgium was fantastic for me. Hakkinen leading Schumi in the wet, then making an error(saving it expertly after getting the tyres on the painted section of the kerb), handing the lead to Schumacher, at which point Mika got his game face on and went Red Baron hunting, the speed that Hakkinen showed was incredible and that manouvre is just awesome.

Great Overtake, but great drive not so sure.....

Well I think it had everything. He led from the start in the rain, the dropped it. But regained his composure to not only regain the lead, but set off on one of the great "hunts" and do so against his great nemesis Schumacher. The setting, the charaters, the execution all lead to it being a great drive IMO. Schumacher himself was impressed. And Hakkinen was never remembered for his wet or damp weather prowess. He demonstrated it amply along with his trademark searing pace.
Just my 2 cents

[raymondu999]

Raikkonen Suzuka 2005, and Vettel Monza 2008. Those come 2nd and 3rd. But, top of my list, which I'm quite surprised nobody has mentioned yet: Monaco. Toleman. Senna. Nuff said.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Can you get some footage of that Raymond? I tried looking earlier but nothing substantial came up

[Sebp]

And Bellof!! Do not forget Bellof, thank you very much.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naxmkNmtrT8[/youtube]

[raymondu999]

Eh> which one?

Raikkonen wins from 17th in Suzukza 2005, can't seem to find a youtube one, but someone uploaded the whole race helpfully:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4129879/f ... gp_part_1/

Vettel wins in a wet Monza in a usually low-backmarker STR:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz5CPmRtPlM[/youtube]

Monaco 1984. Senna (should've) won in a Toleman, in treacherous conditions, often catching Prost in a McLaren by 3s a lap:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hUWuR2Dj78[/youtube]

Before I forget - which race was it that Winkelhock led a race? The one he made an awesome call for the right tyres at a restart?

[Sebp]

Bellof was catching Prost and Senna...

[Just_a_fan]

But, if there is ever a monument to a great drive, this has to be it. If there are any Ayrton detractors, I suggest they look at this and how he dismantled a field including 4 world champions(past and present) that won a total of 14 championships between them(Prost, Schumacher, Hakkinen and Hill) In one lap too.
Lapping the entire field bar Hill, who was only meters ahead of Senna come the finish line. Just fantastic.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSl-WLah2Nw[/youtube]

And yet Senna never considered that to be anything special. The car had ABS etc so he thought it too easy....

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@JAF

Yup, I guess he would know
He is still the Giant amongst Giants in my view and not just due to Donnington 93...which leads me to ask...Do we have a thread dedicated to the great man?

[andrew]

JET - would the Fanboy Ying Yang thread not satisfy your desire to wax lyrical and fawn over Senna?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

JET - would the Fanboy Ying Yang thread not satisfy your desire to wax lyrical and fawn over Senna?

Not when that would run in conflict with your desire to wax lyrical and fawn over Schumacher.
I want constructive insight. Not conflict.

[Just_a_fan]

I think Ciro's got the correct one here. Fangio at the 'ring. Makes all of the other performances look like silly little run arounds.

To drive so quickly in so dangerous an era...

No modern driver has literally had to put his life on the line nearly so much to perform...

In the modern era, I'd go for Senna's 1988 Monaco pole where he was 1.5s quicker than Prost in the same car (the look on Prost's face is legendary), Senna's wet Donnington performance (although he never rated it), his 1984 Toleman performance at Monaco where he should have won but for the early finish protecting Prost, Schuie's wet race in Spain '96 to finish 45s ahead of P2, Hamilton in Silverstone 2008 to finish over a minute ahead of P2.