Formula 1 has seen some of the world’s finest drivers in motorsport over its 75-year history, but who were the greatest of all time?
When ranking the greatest drivers, it’s difficult to ignore the various factors, including the period they were driving and the amount of races in the world championship.
When Juan Manuel Fangio won his titles, there was a maximum of seven races on the calendar, while Lewis Hamilton competed in 18 on the way to his first title in 2008.
This list is compiled based on achievements in F1 and how much they have transcended the sport.
10. Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel’s four titles back-to-back took Red Bull from being a soft drinks company into champions on the world stage.
A combination of Adrian Newey’s genius engineering and Vettel’s sheer speed at the end of the V8 era in F1 made this driver and team combination unstoppable.
Vettel’s activism and role as Grand Prix Drivers Association Director took him to legend status among fans, forever remembered as the humble champion who did things his way.
9. Jackie Stewart
Safety in Formula 1 was an afterthought until Jackie Stewart led the way against strong opposition, having lived through a particularly lethal period in F1.
Stewart was racing at a time when drivers had a two out of three chance of being killed, so he sought to change it by campaigning for basic safety measures such as seatbelts, full-face helmets, emergency personnel and more.
His three world titles are a testament to his skill behind the wheel, but his crusade to improve safety changed the course of history in F1 for years to come. Stewart also remains one of the few drivers to go into team ownership and win a race, having done so at the 1999 European Grand Prix with Stewart Grand Prix.
8. Jim Clark
Jim Clark was sadly one of those drivers who was killed during that lethal period in the 1960s. Clark was considered one of the best drivers by Stewart, having raced against him and lived in London during their time in F1.
Clark shares the record with Hamilton for most Grand Slams in a single season at three, the most seasons with a Grand Slam, and the highest percentage of championship points scored during a single year.
7. Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda’s comeback after his near-fatal accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix has to be one of the all-time most courageous in F1 history.
Despite the crash causing severe burns to his face, he returned to racing just six weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Lauda would go on to win the 1977 World Championship, proving that he could still compete at the highest level.
Lauda would later go on to have a successful career in team management and start his own airline, where he also managed to get Boeing to change the design of their aircraft after a deadly crash in 1991.
6. Alain Prost
Alain Prost is perhaps best known for his battle with Ayrton Senna, but by the time he retired he was also a prolific record setter.
The Frenchman held the record for most wins (51), fastest laps (41), and podium finishes (106), when he hung up his helmet in 1993.
Prost would have likely earned more titles had it not been for falling out with teams and his intense rivalry with Senna, but he remains one of the few drivers to go into team ownership latterly in his career.
5. Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna is one of F1’s most prolific drivers, having won three titles and 41 victories in his career. He is the driver that Hamilton wanted to become when he was younger, simply because of his raw talent.
Senna ‘obliterated’ the opposition early in his career with stunning drives in the wet, while his laps at Monaco were some of the most iconic.
Following his tragic death at Imola in 1994, his funeral in Brazil was attended by an estimated three million people, showing how much of an influence he had on people in his home country.
4. Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen continues to show why he is one of F1’s greatest drivers with each passing weekend, but the 2024 season cemented him in history.
At the wheel of the RB19, Verstappen smashed records previously held by Senna and Hamilton, including total consecutive points and consecutive poles. This was off the back of his record-breaking 2023 season, in which he won 11 races in a row and 19 out of 22 races on the calendar.
Verstappen is one of those ‘once in a generation’ drivers and he’s likely to continue improving his statistics in years to come.
3. Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio remains one of the few drivers to win championships past the age of 40 years old, having won the world championship five times.
He is the only F1 driver in history to win titles with four different teams: Alfa Romeo (1951), Maserati (1954/1957), Mercedes (1954/1955), and Ferrari (1956).
Fangio’s record number of titles stood until the 2003 season, while he still holds the record for highest winning percentage in F1 at 46.15% having won 24 of the 52 races he entered in his career.
2. Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest drivers of the modern day, having won seven titles between Benetton and Ferrari.
His years at Ferrari were the most successful of his career, having assembled the dream team of Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and Jean Todt.
Schumacher’s career was marred by controversial moments, but he changed the game when it came to driver fitness and raised the bar for everyone else in years to come.
1. Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton’s run of six world championships with Mercedes, which also yielded seven Constructors’ titles, is one of the most successful runs in F1 history.
He is one of the only drivers to win races in four different generations of car, while his record nine victories at Silverstone are unlikely to be matched or beaten any time soon.
Hamilton’s popularity off track has had a massive influence on F1 globally, with him bringing the sport to new audiences, particularly in the US where it struggled to take off in the early 00s.
His dominance with Mercedes makes him the most successful driver of the hybrid era, while his overall win tally that surpasses 100 truly makes Hamilton the undisputed greatest F1 driver of all time.
