By Adam Appleton
On 1st May, it will be 18 years since the passing of world-famous driver Ayrton Senna after a fatal crash at Imola.
But many still look back on his era and ask: ‘Was he the greatest driver ever?’
Many answers spring to mind; Ascari, Villeneuve, Clark, Mansell, Piquet, Stewart, Fangio, Brabham and Lauda, and maybe Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton may, someday, join that illustrious pack.
However, three names always seem to emerge as the most legitimate contenders; Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Senna himself.
Between 1985 and 2004, they claimed 14 driver’s titles, Schumacher seven, Prost four and Senna three.
For me, Senna and Schumacher emerge over Prost.
Prost won his titles in the best cars, and was nearly always the preferred driver of those teams.
His methodical approach did not draw many supporters either, he did not take gambles and was a poor wet-weather driver.
He also had FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre, a Frenchman, providing several decisions in his favour and against Senna.
But Prost’s lack of grounding in less competitive cars stops him gaining this status, because Senna and Schumacher both made their way up from unfashionable manufacturers.
They also both excelled early in their careers.
Senna scored points in his second and third races in the uncompetitive Toleman car, and then finished second in a rain-filled Monaco Grand Prix, 1984.
Schumacher issued early warnings of his precocious talent, qualifying 7th on debut at Spa, also the setting for his maiden victory in 1992.
The German would drive for Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes GP, and Senna for Lotus, McLaren and finally Williams.
Both were controversial figures, due to their aggressive styles and exaggerated will to win.
Most of Senna’s incidents involved Prost, the synonymous duo had a rivalry more public than Formula One had ever seen.
They first clashed at the 1989 title-decider at Suzuka. They collided as Senna tried to overtake Prost, Senna managed a push-start and won the race.
However, he was left fuming after being disqualified by Balestre for cutting the chicane to rejoin the race, leaving Prost to take the title.
Further controversy followed at Suzuka the following year.
Senna took pole position ahead of Prost, but believed he was on the “dirty” side of the grid.
Prost looked to have the lead into the first corner, only for Senna to plough into him to win the title.
The incident drew reaction from both drivers, Prost saying: “Ayrton has a problem in that he does not think he can die.”
Senna however, was unrepentant: “If you no longer go for a gap, you are no longer a racing driver… I am not designed to finish 3rd or 4th or 5th.”
Schumacher also had title-related controversies early in his career.
In Adelaide, 1994, Schumacher led Damon Hill by a point.
On lap 36, Schumacher, leading, ran wide critically damaging his car on the wall.
Hill, sensing an opportunity tried to overtake but Schumacher shut the door on him, sending both out of the race, conveniently handing Schumacher the title.
Many believe that Schumacher caused the crash to ensure him and Benetton the championship.
In a near-identical incident at Jerez in 1997, Schumacher – now at Ferrari – turned in on Jacques Villeneuve but could only tap his side-pod, meaning Villeneuve took the title. It also did not stop Schumacher getting an awful press reaction.
When it finally boils down to answering this question, it is not the controversies that separate them, but instead the quality of the era they raced in.
Schumacher’s biggest rivals were Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso.
These names are incomparable to the men Senna shined against; Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, all great in their own respect.
This divides the two because whilst Schumacher holds the biggest records; most pole positions (68), most victories (91) and most World Championship (7), a purist like me will always say that Senna was the greatest in the greastest era.
This is perhaps best shown in terms of pole positions, Schumacher’s F1 career has been six seasons and counting longer than Senna’s, but he has only managed three more pole positions.
He was likely the most naturally talented pilot in history and it is difficult pinpoint particular races in Senna’s career because he was incredible in so many.
So whilst the numbers point to the German, the Brazilian had an almost unquantifiable asset to his driving. It may not have been metronomic but, to quote Murray Walker, it was “absolutely sensational!”
ENDS
Showing posts with label Formula One. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Formula One. Show all posts
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Thursday, 9 September 2010
SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 5
FOOTBALL
· Theo Walcott, Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe all pick up injuries on international duty as England win twice, ruling them all out for at least 6 weeks.
· Robin Van Persie’s ankle injury is to keep him out for 6 more weeks.
· John Toshack is sacked as manager of Wales.
· Gerard Houllier is set to take over the reins at Villa Park.
CRICKET
· Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy are main stars as England cruise to victory against Pakistan in both T20’s.
· Somerset are due to play Essex in the first Clydesdale Bank 40/40 semi-final, with Yorkshire and Warwickshire contesting the other.
GOLF
· After much speculation, Tiger Woods is handed a wildcard for the Ryder Cup by captain Corey Pavin along side; Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler.
TENNIS
· Novak Djokovic will take on Roger Federer in the First US Open semi-final after the Serbian defeated; Troicki, Petzschner, Blake and Fish. Federer beat; Dabul, Beck, Matthieu and Melzer to find his spot in the semi. The other two quarter finals are between; Wawrinka v Youzhny and Nadal vs Verdasco.
BOXING
· Audley Harrison and David Haye agree terms for a World Heavyweight Championship bout for the first all-British title fight in this weight range for 17 years.
· Ricky Burns defeated Roman Martinez in a unanimous points victory to claim the WBO Super-Featherweight Title in Glasgow.
FORMULA ONE
· Theo Walcott, Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe all pick up injuries on international duty as England win twice, ruling them all out for at least 6 weeks.
· Robin Van Persie’s ankle injury is to keep him out for 6 more weeks.
· John Toshack is sacked as manager of Wales.
· Gerard Houllier is set to take over the reins at Villa Park.
CRICKET
· Eoin Morgan and Michael Yardy are main stars as England cruise to victory against Pakistan in both T20’s.
· Somerset are due to play Essex in the first Clydesdale Bank 40/40 semi-final, with Yorkshire and Warwickshire contesting the other.
GOLF
· After much speculation, Tiger Woods is handed a wildcard for the Ryder Cup by captain Corey Pavin along side; Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler.
TENNIS
· Novak Djokovic will take on Roger Federer in the First US Open semi-final after the Serbian defeated; Troicki, Petzschner, Blake and Fish. Federer beat; Dabul, Beck, Matthieu and Melzer to find his spot in the semi. The other two quarter finals are between; Wawrinka v Youzhny and Nadal vs Verdasco.
BOXING
· Audley Harrison and David Haye agree terms for a World Heavyweight Championship bout for the first all-British title fight in this weight range for 17 years.
· Ricky Burns defeated Roman Martinez in a unanimous points victory to claim the WBO Super-Featherweight Title in Glasgow.
FORMULA ONE
- Ferrari manage to dodge charge of team orders in use after FIA investigation.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
SPORTING NEWS OF THE WEEK 4
A week of vast sporting activity, with Carling Cup, Champions League and Europa League action with draws for the Group Stages of Champions League and Europa League, the Transfer Deadline, Test Match Cricket and squad selections for ODI and T20 series, selections for the Ryder Cup and a Fromula One race in Spa
FOOTBALL
• Newcastle beat Accrington Stanley 3-2 with weakened side in Carling Cup, with Everton thrashing Huddersfield 5-1 with a stand-out performance from young Englishman Jack Rodwell. Fulham slaughtered Port Vale 6-0 with goals from Zamora, Gera, Dempsey and new signing Dembele. Mame Biram Diouf scored a treble against Norwich to give Blackburn a 3-1 where Diouf is currently enjoying a loan spell.
• 3RD ROUND CARLING CUP DRAW!!
Brentford v Everton
Portsmouth v Leicester
Stoke v Fulham
Chelsea v Newcastle
Aston Villa v Blackburn
Tottenham v Arsenal
Millwall v Ipswich
Wolves v Notts County
Burnley v Bolton
Birmingham v MK Dons
Liverpool v Northampton
Scunthorpe v Man Utd
West Brom v Man City
Sunderland v West Ham
Peterborough v Swansea
Wigan v Preston
• Tottenham secure Champion’s League Group Stage spot with 4-0 trouncing of Young Boys FC, with Peter Crouch scoring a brilliant hat-trick to have a 6-3 aggregate.
• Aston Villa lose home-leg to Rapid Vienna 3-2 late on after Agbonlahor and Heskey score as they crash out of Europa League on 4-3 aggregate.
• Man City beat Timisoara 2-0 at Eastlands to give 3-0 win on aggregate.
• Liverpool leave it late as Kuyt scores winner against Trabzonspor to ensure the Reds’ qualification.
• Celtic crash and burn away to FC Utrecht 4-0 to fall out of Europe 4-2 over the two legs.
DEADLINE DEALS
• After Alberto Aquilani’s exit for Juventus and, more importantly Javier Mascherano’s £18million Anfield departure, Raul Meireles has been confirmed as Liverpool’s latest transfer for £11.5million.
• Stipe Pletikosa has signed for Tottenham on a year-long loan deal.
• Birmingham have allowed Marcus Bent to go to Wolves on a loan-deal until January. They have also captured the signings of ex-Gunner Alexander Hleb on a season-long loan and Jiranek on a one-year deal. John Beausejour – one of Chile’s brightest World Cup players – has also signed.
• Wantaway City player Robinho has gotten his wish with a permanent deal to AC Milan on a 4-year contract.
• Paul Konchesky has rejoined old manager Roy Hodgson at Anfield in player-exchange plus cash deal, with Dalla Valle and Kacaniklic going to the Cottage in return
• Asamoah Gyan has become Sunderland’s new, transfer record setting signing in a move worth £13+million.
• Roberto Martinez has successfully secured a season-long loan for Manchester United youngster Tom Cleverley.
• Stoke have confirmed deadline swoops for Eidur Gudjohnsson and Jermaine Pennant as well as Portsmouth captain Marc Wilson coming to the Brittania.
• Wigan sign Franco Di Santo from Chelsea on a three-year deal with 2 minutes left on the transfer window clock to join Tom Cleverley
• Young Arsenal left-back Armand Traore has gone to Juventus on a season-long loan after the Old Lady earlier released long-serving Zebina. Emiliano Insua has made a similar move to Galatasaray from Liverpool.
• DJ Campbell has re-signed for Blackpool for an undisclosed fee, much to the delight of Blackpool fans.
• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has made a £10.5million move to Schalke from Real Madrid to end speculation linking him with Spurs.
• Rafael Van Der Vaart makes headline deal to Spurs for £8million just before the deadline.
CRICKET
• England beat Pakistan at Lords amidst rumours of Pakistani match-fixing after two no-balls were supposedly set up after The News of The World had paid a middle-man £150,000 to make these two no-balls occur. After having been 102-7 in their first innings, Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad hit a record 8th wicket partnership of 332 to take England from being 102-7 to being 446all-out with Trott finishing on 184 and Broad 169 after Amir (one of the suspected fixers) took 6-84. Pakistan were then dismissed for 74 with Swann taking 4-12 and Finn 3-38. England put them in for the follow-on and again rolled them, this time for 147 with Swann helping himself to 5-62 this time to ensure a 3-1 series victory for England. However this series will forever be pitched into darkness after such disgraceful allegations.
• England have chosen their Natwest Series and T20 squads to face Pakistan. The shock omission being star-man Kevin Pietersen who will instead play on loan for Surrey, with Kieswetter being used as a batsman and Steven Davies being the keeper.
The 20/20 squad is as follows; P Collingwood (Durham, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), S Davies (wkt, Surrey), C Kieswetter (Somerset), E Morgan (Middlesex), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).
The Natwest ODI Series squad is as followed; A Strauss (Middlesex, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), P Collingwood (Durham), S Davies (wkt, Surrey), E Morgan (Middlesex), A Shahzad (Yorkshire), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).
FORMULA ONE
• After qualifying 2nd behind Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton got a brilliant start to leap-frog his rival into the first corner and drove a supreme race in mixed conditions – including rain – that had many others slipping and sliding. Hamilton himself also ran into the wall laps from the finish, but managed to regain control.. Button was removed from the race by Vettel who skidded whilst pursuing Button – 2nd at the time – leaving him with no drive and an early retirement. Webber managed to finish 2nd with Robert Kubica 3rd.
GOLF
• Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, Colin Montgomerie picks Eduardo Molinari, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald as his wildcards. With the rest of his squad as follows; L Westwood (Eng), R McIlroy (NIr), M Kaymer (Ger), G McDowell (NIr), I Poulter (Eng), R Fisher (Eng), F Molinari (Ita), MA Jimenez (Spa), P Hanson (Swe).
FOOTBALL
• Newcastle beat Accrington Stanley 3-2 with weakened side in Carling Cup, with Everton thrashing Huddersfield 5-1 with a stand-out performance from young Englishman Jack Rodwell. Fulham slaughtered Port Vale 6-0 with goals from Zamora, Gera, Dempsey and new signing Dembele. Mame Biram Diouf scored a treble against Norwich to give Blackburn a 3-1 where Diouf is currently enjoying a loan spell.
• 3RD ROUND CARLING CUP DRAW!!
Brentford v Everton
Portsmouth v Leicester
Stoke v Fulham
Chelsea v Newcastle
Aston Villa v Blackburn
Tottenham v Arsenal
Millwall v Ipswich
Wolves v Notts County
Burnley v Bolton
Birmingham v MK Dons
Liverpool v Northampton
Scunthorpe v Man Utd
West Brom v Man City
Sunderland v West Ham
Peterborough v Swansea
Wigan v Preston
• Tottenham secure Champion’s League Group Stage spot with 4-0 trouncing of Young Boys FC, with Peter Crouch scoring a brilliant hat-trick to have a 6-3 aggregate.
• Aston Villa lose home-leg to Rapid Vienna 3-2 late on after Agbonlahor and Heskey score as they crash out of Europa League on 4-3 aggregate.
• Man City beat Timisoara 2-0 at Eastlands to give 3-0 win on aggregate.
• Liverpool leave it late as Kuyt scores winner against Trabzonspor to ensure the Reds’ qualification.
• Celtic crash and burn away to FC Utrecht 4-0 to fall out of Europe 4-2 over the two legs.
DEADLINE DEALS
• After Alberto Aquilani’s exit for Juventus and, more importantly Javier Mascherano’s £18million Anfield departure, Raul Meireles has been confirmed as Liverpool’s latest transfer for £11.5million.
• Stipe Pletikosa has signed for Tottenham on a year-long loan deal.
• Birmingham have allowed Marcus Bent to go to Wolves on a loan-deal until January. They have also captured the signings of ex-Gunner Alexander Hleb on a season-long loan and Jiranek on a one-year deal. John Beausejour – one of Chile’s brightest World Cup players – has also signed.
• Wantaway City player Robinho has gotten his wish with a permanent deal to AC Milan on a 4-year contract.
• Paul Konchesky has rejoined old manager Roy Hodgson at Anfield in player-exchange plus cash deal, with Dalla Valle and Kacaniklic going to the Cottage in return
• Asamoah Gyan has become Sunderland’s new, transfer record setting signing in a move worth £13+million.
• Roberto Martinez has successfully secured a season-long loan for Manchester United youngster Tom Cleverley.
• Stoke have confirmed deadline swoops for Eidur Gudjohnsson and Jermaine Pennant as well as Portsmouth captain Marc Wilson coming to the Brittania.
• Wigan sign Franco Di Santo from Chelsea on a three-year deal with 2 minutes left on the transfer window clock to join Tom Cleverley
• Young Arsenal left-back Armand Traore has gone to Juventus on a season-long loan after the Old Lady earlier released long-serving Zebina. Emiliano Insua has made a similar move to Galatasaray from Liverpool.
• DJ Campbell has re-signed for Blackpool for an undisclosed fee, much to the delight of Blackpool fans.
• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has made a £10.5million move to Schalke from Real Madrid to end speculation linking him with Spurs.
• Rafael Van Der Vaart makes headline deal to Spurs for £8million just before the deadline.
CRICKET
• England beat Pakistan at Lords amidst rumours of Pakistani match-fixing after two no-balls were supposedly set up after The News of The World had paid a middle-man £150,000 to make these two no-balls occur. After having been 102-7 in their first innings, Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad hit a record 8th wicket partnership of 332 to take England from being 102-7 to being 446all-out with Trott finishing on 184 and Broad 169 after Amir (one of the suspected fixers) took 6-84. Pakistan were then dismissed for 74 with Swann taking 4-12 and Finn 3-38. England put them in for the follow-on and again rolled them, this time for 147 with Swann helping himself to 5-62 this time to ensure a 3-1 series victory for England. However this series will forever be pitched into darkness after such disgraceful allegations.
• England have chosen their Natwest Series and T20 squads to face Pakistan. The shock omission being star-man Kevin Pietersen who will instead play on loan for Surrey, with Kieswetter being used as a batsman and Steven Davies being the keeper.
The 20/20 squad is as follows; P Collingwood (Durham, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), S Davies (wkt, Surrey), C Kieswetter (Somerset), E Morgan (Middlesex), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).
The Natwest ODI Series squad is as followed; A Strauss (Middlesex, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), R Bopara (Essex), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), P Collingwood (Durham), S Davies (wkt, Surrey), E Morgan (Middlesex), A Shahzad (Yorkshire), R Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), J Trott (Warwickshire), L Wright (Sussex), M Yardy (Sussex).
FORMULA ONE
• After qualifying 2nd behind Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton got a brilliant start to leap-frog his rival into the first corner and drove a supreme race in mixed conditions – including rain – that had many others slipping and sliding. Hamilton himself also ran into the wall laps from the finish, but managed to regain control.. Button was removed from the race by Vettel who skidded whilst pursuing Button – 2nd at the time – leaving him with no drive and an early retirement. Webber managed to finish 2nd with Robert Kubica 3rd.
GOLF
• Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, Colin Montgomerie picks Eduardo Molinari, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald as his wildcards. With the rest of his squad as follows; L Westwood (Eng), R McIlroy (NIr), M Kaymer (Ger), G McDowell (NIr), I Poulter (Eng), R Fisher (Eng), F Molinari (Ita), MA Jimenez (Spa), P Hanson (Swe).
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