Michael Schumacher

Statistically, Michael Schumacher is the greatest driver the sport has ever come across. The 40 year old driver from Germany sits at the top of the record books. In his 15-year long Formula One career spanning from 1991 to 2006, he won seven World Championships. This included the championships in 1994, 1995 and five consecutive wins between the years 2000 and 2004. His long string of records includes the maximum number of victories, podium finishes, career points, fastest laps, championship titles and many more. Schumacher won a record total of 91 out of the 250 races he appeared in, giving him a victory rate of over 36 per hundred appearances. His tally of career wins is so far ahead in the record book, that it comes close to the sum of the career victories of next best successful Formula One drivers. He achieved podium finishes in 154 races, which constitutes to more than 61 percentage of his total races. Over the years, he accumulated 1,369 career points in Formula One. He recorded fastest-race laps in 76 races

Schumacher made his debut in F1 in 1991 as the replacement driver for Bertrand Gachot at Jordan-Ford. His real F1 career started when he was signed by Benetton-Ford for the same season. He scored his first podium finish at the 1992 Mexican Grand Prix where he finished third. His first victory was at a rain-drenched 1992 Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which he still recalls as his favorite track. He ended the season ranking third in the drivers championship, behind three times world champion Nelson Piquet in his Williams, featuring highly sophisticated technologies like semi-automatic gearboxes and active suspension to control the car’s ride height.

Schumacher’s golden era was his time at Scuderia Ferrari from 1996. The team was struggling at that stage without scoring a single victory since 1979. Schumacher along with Rory Byrne, Jean Todt and Ross Brawn are credited with turning around the team from a running joke to a strong contender. He won the consecutive driver’s championships between 2000 and 2004 with Ferrari. He was instrumental in the team’s record seven consecutive constructor’s championship titles.

Schumacher’s attitude was often criticized by other drivers. He is known to explore the limits of the driving code to take advantage of it. For him, victory came above everything, a point illustrated in 1994 when he took out Damon Hill at the race finale to take his first drivers championship title. He is considered as the master of wet tracks.

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna was born in Brazil on March 21, 1960. He started his Formula One career in 1984 with the Toleman F1 team. He joined Lotus in 1985 and won his first race at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. In 1988, he moved to McLaren as the second driver to the then double world champion, Alain Prost. This era saw intense competition between the two teammates over the next 5 years which often led to dramatic race incidents. He won the 1990 and 1991 driver’s championship.

Senna died in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. The race was marred with incidents that saw his protégé Rubens Barichello unable to race after a crash, and the death of an Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger at the qualifying race. In the race, Senna went off-track and crashed into tire walls and died instantly due to injury to his head. On examining the car, FIA official found an Austrian flag, a tribute by Senna to the deceased Austrian.

Senna will be always remembered for his skill and talent. He was well known for his short temper, once punching Eddie Irwine on the face at the garage for Un-lapping him. Despite racing in a period that also had champions like Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell, he was able to win three championship titles and 41 races.

Alain Prost

The only man who was able to match Senna in his era was Alain Prost. The bitter enmity between him and Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell made the sport all the more entertaining. Born in France on 24 February 1955, he raced in 202 races scoring 51 victories and 106 podium finishes. He won the drivers championship four times, in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993. The most compelling part of his career was when he was in McLaren together with Ayrton Senna. In 1994, he chose retirement from F1 over partnering Senna in Williams F1 team.

Prost was known for having a high level of mental discipline. He was one of the few drivers in the sport who knew the car well technically. He is known to set his wins up by himself. He was well known for preserving his brakes and tires at the start of races for possible actions closer to the end.

Juan Manuel Fangio

Even after more than 50 years since he stopped racing, Juan Manuel Fangio is still considered as the greatest Formula One driver by many. His record of winning five driver’s championships was broken only lately by Schumacher. He still holds the record for winning the four championships racing with four different cars (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati). Out of the 51 races he raced, he won 24, giving him an unmatched victory rate. He won his first drivers championship title at the age of 40. His heroic races are still remembered as some of the best action that ever happened in Formula One.