Does F1 have the best 24 drivers on the grid?

[oyster]

I'm increasingly worried by the fact that some reserve drivers should be in race seats, and this winter it seems worse than ever.

There are 5 high-quality drivers (Alguesari, Senna, Barrichello, Sutil and Petrov) chasing 1 seat at Williams - a team who may well be at the back of the grid.

Meanwhile we have no-hopers occupying grid slots - De La Rosa, Trulli, Maldonado.

And did Buemi really do so badly to lose his seat?

[CampDavid]

Of course not. F1 has never been about getting the best drivers into the best cars, it's too much of a business for that.

Never mind those missing out for a year, we missed out on getting the likes of Dario, Whelden and the like from Indy car or Mr Le Mans himself into the sport while the likes of Narain Karthikeyan bumble around getting in the wat

[TonyHetherington]

Never has that ever been the case.

[Chrisgr31]

Not forgetting there may be millions of people out there who have never driven a racing car because they have never had the opportunity and there's a chance that some of them would be better than some/all of the drivers on the F1 grid!

[zac510]

Do you really feel cheated about this issue?

[kybo]

I do, a little, yes.

You pay good money (a lot if you go to British GP) so you want to see the best drivers (from all Teams, not just the top 3).

But as it's just as much a business as a Sport, you have to take it or leave it, I suppose. I take it as it's more than just the drivers to me - I don't know them, doubt I'll ever meet them so I don't stoop to a personal level. The atmosphere over the whole weekend - you simply can't beat that.

It's clear you need a fair amount of talent, but where does that rate alongside luck and money.

All's fair in Bernie's world!?*!

Scott

[courageous]

F1 hasn't got the best teams either (Ganassi, Penske, Joest would be a vast improvement over some of the current line up).

but it has always been this way - the top of F1 is the top of motorsport, but further down the order it is far from premier league.

[MrKipling43]

courageous said:

F1 hasn't got the best teams either (Ganassi, Penske, Joest would be a vast improvement over some of the current line up).

I'm sorry, but what exactly are you basing that on?

That's a bit like saying 'tennis would be much better if Lee Westwood was playing it'

[robmlufc]

You also need to define 'best'. Best over one lap? Best in a 90 minute sprint race? Best in an aero biased car or an Aussie V8? Best doing a triple stint at Le Mans?

[CampDavid]

courageous said:

F1 hasn't got the best teams either (Ganassi, Penske, Joest would be a vast improvement over some of the current line up).

but it has always been this way - the top of F1 is the top of motorsport, but further down the order it is far from premier league.

You can't compare teams from one to another, the variables in design and size are qay oo big

[Vocal Minority]

kybo:

As has been said, its never been the case of the best drivers in the world. Even in the 50s-60s-70s there were playboys/rich aristocrates etc who could afford to enter their own cars and took places on the grid. Is paying for a drive with sponsorship money really any different?

And as much as I find Bernie distasteful, you can't bring him in to it, been going on long before him!

So I don't personally understand why people feel cheated. You knew what you were getting yourself into. F1 isn't about the 24 best drivers, and never has been (and really, has it ever actually claimed to be? - that is a fan concocted idea!)

[Munter]

As others have said. It's never had all the seats taken by the best drivers.

The best driver in the world is probably driving a Taxi in Beirut, or flipping burgers in McDonalds somewhere.

Those sat in F1 cars are just the people who have enough skill not to throw it at the scenery too often, and are good at getting sponsors. The best of those people win races.

[OlberJ]

Munter said:

The best driver in the world is probably driving a Taxi in Beirut, or flipping burgers in McDonalds somewhere.

Not really. By that logic, the best driver in the world is probably Vettel.

It's just random unless you have a frame of reference and if you're the best in your frame of reference you are once again irrelevant.

[Munter]

OlberJ said:

Munter said:

The best driver in the world is probably driving a Taxi in Beirut, or flipping burgers in McDonalds somewhere.

Not really. By that logic, the best driver in the world is probably Vettel.

It's just random unless you have a frame of reference and if you're the best in your frame of reference you are once again irrelevant.

Are you suggesting that had every other person in the world born within 10 years or so of Vettel, had been given the opportunity to drive karts and race cars, that none of them would have been better than Vettel this year? I find that hard to believe. The person who could have driven a 2011 Red Bull F1 car the fastest is very unlikely to have had the correct opportunities at the right times, to even drive a kart in a race.

It comes down to who had both opportunity, and backing. Opportunity is few and far between, and backing is even harder to find. So it comes down to who's got the best looking face/richest dad/happens to come from the right town/could talk the hind leg off a donkey, and is good enough not to crash all the time. Then from that small selection of the human race, some will get into F1 based on going quickest, and others due to the ability to find cash and not crash all the time.

[OlberJ]

Munter said:

Are you suggesting that had every other person in the world born within 10 years or so of Vettel, had been given the opportunity to drive karts and race cars, that none of them would have been better than Vettel this year? I find that hard to believe. The person who could have driven a 2011 Red Bull F1 car the fastest is very unlikely to have had the correct opportunities at the right times, to even drive a kart in a race.

No, i'm suggesting that it's probably Vettel as much as it's probably the taxi driver.

No one knows unless you put everyone head to head in the same car on the same day in the same conditions etc.

All we do know is, if you're not the best in your frame of reference, you can't be the best in the world. If you are the best in your frame of reference, you are better than your rivals but once again just a random "best of" which is probably or probably not the best "best of" in the world.

[weyland yutani]

Brundle is always saying this but the 24 drivers on the starting grid do not make up the best 24 drivers in the world. The top rally drivers rank amongst many of them as well, the sheer car control, commitment and the element of danger is unmatched in motorsport in my opinion. Within F1 itself this isn't the case either because money talks.

[DiscoColin]

I'd say that F1 has at least 5 of the best active racing drivers in the world. [Racing excludes taxi drivers and not naming which in my opinion the 5 are will hopefully avoid turning this thread into something else]. In an absolute list, Dario Franchitti and Seb Leob would have to be included. People like Andy Priaulx, Tom Kristensen and all 3 of the people with 5 N24 wins (which includes Pedro Lamy, who made only a single point from his 32 F1 starts) are probably stronger candidates for such a list than the majority of the F1 grid...

[davepoth]

DiscoColin]I'd say that F1 has at least 5 of the best active racing drivers in the world. [Racing excludes taxi drivers and not naming which in my opinion the 5 are will hopefully avoid turning this thread into something else said:

. In an absolute list, Dario Franchitti and Seb Leob would have to be included. People like Andy Priaulx, Tom Kristensen and all 3 of the people with 5 N24 wins (which includes Pedro Lamy, who made only a single point from his 32 F1 starts) are probably stronger candidates for such a list than the majority of the F1 grid...

The thread says "drivers", not "racing drivers". Chances are the best driver in the world doesn't even know they are the best driver in the world. Which is in a way a little sad.

[OlberJ]

But shirley if you don't use your talent then you're not the best driver in the world?

You're potentially the best driver in the world but until you use that skill, you're just a coiled spring.

[ajprice]

Yep, I might be absolutely fking amazing at... Fishing. But I've never tried it, and I don't want to. Saying who is the best is not easy, maybe not even possible. Of the current people who are racing drivers, you could probably pick the top 4 or 5 from F1, WRC, Le Mans, Touring Cars and some American race series and say they are the best. But that won't be a definite answer, neither will who won the Race of Champions, or who is fastest around the Top Gear track...