Top 20 Best F1 Drivers of all time: Part IV

#1 Michael Schumacher

He made his Formula One debut in 1991, qualifying seventh in a Jordan for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa which was an incredible achievement

At No.1 if you haven’t guessed already is Michael Schumacher. The German driver, in my opinion, is the best F1 driver of all time.

As said before Senna is a close second but the driver who has won seven drivers titles in his career has to be at the top.

He eclipsed Fangio’s record of five world titles and stands as the most successful driver of all time.

He made his Formula One debut in 1991, qualifying seventh in a Jordan for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa which was an incredible achievement, he was immediately snapped up by Benetton and with them, he won his first F1 race in 1992 again at Spa.

Over the next four seasons with Benetton, he won another 18 races and won his first two world championships.

His first came in 1994 wherein their championship showdown race in Adelaide, Schumacher collided with the car of his closest challenger, the Williams of Damon Hill, some believed it was deliberate but we will never know.

Germany's first world champion was in no doubt worthy of his 1995 driving title, following which he moved to Ferrari, which was a team in trouble with them not having a drivers title since Jody Scheckter in 1979.

The next couple of seasons saw a few wins but nothing more, he had to wait until 2000 to claim his third world title.

He became the first champion for Ferrari in 21 years, this from then on gave them a boost and they went on to win the next four years in a row.

In 2002 he won 11 races and finished on the podium in all 17 races that season. In 2003 he broke Juan Manual Fangio's record by winning his sixth driving title eclipsing Fangio’s five.

In 2004 he won 13 out of the 18 races to make him a seven-time world champion, he won by a huge margin also with Schumacher finishing on 148 points to closest challenger teammate Rubens Barrichello on 114 points.

Schumacher had everything to be a top class driver in the sport, he had confidence, dedication, determination, intelligence, the list goes on. He became a huge part of the Ferrari family and would be at the base in Maranello pushing the team for further greatness.

He retired from the sport in 2006 but came back for Mercedes in 2010 after they bought Brawn GP. He only made it onto the podium once but he helped guide Mercedes at the beginning of their F1 adventure and you could say helped them into what they are today.

After years of battling out on track, his worst accident came a year into his retirement, a skiing accident saw him suffer a serious head injury and although he is out of the hospital and remains at home we still do not know his full condition.

The amount of support for his rehabilitation is still strong five years on and many fans and racing drivers still support him and will him to keep fighting.

He may have done some questionable things on track during his time in the sport and his comeback to the sport to Mercedes in 2010 was a strange decision by many.

But overall looking back at when he was in his prime he was unstoppable, he won five drivers titles in a row which is incredible and no doubt for me he is the best F1 driver of all time.

Stats

World Championships – 7 (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

GP Entries - 308

GP Wins – 91

Podiums – 155

Last Win – 2006 Chinese GP