Throughout the history of F1 there have been many performances that makes all that viewed it to stand up and applaud and recognise what people remark as the best drives in F1 history. From the almost spiritual nature of Senna’s drives to some tough and crushing victories of Schumacher, there have been drivers that have taken their race by the scruff of the neck and performed miracles. There are many characteristics that make up the great drives from the sports history. Charges through the field, dominant displays, exemplifying car control and adapting to potentially race ending problems are repeated themes. In this list I have taken races that demonstrate these abilities.

In choosing the drives in particular, I have tried to represent as many drivers as possible because if I didn’t the list would comprise mostly of Senna and Schumacher. Because of the spread of drivers there is a ‘Very Honourable Mentions’ section that has the drives that would’ve probably made the list of 8 had it not been for my quite liberal sharing of honours among multiple drivers. These are by no means the definitive top 8 drives but these are, given my rules, the best drivers in my mind.

1957- German Grand Prix- Juan Manuel Fangio

The two Italian teams (Lancia-Ferrari and Maserati) were suited to the Nordschleife whilst the main British threat in Vanwall were not and thus the only other race winner that year apart from Fangio, Stirling Moss, was out of the picture.

Fangio was able to achieve pole by 2.8 seconds (9:25.6) and then managed to pull away at the front (only after the first two laps being stuck behind the Lancia-Ferraris) due to differing strategies for Fangio and the Lancia-Ferraris. Fangio was fueling light and planned to pit half-way through the race whilst Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn planned to go to the end with no stops. After 10 laps in the lead Fangio was able to build up a 30 second lead and on lap 12 he pitted and had the pit-stop gone to plan Fangio would’ve come out 15-20 seconds behind the Lancia-Ferraris but the pit-stop was botched and Fangio’s 30 second lead became a 50 second deficit.

What followed was a driving masterclass. Fangio relentlessly hunted down the Lancia-Ferrari pair and on lap 19 he took 11 seconds out of their lead. In this pursuit Fangio also broke the lap record on lap 20 (9:17.4), a whole 8.4 seconds faster than his qualifying time. On lap 21 of 22 Fangio caught the battling Hawthorn and Collins and took them both. Fangio ended up winning by 3.6 seconds and the win secured Fangio his 5th and final world championship. The last win of Fangio’s illustrious career was redoubtably his greatest.

1991- Brazilian Grand Prix- Ayrton Senna

Gearbox problems experienced by Senna towards the end of the first race of the year in the U.S.A would resurface two weeks later but it would lead to one of Senna’s greatest ever drives. Senna got pole by 0.383 seconds and led from the start but it wasn’t an easy race.

The pressure put on Senna by the two Williams cars of Riccardo Patrese and mainly Nigel Mansell forced him to set a fast pace earlier than expected and strategically wanted. On lap 25 however a slow pit-stop for Mansell made life easier for Senna by opening up a 15 second gap.

The next 15 laps saw Mansell pull 5 seconds back but his charge on Senna was halted again due to a puncture and thus subsequent pit-stop. After this tyre change the gap began to fall at a more frequent rate as Senna was now stuck in 6th gear. With 12 laps to go, 19 seconds back, Mansell’s gearbox gave up entirely leaving the other Williams of Riccardo Patrese the only threat to Senna. To add more spice into the mix it had begun to rain at it so does in Interlargos.

With the laps counting down Patrese was getting ever closer and going onto the final lap the two cars were just in the same camera shot down the start-finish straight. In the end the Brazilian crowd got what they came for, a Senna home victory and his first home victory to boot. What marks this drive as one of Senna’s finest was that he managed to adapt his driving style to being stuck in 6th gear and also, due to the car being even harder to drive due to the gearbox problem, Senna was cramp-ridden during the final laps of the race and post-race. His hands had to be prised off the steering wheel it was so bad. It was one of those Senna moments where nothing was going to stop him.

1996- Spanish Grand Prix- Michael Schumacher

At the race prior, Monaco, Schumacher hadn’t looked like the reigning double world champion having been beaten from pole and then crashing between Loews and Portier. In Spain however Schumacher put any remaining doubts to rest with one of the best wet weather drives in F1 history.

The race didn’t start well for Schumacher as he almost stalled it on the grid but after the end of the first lap he had managed to climb back up top 6th and from there began to set the pace, much faster than the rest of the field. By lap 12 Schumacher overtook Alesi for 2nd and then Villeneuve for the lead just a few corners later. Schumacher was so much faster that he pulled away from Villeneuve (who was in the fastest car of that year) by about 4 seconds a lap and at its height Schumacher had the lead to 2nd at over a minute. Villeneuve said after the race that ‘he left me standing’.

At the flag Schumacher finished ahead of Alesi by a remarkable 45.302 seconds to firmly remind people why he was a double world champion. This victory was also Michael’s first for the Scuderia.

2000- Japanese Grand Prix- Michael Schumacher

After the three realistic chances of winning world championships having not been taken due to differing reasons (1997- DSQ for Schumacher, 1998, puncture for Schumacher in the finale, 1999, broken leg for Schumacher at Silverstone), 2000 almost felt like a last gasp chance as if it wasn’t going to happen now it never would. To make sure the title was won Schumacher put in what was to him his best ever drive. It was driver and team strategy in perfect harmony executed to near perfection.

The whole weekend was a battle between the two double world champion, Haikkinen and Schumacher, and the first battle was for pole to which the honours went to Schumacher by 0.009 seconds. At the start, the second battle, Haikkinen got the jump on the German’s Ferrari and led the race through the first pit-stop phase up to lap 24. On the next lap the weather turned and it began to drizzle and McLaren called Haikkinen in on lap 37 to avoid traffic but being on new, cooler tyres on a damp surface the Finn’s pace was lessened. In those few laps Schumacher put in qualifying laps and, paired with a good stop by Ferrari, the German managed to come out ahead of the McLaren.

Schumacher and Haikkinen for the remaining laps were never more than a few seconds apart and at the flag the gap was just 1.8 seconds. Schumacher had become the first Ferrari champion since Jody Scheckter, 21 years prior.

2008- British Grand Prix- Lewis Hamilton

In the two rounds prior, Canada and France, Hamilton hadn’t scored any points and had subsequently fell 10 points behind in the championship. Having qualified 4th at Silverstone a win would be made more difficult but with dire weather on race day the playing field had been leveled.

From 4th, Hamilton almost go into the lead on the exit of turn one but had to concede to his team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, when they nearly hit wheels. Hamilton didn’t have to wait long though as he passed Kovalainen into Stowe on lap 5. From there Hamilton wasn’t challenged once and like other great wet weather drives Hamilton was using different lines than the rest of the year, finding grip where others couldn’t.

To greater empathsise the magnitude of Lewis’ drive the championship leader, Felipe Massa, spun several times and scored no points that day. The same can be said of the second place man in the championship, Robert Kubica, as he spun out and beached his car in the gravel. The only other championship challenger that did score points was Kimi Raikkonen but he finished a lap down in 4th. In fact Hamilton only didn’t lap two drivers, Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello, both finishing 1 min 8 secs and 1 min 22 secs behind Hamilton respectively.

As James Allen, commentator for ITV at the time said of Hamilton’s drive: ‘… a fantastic performance, a mesmerising drive’.

2011- Canadian Grand Prix- Jenson Button

The 2011 season had been a mixed bag for McLaren up to Canada. On the one hand they had won in China with Lewis Hamilton and were the clear second fastest team whereas on the other hand the other five races before Canada had been won by Sebastian Vettel in the RB7, a car that even McLaren and Ferrari struggled to best. Button and McLaren would produce the moment of the season however, if not the moment of 21st century F1.

Button had qualified 7th and had an average start up until when himself and team-mate Hamilton collided on the pit-straight. Hamilton had tried to pass on the outside line but with all the spray from the heavy rain fall it was very difficult to see out of the mirrors. Button pitted for precautionary checks and intermediates and after a drive-through for speeding under the resultant safety car Button was now 15th. This was his first two visits, of six, to the pits that day. On lap 25 the race was suspended for 2 hours due to torrential rain, this stop giving the race the record of longest race in F1 championship history (4 hrs 4 mins 39 secs). The race restarted under the safety and as the track began to dry drivers started to come in for intermediates of which Button and Alonso had done but as Alonso exited the pits on lap 36 his tyres were obviously not yet up to temperature which allowed Button to get a run on him out of turn two, into turn three. The two made contact which spun Alonso onto the outside kerb, beaching the Ferrari, and gave Button a right-front puncture and the resulting pit-stop put him back down to 21st. After then in a 16 lap period Button got the hammer down to go from 21st to 4th, a remarkable achievement in of itself. His charge was assisted by a final safety car period.

In the final ten laps after the safety car Button adapted brilliantly to the drying conditions, passing Mark Webber for 3rd on lap 64, Michael Schumacher for 2nd on lap 65 and finally Vettel for 1st on the 70th and final lap when the German dipped a tyre off of the dry line, half spinning, to win by 2.7 secs. The only was to truly appreciate the drive is to watch the race itself.

2012- Malaysian Grand Prix- Fernando Alonso

The Ferrari car for the 2012 season was a dog. It wasn’t pleasant to look at, it had balance issues and it was off the pace from the word go. The first round of the championship the team qualified 12th and 16th and thus hopes for a good season were all but dashed there and then. With this is mind Alonso’s performance at round 2 in Malaysia makes it even greater.

The race was red flagged after 8 laps due to heavy rain and then resumed 51 mins later under the safety car which came in on lap 14. Remarkably Sergio Perez led the race until Alonso passed him as he exited the pits, Perez having the cold inters not being able to defend. From there to lap 39 Alonso led with Perez never far behind. On lap 39 Alonso pitted for used options, a lap later Perez came in for new hards. From there it would be an all out race to the chequered flag.

The new hards on the Sauber seemed to be working better than the used options on the Ferrari, evident by the fact that at one point Perez was just over a second behind Alonso. The pressure from Perez was broken however when he placed part of his wheel on the still-wet kerb on the entry to turn 14. From there Alonso could relax more to take quite a miraculous victory nearly a lap ahead of his team-mate Felipe Massa. On top of this Alonso took the lead in the championship in what was at best the 4th fastest car. Its a drive that is made better by the skill of the driver dragging a slow car to a win rather than the events of the race entirely.

2016- Brazilian Grand Prix- Max Verstappen

Verstappen grabbed the headlines in 2016 when he won the Spanish Grand Prix on debut for Red Bull in a controversial swap with Kvyat from Toro Rosso but his moment of the season, and very well ‘the’ moment, came at Brazil, a race where a championship could’ve been won and there was heavy rain for the majority of the race.

Verstappen started 5th and hounded the Mercedes duo virtually all the way where those of Raikkonen, Vettel and even Rosberg spun. Raikkonen’s spin on the main straight on lap 19 brought out the red flag. On lap 28, After the second red flag, Verstappen passed Rosberg for 2nd on lap 32 nearly lost the place when he half spun exiting Juncao. The spin had him facing the wall yet somehow Verstappen managed to flick the car back round and carry on… somehow. The pass on Rosberg was the move of the race. Max drove so simply past the silver arrow, it was a move that made you think: ‘how did he do that?’.

After a late pit-stop for full wet tyres, after Red Bull gambled on the inters, Verstappen pulled more seemingly effortless moves on drivers including Perez, team-mate Ricciardo and Vettel in a spell binding performance, going from 14th to 3rd in the last 16 laps. The drive was linked to Senna’s wet weather drives and those of Schumacher too. On that day Max seemed to defy physics.

Very Honourable Mentions

Italy ’76

Just six weeks after his near-death accident, Niki Lauda got back in his Ferrari 312T2 to finish a quite remarkable 4th. It was so soon after the accident at the ‘Green Hell’ that he still had bandages on his head and on removal they were blood soaked. It was a display of determination and utter bravery to race the car that almost took his life.

Portugal ’85

Senna’s first win was in trademark Senna conditions… heavy rain. He had achieved pole in the dry by 0.413 secs but simply left the field behind in the race, winning by over a minute. Whilst Senna was leading others such as champions Rosberg and Prost crashed out the race, Prost whilst he was on the straight, further empathsising the accomplishment of Senna. On top of this is was only his 16th race.

Europe ’93

Termed the ‘Lap of The Gods’, it was another mesmerising display of extreme driving ability from Senna. From his P4 grid slot Senna had dropped to 5th by the first corner. As the they continued round the lap Senna passed Schumacher, Wendlinger, Hill and Prost to go from fifth to first in one lap. Outstanding. In the damp/rainy race Senna went on to win by 1 min 23 secs thanks to brilliant driving and being on the right tyre at the right time.

Spain ’94

Schumacher somehow managed to take his Benetton from lap 23 to the finish (lap 65), navigate a pit-stop and keep Hill relatively in his sights for some of this period all whilst stuck in 5th gear. Somehow he didn’t stall it and his skill to adapt his driving style to keep a high enough speed and momentum were hallmarks of a great champion. Schumacher finished 2nd that day.

Monaco ’18

This performance by Ricciardo is on the honourable mentions list for much the same reasons as Schumacher in ’94, an adaptation to his driving style to accommodate a near fatal flaw to his car. Ricciardo took his Red Bull from lap 28 to lap 78 round the tight and twisty streets of Monaco all whilst he had lost the whole of his MGU-K. The effects of this was the loss of 161 bhp and over-heating of the rear-brakes. Ricciardo adapted by putting the brake bias forward and having to be super economical with his battery due to the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel being right behind. Ricciardo won and finally had redemption for his lost chance for Monaco success in 2016. No one was going to deny Danny Ric this one.

Conclusion

Over the course of nearly 70 years of F1 racing there have been moments that stand out and forever enshrine themselves in F1 folklore. From different eras, different weather conditions and different competitions the best of the best manage to get the spotlight for at least a race and show what great means. From the relaxed style of Fangio, the divine skill of Senna and the smartness of Schumacher the greats have always done great things,

Quite remarkably there has always been a steady flow of ‘once in a generation’ talents and the future looks promising with Verstappen, Leclerc and Ocon all poised for big things come 2021, taking the mantle from Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso. No doubt there will be great moments to be in awe at and F1 folklore to be written.