The Formula 1 driver rankings excluding DNFs present a different perspective to the sport

The Formula 1 driver rankings excluding DNFs present a different perspective to the sport

Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, and Fernando Alonso

Formula 1 is a highly competitive sport. Ever since its inception, drivers and teams have battled it out on track to win the prestigious F1 world championship. Statistically, Lewis Hamilton can be considered as the all-time great, having the most number of race wins at 103 and jointly holding the record for the most championships with Michael Schumacher (7).

However, recently a new order of rankings surfaced on Reddit. Where drivers are listed according to their percentage of race wins but by excluding DNFs. DNFs can occur due to a variety of reasons in Formula 1. Be it engine failure, mechanical problems, a last minute puncture or of course driver error. As such, excluding DNFs from a driver’s F1 career could present a more accurate picture.

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A DNF can wreck a driver’s prospects in the race and the championship, even forcing some to retire from the lead as was the case with Valtteri Bottas in Baku in 2018

This list posted on Reddit does present us with a new perspective on some of the best F1 drivers. The two-time world champion Alberto Ascari tops the charts with a win percentage of 65% with 20 race finishes. Ascari was the last Italian Formula 1 world champion and is considered to be a great driver. Although, usually, Alberto is sidelined when it comes to discussing the greatest of all time in F1.

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Three F1 drivers have a winning percentage of over 50% when not counting for retirements

Ascari, Fangio and Clark make the top 3 of this list with the trio winning the majority of the races they finished

Ascari is followed by Juan Manuel Fangio, the only 5-time world champion in Formula 1, with a win percentage of 60% along with 40 race finishes. In F1 circles, Fangio is often regarded as better than Ascari but this list provides a different picture. Jim Clark is the other only driver with a win percentage over 50%, with Clark finishing 49 races along with a percentage of 51.02.

Up next. we have the likes of Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost filling up the next 3 positions respectively. Senna arguably gets the highest boost from this ranking as the Brazilian suffered 54 retirements in his 161 race starts. Certainly, if Ayrton did not suffer from such terrible luck, he would have secured even more success in Formula 1.

Drivers in terms of win percentage, if DNFs are excluded. Reshared (sorted and more drivers added)
byu/AtillaTheHun7 informula1

Lewis Hamilton ranks in 7th place with a winning record of 36.26%. Notably, Lewis has only incurred 26 DNFs in his 310 Grand Prix starts. A symbol of the reliability the Brit has had at Mercedes. For comparison, Michael Schumacher suffered from 67 retirements in his 306 race starts. Thus, providing us with a clear view of how Hamilton has succeeded in shattering so many records in the sport.

The Rankings prove that unreliability can cause immense damage to a driver in Formula 1

Hamilton has had a remarkable run in recent years with rarely having to suffer from mechanical failures and the records prove themselves

Nigel Mansell seems to be the unluckiest driver in this list with 94 DNFs and an equal amount of race finishes. Despite that, Nigel has managed to have a winning stat of 32.97%, earning him the 8th spot. Niki Lauda and James Hunt are 9th and 11th respectively and the pair has faced almost an even number of retirements and finishes as well.

On a surprising note, Max Verstappen stands way higher than the other Red Bull world champion Sebastian Vettel. Max has a winning record of 26%, 6% more than Vettel. This indicates how dominant Verstappen has been this year, managing to shatter the German who has two more world championships. Albeit, Vettel’s last few seasons in the sport saw the German fighting in the midfield.

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen round up this list with Fernando having the most race finishes at 290. While Kimi has a relatively meagre win % of 7.5, the only one in single digits. The list included other legends of the sport such as Jack Brabham, Nelson Piquet as well as Mika Hakkinen. The list tried to provide an order of the chaos behind deciding who is the greatest driver in Formula 1.

Thus, this way of ranking F1 drivers accounts for unreliability and bad luck. Although it misses out on an important factor, the car’s performance. Formula 1 is not an equal-make sport, teams have varying performances with many drivers stuck with uncompetitive machinery. This ends up with drivers not being able to show their true talent as they struggle in the midfield. But this list provides a new way to look at history and does provide a more accurate picture.

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