Today, we cross the halfway mark in our series, going from 15 to 11.
This is probably the hardest part to write in this series because, ultimately, a lot of these drivers are excellent. But they are just below the top 10 of all time, who I think are close enough to where there can be an argument for them in any order.
To get through this, the question has to be asked. Is there a case somebody can make for a driver to be the greatest of all time? I don’t think any of the five today have one, even among their most enduring fans. Whereas everybody in the top 10 probably does.
Brabham is unique from everybody on this list, as he remains the lone owner-driver to win the championship, which he did in 1966 to go along with two championships he won with Cooper in 1959 and 1960.
Part of why Brabham is down this low despite winning three championships is that he had a very long stretch between championships where he didn’t even win a race. He also was generally not considered the best among his peers, considering he raced against Sterling Moss (below him on the list) and Jim Clark (above him).
He also stayed on far too long. After winning the championship at age 40 in 1966, he lost to his own teammate Denny Hulme in 1967, then lost to Jochen Rindt in the teammate battle in 1968.
What set Brabham apart from other drivers was his skill at setting a car up. In 1960, a big factor in winning the championship was Cooper allowing him to have a big say in developing the T53.
Along with his win in 1966, that makes his placement on this list hard because it’s a ranking of drivers, without much thought on how they could also design cars. Brabham is about where he should be here if we’re only looking at him as a driver, which we are.
Ascari was the only Italian to win the championship for Ferrari, and his very brief career record lives up to that hype.
Ascari only started 32 Grands Prix, but won 13 races and had seven hat tricks (pole, win and fastest lap) and five grand slams (pole, win, all laps led and fastest lap). Just to compare, Brabham won 14 races in almost four times as many starts, with three hat tricks and two grand slams.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …