Mclarens 50 greatest drivers

[royboy2]

I doubt there will be many surprises for #1

Over the Years they have shown incredible bravery, amazing talent, unbridled enthusiasm and huge dedication to the cause. They are the men who have driven a McLaren racing car. Over the next year we will be counting down the 50 who have had the greatest impact on the McLaren cause.

Esteemed motorsport journalist ALAN HENRY has compiled the list and each week will reflect on one of our past drivers, giving his personal account of their contribution to the team.
We put some rules in place. Since this is about the greatest drivers in McLaren's history, there are no active drivers on the list, so no Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso for example. It’s not just F1 either, as McLaren cars have graced many series over the years. Also, the drivers are ranked on their contribution to McLaren only - not their overall career - so be prepared for a few surprises in the coming weeks and months! Enjoy, and let us know your thoughts as we spend a year in the company of many of racing history’s most awesome talents.

http://www.mclaren.com/page/mclarens-50-greatest-drivers-8

The list so far:

[B]No. 50. Philippe Alliot
[/B][B][B]No. 49. Michael Andretti (USA)[/B]
[/B][B]No. 48. Nigel Mansell
[/B][B]No. 47. Andrea de Cesaris
[/B][B]No. 46. Derek Bell  (GB)
[/B][B][B]No. 45. John Surtees (GB)[/B]
[/B][B][B]No. 44. Chris Amon (NZ)[/B]
[B]No. 43. Jackie Oliver[/B]
[B]No. 42. David Hobbs
No. 41. Peter Gethin
No. 40. Nelson Piquet[/B][B][B][B][B][B][B]
[B]No. 39. Carlos Reutemann[/B]
[B]No. 38. John Cannon  [/B]
[B]No. 37. Masanori Sekiya[/B]
[B]No. 36. Bruno Giacomelli [/B]
[B]No. 35. Yannick Dalmas[/B]
[B]No. 34. J.J. Lehto[/B]
[B]No. 33. Brett Lunger[/B]
[B]No. 32. Andrea de Adamich[/B]
[B]No. 31. Jo Bonnier[/B]
[B]No. 30: Vic Elford[/B]
[B]No. 29. Jacky Ickx[/B]
No. 28. Tim Mayer
No. 27. Alexander Wurz[/B]
No. 26. Brian Redman[/B]
No. 25. Mark Blundell[/B]
No. 24. Patrick Tambay[/B]
No. 23. Mike Hailwood[/B]
No. 22. Jochen Mass[/B]
[B][B]No. 20. Martin Brundle[/B]
No. 21. Gilles Villeneuve[/B]
[B]No. 19. Stefan Johansson[/B]
No. 18. Jody Scheckter[/B]
[B]No. 17. Juan Pablo Montoya[/B]
[B]No. 16. Mark Donohue[/B]
[B]No. 15. Kimi Räikkönen[/B]
[B]No. 14. Gerhard Berger[/B]
[B]No. 13. Dan Gurney[/B]
[B]No. 12. Johnny Rutherford[/B]
[B]No. 11. Denny Hulme[/B]
[B]No. 10. John Watson[/B]
[B]No.  9. Peter Revson[/B]
[B]No.  8. David Coulthard[/B]

 

[ManWithNoName]

How John Surtees hasn't been knighted is completely beyond me. He won an F1 World Championship and 4 500cc World Championships. WHAT MORE DOES HE HAVE TO DO?

 

[imadodgyumpire]

More unbelievable than Surtees not being knighted is that Berger is 15th on that list! He was a turtle, shouldn't be in the 30...40...even 50!

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Henry was scraping the bottom of the barrel by including Michael Andretti in McLaren's top 50. He was utterly woeful.

Presumably the top five will include Senna, Prost and Hakkinen, and I imagine that Senna will be no. 1 because Ron Dennis got on a lot better with Senna than he did with Prost, I believe.

I wonder where Bruce McLaren himself will come?

 

[Macca19]

Some of the names are a bit comical. Mansell was shocking at Mclaren and couldnt even fit in the car properly. Only lasted what...3 races or something. Alliot, Lehto, Brundle & Blundell so far up the list, Andretti.

Maybe should have been a top 20.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Where do you reckon Alonso would've come if he was eligible?

 

[royboy2]

Where do you reckon Alonso would've come if he was eligible?

Top 20....Just

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Andretti should be somewhere in the low 30's, me thinks. He did get a podium, driving a very good race. What did Patrick Tambay do a Mclaren to be so high up? If you're having to include Mansell and Alliot, then really, 50 is too much, top 20 or 25 would've made it a more significant and interesting read.

Anyway, don't know when the other 11 will come out, I'll see if I can guess them. Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, Mika Hakkinen, James Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Peter Revson, Denny Hulme, John Watson, David Coulthard and Bruce Mclaren, I suspect.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Where do you reckon Alonso would've come if he was eligible?

50th, barely.

The British media hated Alonso when he was driving for McLaren and worshipped the very ground on which Hamilton walked. That's been partly transferred now to Button.

 

[Team DJ]

Dodgy being very harsh on Berger. He was a very good Wingman number 2 type.

Hakkinen, Senna, Prost, Lauda, Hamilton top 5

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Dodgy being very harsh on Berger. He was a very good Wingman number 2 type.

Yeah, maybe, the truth is, Gerhard's one of those driver's where, at any chance, I'll give him a whack. IIRC, he fancied himself at Mclaren, but got hosed and was forced to be no.2 there. Looking back, it's all very well enjoying the life of a GP driver but you've also got to stick your finger out, more often than he did, to show you're a legit driver. There were few races, amongst 200+, where you can say he really drove well, not that I saw all of them. I can only think of 5 that standout in the '90s (92Aus. 93Hun, 94/96/97Ger) and one good season (1994). He didn't miss out on driving good cars.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Dodgy being very harsh on Berger. He was a very good Wingman number 2 type.

Hakkinen, Senna, Prost, Lauda, Hamilton top 5

Current drivers not eligible, so Hamilton won't be there.

 

[CAS79]

Is Bruce going to get a gig in the team he founded?????

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Is Bruce going to get a gig in the team he founded?????

Given that the criterion for inclusion is the "great impact on the McLaren cause", surely the team founder and one of the first drivers for McLaren ought to have a position in the top 50 somewhere!

 

[rayven]

It’s not just F1 either, as McLaren cars have graced many series over the years. Also, the drivers are ranked on their contribution to McLaren only - not their overall career

The Kiwi has to rank one!

Did brabham ever grace any mclaren in any catorgory? If he did he'd probably rank 2.

 

[Daitro]

'greatest impact on the McLaren cause'

Andrea de Cesaris should be top five. The amount of crashes he had in 1981 negatively impacted the Mclaren cause to such a degree that his mechanics were refusing to repair his car.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

The Kiwi has to rank one!

Did brabham ever grace any mclaren in any catorgory? If he did he'd probably rank 2.

Brabham drove a Cooper and his own cars during his Formula One career. Bruce McLaren drove for Brabham at one stage.

 

[rayven]

Brabham drove a Cooper and his own cars during his Formula One career. Bruce McLaren drove for Brabham at one stage.

But this list is about anyone who ever graced a mclaren in any catogory....

Brabhams influence on mclaren was probably second only to mclarens influence on himself...Making these guys 1-2 on this list, rationaly

 

[royboy2]

No. 11. Denny Hulme
No. 10. John Watson

Added to the list

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Peter Revson comes in at no. 9.

McLaren haven't updated the top 50 for more than three weeks, however.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

David "DC" Coulthard listed at no. 8 by Alan Henry (for McLaren).

David Coulthard

Born 27 March, 1971, Twynholm, Scotland. 246 Grands Prix, 13 wins. Career span: 1994-95(Williams); 1996-2004(McLaren); 2005-08(Red Bull)

It is a measure of DC’s superb contribution to the McLaren F1 story that he won all-but-one of his Grand Prix victories for the Woking team and stormed to a memorable second place in the 2001 world championship behind Michael Schumacher. It is also worth emphasising that David’s time with McLaren coincided with one of the team’s most competitive periods ever and the fact that the genial Scot spent much of that time having to measure himself against a formidable team-mate like Mika Hakkinen only served to enhance the quality of the Scot’s achievement.

Coulthard cut his racing teeth on karts which he began racing at the age of eight, then climbed the single seater ladder through the junior formulae with thee blue riband Paul Stewart Racing organisation. For the 1994 season he was appointed official test driver for the Williams-Renault squad and found himself pitchforked into a race seat alongside Damon Hill after the tragic death of Ayrton Senna in that year’s San Marino GP. In 1995 he remained with Williams, winning his maiden GP in fine style at Estoril, but then switched to McLaren-Mercedes alongside Hakkinen for 1996. David scored his first win for McLaren in Melbourne at the start of 1997 and, on his day, could be said to have had the legs of everybody on the starting grid. He was also hugely popular with the McLaren personnel, radiating an easy charm and giving the lie to the old racing adage that nice guys can’t be winners.

 

[royboy2]

Updated, I thought they had forgotten about it

 

[don vito of fitzroy]

I think he should have done only a Top 25. The rest are just making up the numbers.

My Top 5:

1. Senna
2. Prost
3. Hakkinen
4. Lauda
5. Fittipaldi