Which F1 drivers past or present were/are the best in the rain and?

Question

who are the worst?

Answer 1

One the current grid, Raikonnen, Alonso, and Hamilton stand out as the best, with drivers like Button, Weber, and Barrichello being very solid and occassionally great.  Vettel and Kovalainen showing alot of promise.  Masa may not actually be the worst, but compared to his skill in the dry, he is quite prone to coming completely undone in the wet (though in less than full wet conditions he has shown good pace on occassion).

And in the recent past, Michael Schumacher was a master of such conditions.  And Montoyo showed a certain flair as well.

Going back further though, you will likely find that the drivers that excelled in the wet were simply the good drivers on grid.  In days of less advanced tires and before traction control, the driver's ability to handle traction issues showed up more often in the dry... so you could easily add names like Senna, Prost, Stewert, Fangio, and so on.

Going back though, some drivers managed to make a major name for themselves by being in lesser cars and driving to great results when it rained - Senna obviously comes to mind.  It's likely that most of the great drivers would also excel under those same conditions, but not all of the great drivers were stuck with less than competitive cars when it happened to rain, thus never had the chance to show such unexpected pace.

Answer 2

I would put up Senna as no.1.....and then Schumi with Alonso.....I wouldn't put the blame on poor Maasa too much....we all know he is a good driver, he just had difficult times, because Ferrari was not at it's best in Silverstone....

Answer 3

schumi,senna... webber also drove great at silverstone(i spin could be excepted!!) narain Karthikeyan(he's good...really n legally)...and to correct ASHLEY S ^^^ Massa spun 7 times at silverstone!!!!

and i dont know about you ^^^ but no one in formula 1 is a lesserman!!! and no 1 really parks his car in f-1 and goes home after having a spin!! until like it was in the case of David coulthard and s.vettel who were stuck in the gravel and even after marshals tried they couldn't get them outof the gravels(the tires wer not gettin the grip on the gravel)...so only in the cases when the cars are undrivable do the drivers park their cars and go home!!

Answer 4

Rosbif has pretty much sewn up this question but I will add some of the lesser known F1 drivers who could impress in the wet,

. Jos Verstappen

. Pierluigi Martini

. Adrian Sutil only seems to turn up a bit when it rains

. Ralf Schumacer was a descent wet weather driver too.

Answer 5

Barrichello is the best in the rain at present.... any car he has been in when it rains he pulls it to the front of the pack....

Answer 6

best was senna,passing numerous drivers on opening lap at donnington in 90s was famous

massa spun 5 times at british gp last week

Answer 7

Lewis and Jenson are up with the best.

Answer 8

Michael Schumacher was the ultimate rainmeister

Answer 9

Micheal Schumacher

Lewis Hamilton

Rubens Barrachello

Answer 10

Lewis in the rain by far. Hes won all the races hes been in when its raining hasn't he. Felipe massa is the worst

Answer 11

One driver I saw at Brands,in the wet, was Belgian Jackie Ickx,no one  to touch him at speed on any wet track - even Spa, a notorious death trap at the best of times........

Answer 12

Schummacher and Senna the best

the worst Massa

Answer 13

The all-time best list would have to include:

Fangio

Castellotti

Behra

von Trips

Clark

Gurney

G.Hill

Surtees

Rindt

Stewart

Ickx

Rodriguez

Amon

Peterson

Andretti

G.Villeneuve

K.Rosberg

Senna

Alesi

M.Schumacher

Hakkinen

Montoya

Alonso

Hamilton

For my money, the best 3 I ever saw were Gilles Villeneuve, Ayrton Senna and Keke Rosberg, in that order; although Senna was the most "in control" of the three, Villeneuve was a magician in the wet (he was 12 - TWELVE - seconds ahead of the next driver in the soaking wet first qualifying session at Watkins Glen in 1979); Rosberg was also magnificent, usually in an inferior car...the youtube clip of him through Eau Rouge in 1983 is well worth looking up, as are the highlights of Monaco 1983.

The worst list would have to include almost all the poor drivers who have ever competed...so I'll make a list of the champions or championship contenders who weren't so good in the rain:

Hawthorn (by comparison with others of his time - ALL the drivers of that era had some skill in the wet, they would have been dead otherwise)

Fittipaldi (never as dominant in the wet as in the dry)

Lauda (post accident)

Prost (from about 1983)

Irvine (but he was being compared to Schumi and Hakkinen)

Answer 14

I think this question has been answered to death, so I won't add to the list.

But could everyone stop picking on poor old Massa, he spun what, 5, 6 times at Silverstone? A lesser man would have just parked it and called it a day. But he kept on going til the bitter end. Gotta admire his poor soul.

Oh, and he didn't hit anything or damage his car. Quite a skill, don't you think?!

Answer 15

newest i would say lewis the oldest taking the speed of modern cars i find it difficult to choose between senna and schmacher.

Answer 16

everyone would have a different opinion so its up to you

Answer 17

ANY QUESTION IN F1 THAT INCLUDES THE WORD "BEST" THEN KNOW THAT THE ANSWER IS SCHUMMY.

Answer 18

i think schumacher was very good....

but when trulli was in renault he was good too...

in the past i don't know...

Answer 19

I saw Alesi once on what was a sea, he really was great on the stuff.

Answer 20

Well form the last couple of  decades I've been watching, Schumacher and Senna were absolutely dominant in the wet.

Plenty of good wet weather racers out there for sure, Hakkinen, Alesi, Rubens,Webbo, Fisichella, Alonso, Heidfeld , just too many.

But the cream of the crop were Schumi and Ayrton and now it appears Hamilton looks like a possible successor.

Schumacher was incredibly strong in mixed condition, on a semi wet track.

Where others would tip toe around the circuit not knowing what to make up of it just yet, he was the only one really racing hard out there, wet or semi wet he was on it.

And since "lunchbox" mentioned Jackie Ickx, Thierry Boutsen was another Belgian that shone in the wet.

Answer 21

Schumy was the all time best after Senna.

The worse are the ones you find in the ditches.

Answer 22

After the British GP last week, I think we can include Massa as one of the worst.