The 50 greatest Formula One drivers: Nos 50-41
The 50 greatest Formula One drivers: Nos 40-31
The 50 greatest Formula One drivers: Nos 30-21
The 50 greatest Formula One drivers: Nos 20-11
The 50 greatest Formula One drivers: Nos 10-1

It is the impossible question to answer: how do you measure greatness?

Formula One is a sport awash with statistics but even they cannot provide the complete measure of the sport’s greatest drivers.

The true greats carry charisma, inspire awe in their rivals and challenge the parameters of their sport. They must be skilful, clever, able to work in a team and they need one more quality that is absent from most other sports: sheer bravery. The race circuit, certainly in decades gone by, is a dangerous place and many of the names who appear in this list were victims of their sport.

We have tried to combine all the best traits to come up with an answer to who really has been the greatest driver in the modern era of Formula One, which started on a breezy airfield at Silverstone in Northamptonshire on May 13, 1950. Since then, hundreds of drivers have come and gone but we are presenting what we believe are the 50 most outstanding in the history of Formula One.

There are 14 British drivers represented, the most from any single nation, but this is no Anglo-centric view of the world. Also listed are drivers from Germany, Finland, Austria, Argentina, the United States and many others, as well as the five greatest from Brazil, the second-most represented country on our list.

All in all, it is a fascinating roll call, a list ripe for debate and a snapshot of six decades of one of the most exciting and demanding sports in the world.

50. Michele Alboreto

23.12.1956 to 25.4.2001

Italy

Grands prix: 194

Wins: 5

World Championships: none

"Nice guy" racer who stayed too long. Feted by none other than Enzo Ferrari when he hired his fellow Italian for the Scuderia, and won five races. But once he left - a victim of Ferrari politics - it was a long slide down to Minardi, where his F1 career ended. Killed in Germany testing an Audi sports car for the Le Mans 24-hour Race.

49. Peter Collins

8.11.1931 to 3.8.1958

Great Britain

Grands prix: 32

Wins: 3

World Championships: none

Finished third in his first full season in F1, driving for Ferrari. But impressed the sport when he voluntarily handed over his car to Juan Manuel Fangio to finish the Italian Grand Prix. It ended his hopes of a World Championship that was never to be. Collins was killed at the German Grand Prix after only 32 grands prix.

48. Clay Regazzoni

5.9.1939 to 11.12.2006

Switzerland

Grands prix: 132

Wins: 5

World Championships: none

Maverick who spent much of his career at Ferrari but will be remembered for scoring the first grand-prix victory for the Williams team at the British GP in 1979. The fun-loving Regazzoni’s F1 career ended when he crashed at the 1980 United States GP, although he went on to race in cars with adapted controls. Killed in a road crash in Italy.

47. Dan Gurney

13.4.1931

United States

Grands prix: 86

Wins: 4

World Championships: none

Americans are thin on the ground in Formula One but Gurney was highly rated by his European counterparts as an immensely quick driver. This son of an opera singer never managed to lay hands on a car that could do full justice to his talents in an era dominated by Jim Clark and Graham Hill.

46. Gerhard Berger

27.8.1959

Austria

Grands prix: 210

Wins: 10

World Championships: none

The practical joker whose winning smile belied a tough racing character, good enough to sit alongside Ayrton Senna at McLaren and win the Brazilian’s respect and affection. But two spells at Ferrari when the Scuderia struggled were unproductive and Berger may feel his talent was never fully realised.

45. Lorenzo Bandini

21.12.1936 to 10.5.1967

Italy

Grands prix: 42

Wins: 1

World Championships: none

Exotic and fast, Bandini lived in the shadow of John Surtees, his team leader at Ferrari. Died in a gruesome, fiery crash at Monaco in full view of the world’s television cameras at the age of just 32. Still remembered at a colourful annual ceremony in Brisighella, his home town.

44. Jo Siffert

7.7.1936 to 24.10.1971

Switzerland

Grands prix: 96

Wins: 2

World Championships: none

A scion of the great independent team run by Rob Walker, and a sports car racer of repute, Siffert showed pace that put him alongside his great rivals of the time. Unfortunately, after a solid career, Siffert was killed in a non-championship, end-of-season F1 race at Brands Hatch.

43. Giuseppe Farina

30.10.1906 to 30.6.1966

Italy

Grands prix: 33

Wins: 5

World Championships: 1

Winner of the inaugural World Championship of the modern era in 1950. Aloof but exotic, in his Alfa Romeo and then Ferrari, Farina was the epitome of the dashing racing driver of the early years, although his single title win was the high point of his career. Killed in a road crash on the way to watch the French Grand Prix.

42. Phil Hill

20.4.1927

United States

Grands prix: 48

Wins: 3

World Championships: 1 (1961)

The quiet man of F1 won his championship with Ferrari when Enzo, the founder, was at his Machiavellian worst. Clinched the title in the Italian Grand Prix at which Wolfgang von Trips, his team-mate, careered into the crowd, killing himself and 14 spectators. After leaving Ferrari, his career went into slow decline.

41. Jenson Button

19.1.1980

Great Britain

Grands prix: 155

Wins: 1

World Championships: none

A career of "what might have been". Often described as the smoothest driver on the F1 circuit, Button has the talent but has never been able to find the car. Perhaps 2009 in the new Brawn team could prove to the high point for a young man many believe is a Formula One world champion in waiting.