Driving Legends

Motorsport has given us all-time greats, drivers whose skill, determination, and brilliance transcended their era. But it has also given us those whose reputations far outweigh their accomplishments. From fearless legends who pushed man and machine to the absolute limit, to drivers who are remembered more for the hype than the results, racing has plenty of greats. With that in mind, here are 10 of the most overrated drivers, and 10 that are actually great.

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1. David Ragan

David Ragan was highly overrated when he entered NASCAR and has continued to be since. He has had a great ride with UPS as a sponsor and the best equipment available, yet he has not won a series race. The best chance for him to make a run in the championship points is sporadic, and he is easily placed outside of title contention most of the season.

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2. Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher is frequently regarded as a Formula One legend. However, others say that his achievements are somewhat tainted by dubious actions and unfair advantages. He never let a teammate challenge him and used traction control when it was banned. Though his seven championships appear impressive, many believe he also had as much help from advantages and controversy as he did from driving skill.

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3. Pastor Maldonado

Pastor Maldonado is considered one of the worst drivers in Formula One history, mostly being remembered for his crashes rather than his one win in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. He is one of only 95 drivers in history to have won a Formula One race, but had a very inconsistent career with a shocking 32 DNFs. His win was a fluke in a career marred by reckless driving and huge potential wasted.

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4. Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya. This is another driver that I feel is overrated in NASCAR. I understand and applaud his successes in open-wheel racing: several podiums in Formula One and an open-wheel dominance in CART. But Montoya is a mediocre stock car driver at best. He has had a few good races in his time here, but never anything close to that of his open-wheel dominance.

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5. Elliott Sadler

Elliott Sadler is a classic overrated driver. He has consistently had equipment and sponsorship that should have brought him much more success in the Cup Series, yet the results never came. Three career wins and one Chase appearance in over a decade of Cup racing are not up to par with his performance in the Busch/Nationwide series. His best days may still be ahead of him back in Nationwide, but as far as his time in top-tier NASCAR goes, the real results have not lived up to the billing.

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6. Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel is overrated. He won with a team that was built around him, and he is a driver who does not show his true mettle on track. In wheel-to-wheel battles and under pressure, he makes errors and has many spin-outs, which most of us would remember and bring down his star value. He is not a good driver; he was lucky to win four F1 titles as it was more circumstantial.

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7. Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is often labeled overrated because his decisions to race in different series sometimes appear financially motivated rather than driven by competitiveness. He has two F1 World Championships, yet some suggest his skill level is exaggerated by the cars he has had. Although he has had a long and successful career, his attention to contracts and high-paying moves has raised questions about his genuine racing passion.

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8. Morgan Shepherd

Morgan Shepherd is overrated because in most of his career, he didn't perform very well in top-tier NASCAR. He had few wins in his career because most of his teams were underfunded or charity-run. Therefore, his reputation overshadows his abilities. He was a well-liked and well-respected driver, but in reality his skill and racecraft in the top level of NASCAR have been overrated.

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9. Sterling Marlin

Sterling Marlin is always criticized as being overrated. While he did have a long career, ten Cup wins is not much to show for 30 years. He only had top-level teams when he won the Daytona 500, and it took him 279 starts to win his first race, proving he was inconsistent for long periods. Marlin had some good moments, such as winning the Daytona 500 back-to-back, but one can say that the full career is a bit overrated when looking at results.

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10. Michael Waltrip

Michael Waltrip is considered an overrated driver for several reasons. Even with a lengthy career in NASCAR, he only managed a few victories, including the contentious 2001 Daytona 500. Many of his successes were with elite teams and often in the shadow of his brother, Darrell Waltrip, rather than due to exceptional driving prowess. Despite this, he has carved out a more notable reputation as a team owner and TV personality than for his on-track performances, which seldom matched the pre-race hype.

Now that we talked about some of the most overrated drivers, here are 10 that are rightfully icons.

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1. Jim Clark

Jim Clark is widely regarded as one of the best drivers of all time. A man who had a sublime sense of balance with an otherworldly natural speed, he forged a combination with Colin Chapman and Lotus that created an untouchable era, as they overwhelmed even the likes of Stewart, Hill, and Brabham during their time together. The quiet, shy, and reserved Scot is remembered as a master of the sport across Formula One and beyond, noted for his smooth style and amazing consistency.

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2. Alain Prost

Nicknamed “The Professor,” Alain Prost is one of the smoothest and most cerebral drivers to have ever competed in Formula 1. His ability to read a race and nurse a car with exquisite precision, married to a raw speed that could match even the most aggressive of rivals, also gave him a huge tactical edge in the sport. His famous rivalry with Ayrton Senna was the stuff of legend, but Prost’s four world championships and his reputation for intelligence behind the wheel mean he is considered one of the greatest drivers of all time.

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3. Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton is considered by many to be one of the greatest race car drivers of all time. He has not only displayed tremendous speed, but also an uncanny ability to adapt to the most complicated machines in Formula One. Hamilton first showed he was a man for the big occasion on his debut in 2007 by outqualifying Fernando Alonso on a regular basis. The new kid on the block from a lowly team then went on to deliver when it mattered most, holding his nerve to take his first title in 2008.

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4. Niki Lauda

The epic career of Niki Lauda was the ultimate triumph of the human spirit, of nerve over fear, of cool logic and fierce willpower in the battle for glory. In racing, he was more than a brilliant driver: a winner not only for his speed but for his strength of character. A triple world champion, he is remembered for so much more than his victories.

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5. Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna was a phenomenal driver whose talent and ferocity were otherworldly at times. A fearless competitor, his battles with Alain Prost were nothing less than astounding, and his absolute disregard for risk at times can often be seen as dangerous, but it was part of what made him great. The memory of his historic drives in Monaco, Donington, and Sao Paulo still leaves Ayrton as one of the best to ever do it, an unparalleled icon of passion, pure skill, and pure will in F1.

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6. Sébastien Loeb

Sébastien Loeb is considered by many to be one of the greatest rally drivers of all time. Loeb's dominance is unrivaled and unprecedented. His record of nine World Rally Championship titles in a row between 2004 and 2012 was achieved by consistent results, pinpoint accuracy, and a complete lack of fear when setting the fastest pace.

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7. Juan Manuel Fangio

Juan Manuel Fangio is a widely recognized all-time great Formula One driver, who brought to the sport humility, wisdom, and an absolute faith in his own ability, with precision on the track. He was dominant in the 1950s, taking five World Championships in eight seasons, due as much to his ability to become very, very fast when he needed to be as to his undoubted talent. His skills as an older driver, with great calmness and the most enviable ratio of success of any, set the benchmark.

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8. Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti is a racer who has raced for the love of racing, and not for the money or the fame. A man who has won at the highest level of Formula 1 and IndyCar, and has shown his skills in endurance races and even in NASCAR, Mario is a racer in the purest sense of the word. Competing in motor racing from the 1950s until the 2000s, and racing against everyone from Jackie Stewart to Alain Prost, Andretti still showed that fire in his belly as a driver and is a genuine racing icon.

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9. Stirling Moss

British driver Stirling Moss is widely considered one of the greatest drivers to have never won the Formula One World Championship. His skill was so high that even his competitors acknowledged he raced on another level. His success in grand prix and sports car racing, including a drive for the ages at the 1955 Mille Miglia, displayed a wizardry with machines that seemed to elevate him above the sport.

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10. Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen made his debut in Formula 1 at the age of 17, impressing the world with his fearlessness and aggressive overtaking. Criticized for being too over-optimistic, Verstappen's impressive results in the early years of his career and continued success against his teammates have proven his doubters wrong. A four-time world champion for Red Bull, Verstappen is now one of the most dominant and versatile drivers of his generation.

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