A study comparing Formula 1 drivers from the past 37 years has concluded that Ayrton Senna is the fastest of all time, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.
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The research, produced by Formula 1 sponsor Amazon Web Services, applied machine learning to compare drivers’ qualifying performances dating back to 1983.
Senna, who achieved 65 pole positions in a 162-race career, was found to be approximately one tenth of a second per lap faster than Michael Schumacher, who secured 68 poles across 308 races.
Lewis Hamilton, who claimed his 92nd pole in his 256th race appearance recently, is ranked third, 0.275 seconds behind Senna.
Three other current drivers appear in the top 10: Max Verstappen is fourth — just 0.005s behind Hamilton — Charles Leclerc is seventh and Sebastian Vettel is tenth. Fernando Alonso, who is set to return to F1 next year with Renault, ranks fifth.
F1’s director of data systems, Rob Smedley, a former Ferrari and Williams engineer, said the modelling approach is similar to the methods teams use when comparing drivers for recruitment.
“Within the team environment this type of modelling is used to make key decisions on driver choices,” Smedley explained. “As drivers are more often than not the most expensive asset of the team it is important that the selection process is as robust as possible. A process such as this therefore would be deployed by the F1 team’s strategists in order to present the most objective and evidence-based selection possible.
“‘Fastest Driver’ enables us to build up a picture of how the drivers compare, by analysing the purest indication of raw speed, the qualifying lap — and it’s important to note this pure speed is the only element of the vast driver armoury we are analysing here, to showcase the quickest drivers ever, which is very exciting.”
10 fastest Formula 1 drivers since 1983, according to F1 and AWS
| Rank | Driver | Gap to best (seconds) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ayrton Senna | 0.000 |
| 2 | Michael Schumacher | 0.114 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | 0.275 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 0.280 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | 0.309 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | 0.374 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | 0.376 |
| 8 | Heikki Kovalainen | 0.378 |
| 9 | Jarno Trulli | 0.409 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | 0.435 |
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