MS most popular Ferrari driver ever

[ioan]

<<That is the finding of a survey conducted by the Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, which said 49 per cent of the 16,887 readers who responded voted for the recently departed German.>>

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070322100558.shtml

[harsha]

he could be the most unpopular driver ever too you know,just a matter of opininon :D

he could be the most unpopular driver ever too you know,just a matter of opinion :D

Could be, but not in an Italian newspaper's poll.

[harsha]

not in a German poll either,maybe a world wide poll :cheese:

Not according to the FIA's world-wide survey published last year.

According to that, Michael was the most popular by some margin, followed by Kimi, Jenson and Fernando.

The least popular driver was a Schumacher, the one called Ralf.

[BTCC2]

I think MS will probably be the most popular F1 driver ever.

[Erki]

No surprise here. Of course it also helps that he's the most recent world champion driving a Ferrari. And also he drove very recently, there's 25 years since Villeneuve last raced. :)

[Mifune]

No surprise here. Of course it also helps that he's the most recent world champion driving a Ferrari. And also he drove very recently, there's 25 years since Villeneuve last raced. :)

exactly.

[F1boat]

<<That is the finding of a survey conducted by the Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, which said 49 per cent of the 16,887 readers who responded voted for the recently departed German.>>

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070322100558.shtml

Hardly a surprise, Michael won 5 crowns for Ferrari, more than any other driver.

[ArrowsFA1]

And also he drove very recently, there's 25 years since Villeneuve last raced. :)
Exactly. I wonder how many of those who completed the poll (online?) ever saw Villeneuve race, or know how loved he was/is by Ferrari fans and F1 fans the world over.

[ioan]

Exactly. I wonder how many of those who completed the poll (online?) ever saw Villeneuve race, or know how loved he was/is by Ferrari fans and F1 fans the world over.

There is a 50/50 chance I would say.
Maybe only half of them saw GV drive for Ferrari but all of them saw MS drive.
Also the achievements of these two can't be compared.

[pino]

I can't find this poll on http://www.gazzetta.it it must be an old one (last year ?) pity :(

Whilst it is very true that the results of the poll probably don't take into account the popularity of drivers from yesteryear, it is also very true that the results of polls on driver popularity are pretty meaningless no matter what the result.

A driver's job is to win races, not popularity contests.

[pino]

We must also consider that in Italy most people over 40 years don't have internet access, or they don't use it everyday. Otherwise Gilles would have been much closer to Michael ;)

A driver's job is to win races, not popularity contests.

Although, since a requirement of a popularity contest is the desire to "travel the world and work with children and animals" (copyright every Miss World there has ever been) Michael does have some of the qualities needed......

He has worked with children (Unicef).
He has worked with animals (Corinna's horses, Flavio Briatore).
He has travelled the world (travelled it? He won the bloody thing 7 times!).

But, and this is a key issue, even a devoted Tifosian such as I would draw the line when it came to seeing Michael in the Swim-wear section.

[ArrowsFA1]

Ferrari's register of drivers is a who's who of Grand Prix racing: Ascari, Villoresi, Gonzalez, Taruffi, Trintignant, Farina, Hawthorn, Castellotti, Collins, Fangio, von Trips, Hill, Behra, Brooks, Ginther, Baghetti, Bandini, Scarfiotti, Surtees, Rodriquez, Amon, Ickx, Regazzoni, Andretti, Merzario, Lauda, Reutemann, Villeneuve, Scheckter, Pironi, Tambay, Arnoux, Alboreto, Berger, Mansell, Prost, Alesi, Schumacher and now Raikkonen are just some of them :eek:

Ferrari's register of drivers is a who's who of Grand Prix racing: Ascari, Villoresi, Gonzalez, Taruffi, Trintignant, Farina, Hawthorn, Castellotti, Collins, Fangio, von Trips, Hill, Behra, Brooks, Ginther, Baghetti, Bandini, Scarfiotti, Surtees, Rodriquez, Amon, Ickx, Regazzoni, Andretti, Merzario, Lauda, Reutemann, Villeneuve, Scheckter, Pironi, Tambay, Arnoux, Alboreto, Berger, Mansell, Prost, Alesi, Schumacher and now Raikkonen are just some of them :eek:

Yes, but none of them looked good in a swim-suit either.

[ArrowsFA1]

:laugh:

[fizzicist]

Lest we forget that in these surveys, the most recent tends to be flavour of the month, which skews the result somewhat. A couple of years ago, the BBC conducted a poll to find the most influential musician of all time.

Robbie Williams was in the top 10 above Mozart...'nuff said.

[ioan]

Lest we forget that in these surveys, the most recent tends to be flavour of the month, which skews the result somewhat. A couple of years ago, the BBC conducted a poll to find the most influential musician of all time.

Robbie Williams was in the top 10 above Mozart...'nuff said.

For sure they didn't do it in Austria! :)

[futuretiger9]

he could be the most unpopular driver ever too you know,just a matter of opininon :D


You are probably right. Michael did tend to polarise opinion like that.

In a few years, I suspect that Gilles Villeneuve will be right up with MS again in the popularity stakes.

[ioan]

In a few years, I suspect that Gilles Villeneuve will be right up with MS again in the popularity stakes.

Could be true if GV would still be among us and able to win at least 1 championship, but it isn't the case.
In a few years the tifosi will still remember MS but fewer an fewer will know about GV, thus your point is somewhat mute.

[Garry Walker]

The most popular by quite a margin, and the best by even bigger margin. The Greatest

[futuretiger9]

Could be true if GV would still be among us and able to win at least 1 championship, but it isn't the case.
In a few years the tifosi will still remember MS but fewer an fewer will know about GV, thus your point is somewhat mute.


Point taken. I suppose I'm just being an old romantic!

[Erki]

What is popularity anyway? Do they go on streets and ask people, who is the first F1 driver who comes into their minds? It's logical that they maybe only know Schumacher because he gets talked about so often - wait 25 years and he's not nearly as popular as he's now.

And you really can't say who's the most popular Ferrari driver ever. To get to know who is the most popular Ferrari driver ever, polls should have been made all the time, at least every year and then when you take time to study the results, then you can come to the final conclusion.

[ArrowsFA1]

In a few years, I suspect that Gilles Villeneuve will be right up with MS again in the popularity stakes.
I suspect you're right, as time does add perspective, although he's right there now in the hearts and minds (never mind polls) of those who love Grand Prix racing.

[ShiftingGears]

Could be true if GV would still be among us and able to win at least 1 championship, but it isn't the case.
In a few years the tifosi will still remember MS but fewer an fewer will know about GV, thus your point is somewhat mute.


It will be interesting as both are Ferrari legends so they always will be remembered.

[Ranger]

Could be true if GV would still be among us and able to win at least 1 championship, but it isn't the case.

Well, popularity or lasting appeal doesn't boil down to numbers. Statistics don't really affect people who already have an opinion about the issue of popularity of a driver. Just look at John Surtees, Niki Lauda or Jody Scheckter. Their titles haven't made them that resoundingly popular with the tifosi today, have they?

But these polls are all affected by the context in which they were conducted, both with time and media glorification.

In 25 years, probably both of them will the the favourite ever driver for the romantics, but by that time neither of them will be topping the polls of popularity I'm pretty sure.

So, like all polls, this one just reflects the modern context it was taken (including media glorification) so I'm inclined to think that it doesnt mean too much.

[ioan]

Well, popularity or lasting appeal doesn't boil down to numbers. Statistics don't really affect people who already have an opinion about the issue of popularity of a driver. Just look at John Surtees, Niki Lauda or Jody Scheckter. Their titles haven't made them that resoundingly popular with the tifosi today, have they?

But these polls are all affected by the context in which they were conducted, both with time and media glorification.

In 25 years, probably both of them will the the favourite ever driver for the romantics, but by that time neither of them will be topping the polls of popularity I'm pretty sure.

So, like all polls, this one just reflects the modern context it was taken (including media glorification) so I'm inclined to think that it doesnt mean too much.

My post wasn't about absolute popularity in 50 years, but about MS' compared to GV's, more precisely about the fact that it is almost imposssible that GV has a better popularity than MS in the future.

[harsha]

due to the increase in viewership of formula 1,yea MS might be the most popular formula 1 driver ever...

you go to a road and ask a random person to name a formula 1 driver,9/10 times,Michael Schumacher will be what they say....

[ArrowsFA1]

It's amazing how many people remember Stirling Moss as a racing driver ;) and that's 45 years after his Grand Prix career came to an end.

It's amazing how many people remember Stirling Moss as a racing driver ;) and that's 45 years after his Grand Prix career came to an end.

Yes, but how many of those people are under the age of 45 I wonder?

Certainly there will be motor-racing fans under that age that have heard of Stirling, but even so I bet none of those would say that Stirling was their favourite driver, thereby making him, by default, 'unpopular' amongst under-45's in a poll.

Like-wise with the late Gilles amongst Ferrari fans under the age of 25.

Which does re-emphasis my original point that the 'popularity' of a driver is a meaningless, because the diminishing popularity of a driver doesn't have any effect on their record of achievements on track.

I reckon I can safely say that Enzo himself would rather have somebody who won 70+ GP's in his team than somebody who is likeable but who didn't win many races, because it's winning that matters.

Let's face it, Ivan Capelli was (is) a lovely bloke, but it didn't help him.

[ioan]

Yes, but how many of those people are under the age of 45 I wonder?

You mean 55, I doubt may started watching motor racing before they were at least 10 (I would even make it 15 or more for that era).

You mean 55, I doubt may started watching motor racing before they were at least 10 (I would even make it 15 or more for that era).

Fair point, although I knew the Ferrari driver's names when I was four (Lauda & Reggazoni, just to give an indication of my age).

[wmcot]

Ask an average person here in the USA to name a F1 driver and MS will probably be the only name they know (except NASCAR fans who will name JPM???)

[futuretiger9]

You mean 55, I doubt may started watching motor racing before they were at least 10 (I would even make it 15 or more for that era).


Well I'm "only" 37 and I rank Sir Stirling right up there with Schumi. It's not just WHAT you achieve, it's HOW you achieve it.

[AAReagles]

I reckon I can safely say that Enzo himself would rather have somebody who won 70+ GP's in his team than somebody who is likeable but who didn't win many races, because it's winning that matters.

Quite so. Just as a driver would prefer a reliable car, as well as having one that's fast enough to be able to compete with the front-runners. Or as in Gilles' case in Jarama 81', 'just' fast enough (and for at least this occasion, reliable enough) to stay ahead of the pack.