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Team US F1 silence was deliberate

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Team US F1 sporting director Peter Windsor says his outfit's plans to enter Formula 1 are fully on schedule - even though it has kept out of the spotlight compared to its fellow new members of the grand prix community.

While Campos, Lotus and Virgin Racing have begun announcing drivers, sponsors and their full plans for 2010, US F1 has been working away in private getting its preparations sorted.

And although that has prompted some to doubt that the team will make it onto the grid in time for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Windsor has now broken the team's silence on its new official website.

"A number of people have asked me why we’ve been relatively quiet over the past six months or so," he wrote on the website. "My answer is twofold - one, while the F1 politics were sorting themselves out there was very little that we could do or say.

"We’re all in the entertainment business we call F1 and there seemed little or no point in adding to the situation from the perspective of a new team.

"Second, since August, we have been building our "house". Literally. We gutted the ex-Hall of Fame Racing/Joe Gibbs NASCAR shop, re-painted it, re-floored it, re-wired it, re-lit it and re-designed it. In three weeks. That’s what you can do in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the economic impact of the motorsports industry approaches $6 billion per year. Ask and you will receive. Brilliant.

"And then, once we had a building (and even before we had one), we began to design parts and to hire our team. Again we were building. People wanted to know what was "going on." We replied that we were "putting together the team." It’s a bit like building a new house. You don’t invite all your neighbours and family around to see it at least until you’ve got the living room almost done, or a few plates in the kitchen."

He added: "Such are the demands of modern media, however, that every passing minute is another step into history - if you’re not saying something, you’re not doing anything. Well, I disagree. I think everyone and every company is entitled to its heads-down time. It reminds me of the time a young Winston Churchill left the clamour of London to travel by ship to cover the Boer War in South Africa for an English newspaper.

"During the voyage he enjoyed two weeks of seclusion from any news about the war he was about to write about. And guess what? The war was still raging when he arrived, he quickly brought himself up to speed - and his mind was so fresh that he was able to compose some of the best pieces of war journalism in the history of the English language."

Windsor says the team’s preparations for its car are ongoing, and that it has no plans to run its 2010 contender in the wind-tunnel until it is complete.

"I noticed the other day that Nick Wirth issued a press release about the new Virgin F1 car being entirely designed on CFD – Computational Fluid Dynamics (rather than in the wind tunnel)," he said.

"The same thing applies to our car, although we see this as a logical process for a new team rather than something about which to be particularly excited. There’s no doubt, though, that the rhythm of life is now different, having worked for both Williams and Ferrari I have no hesitation in saying that."

Team US F1 is expected to confirm its driver line-up in January.

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Former Ferrari engine chief joins FIA

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Former Ferrari engine chief Gilles Simon is to join the FIA to help a push by Jean Todt to investigate new energies and more environmentally friendly technology for Formula 1 and other categories.

Simon left the Maranello-based team in October, and Todt has now revealed he will be heavily involved in a new working group that will work alongside committees within the FIA already looking at the environment and new energies.

FIA president Todt is adamant that F1 is not doing enough in environmental terms - especially with KERS having been dropped - and he wants Simon to begin a push to make the situation better.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Todt said: "I am convinced that we absolutely must reflect the environment with new technologies.

"We must adapt to our time and review fundamentally motorsport – even create new disciplines.

"After giving up on KERS, we will accomplish nothing innovative next year. I'm sorry about that. I have therefore decided to create a working group...Gilles Simon, former boss at Ferrari engines, will join the FIA in this context."

Todt’s push on the environment is also mirrored by his belief that F1 must do more to keep reducing costs, despite the big efforts made by teams so far to bring down the amount of money needed to compete.

With FIA plans for a budget cap having left F1 on the brink of a breakaway in the middle of this year, teams eventually introduced a Resource Restriction Agreement – although Todt thinks more needs to be done.

"The F1 teams are sometimes blind and do not realise what is happening in the world," said Todt. "But the racing has been struck as always by the [financial] crisis.

"F1 is too expensive, and my predecessor Max Mosley made great efforts to reduce costs, but it was not enough, especially as some teams were resistant.

"I am sad that Honda, BMW and Toyota are gone, but when you spend a lot and the results are not there, it's inevitable. On the other hand, it's great that new teams will be coming in.

"But the cost-saving measures already taken are not sufficient. I am against limiting regulatory budgets, but if we want to perpetuate F1, it takes a real awareness and fundamental decisions."

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Abu Dhabi to keep pitlane tunnel

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Abu Dhabi Grand Prix chiefs will keep the radical elements of their race - including the pitlane tunnel and day-night timing - for 2010 despite initial scepticism about the concepts prior to its inaugural event.

The Yas Marina circuit hosted this year's season finale - but raised eyebrows beforehand when it revealed its unique tunnel pitlane exit that goes under the track, plus plans to host the event during dusk.

However, despite some doubts about the concepts, both the pitlane and timing of the race proved a success – and on the back of the event capturing the FIA's prestigious Race Promoters' Trophy, track boss Richard Cregan says that it has already been agreed both will stay in place for next year.

"Nothing will change in that respect," he said when asked about the pitlane exit design and the day-night race timing.

"We are doing some small modifications in light of some of the things that we recognised over the course of the event, but nothing major.

"Like anything new, there is always that challenge of breaking the mould, as in designing a circuit that has a pitlane tunnel as an exit. You will have lots of people who will detract from the spectacle of it by talking only of the doom and gloom, but we didn’t have it – it worked very, very well.

"The lighting system worked incredibly well, the drivers were happy with it and most importantly it created an amazing spectacle."

With the dust having settled on the spectacular end-of-season event, Cregan said the feedback from the race-day spectators and sport’s officials was good – as he said interest in ticket sales had already started.

"It certainly fulfilled everything that we set out to achieve in terms of creating awareness for Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

"I think the most important thing was that we did sell out, and people went away, they were happy, and they want to come back. We have already had a lot of people contacting us through our numbers and emails to book their tickets again, so they had a great experience.

"That was our target from the beginning – to make sure there was a good experience had by all."

And although the on-track battle did not produce the most memorable race of the year, Cregan thinks that had more to do with current F1 car design than the layout of the Yas Marina circuit.

"We were very happy that the event went off very well," he said. "Both the FIA and FOM said the event was fantastic.

"The racing spectacle is something that comes about through weather conditions or other circumstances – and it’s also down to car design and sporting regulations.

"If you look at some of the other circuits around, they all have that same issue that a lot of it is down to the car design and the regulations as to what it can create - and the fact of whether drivers are willing to take a risk? Are they willing to lose a hundredth of a second here or there to have more spectacular racing?

"Next year when you have no refuelling you will see more exciting racing, you will see cars on full tanks, and you will see very much that it is down to how the driver will look after his tyres. We will see more interesting racing."

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Briatore: Schumacher can win again

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Disgraced former Formula 1 team principal Flavio Briatore believes that Michael Schumacher's chances of making a winning return to the sport hinge entirely on the competitiveness of the new Mercedes Grand Prix team in 2010.

Briatore, who was team principal at Benetton when the German won his first two world championship titles with that team in 1994 and '95, says that Schumacher would not have come back if he didn't believe he could win and that much depends on the car he is given to race with.

"I think it's a good thing for F1 (that he's returned)," Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport. "Knowing him, I think he's reflected on it for a long time, and if he's decided to come back it's because he's convinced he can still be quick.

Asked if he thought Schumacher's age would be a factor, Briatore replied: "If you have a race-winning car, it doesn't matter much.

"The last season demonstrates this clearly, because the driver who's become world champion is certainly not the best on the scene."

Briatore added that he always felt Schumacher had retired before he was ready to do so.

"I'm convinced that, had he been physically fit, he would have come back last season already with Ferrari," said Briatore. "Michael belongs to that category of racing drivers who just can't have a normal life, who can't stay away from racing.

"And besides, I'll repeat an old idea of mine: when he quit three years ago, he wasn't ready to retire, he could have been competitive for two or three more seasons."

Briatore said he could not predict whether Schumacher was capable of challenging for another world title. "Well, I don't know that," said. "For instance I believe that Ferrari will be extremely strong next year with Alonso and Massa.

"I'll just say that Ross [brawn] knows him well and that Mercedes has always chased him. But then I repeat: the car is fundamental."

MIKA: I love FB's comment on how important a car is and not always the driver where he then refers to Button! :huh:

Posted

F1's greatest drivers:

40 belgium.gifJACKY ICKX

BELGIUM

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Jacky Ickx is more famous for his sportscar exploits, including six Le Mans 24 Hours victories and two world titles, than he is for his F1 career. That tends to overshadow the fact that, at his peak, he was one of the top single-seater drivers in the world.

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Eight GP wins, including two at the Nurburgring, 13 poles and 13 fastest laps indicate his quality.

Ickx's Ferrari took the fight to Jochen Rindt and the Lotus 72 during the 1970 season, narrowly losing out in a slipstreaming thriller at Hockenheim. After Rindt's death at Monza Ickx became the only man who could overhaul the Austrian's total. He just failed and thus finished runner-up for the second successive year.

After more successes for Ferrari, Ickx's F1 career went in to decline, but there was still time for one more success. Driving for Lotus, Ickx took a fine victory in the 1974 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch before eventually moving full-time to sportscars.

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F1's greatest drivers:

39 italy.gif RICCARDO PATRESE

ITALY

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It's hard to believe that the veteran of 256 grand prix starts; the trusted pair of hands; the ideal number two, who retired in 1993, was once regarded as the wildest driver in the field.

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Widely blamed for the crash that caused Ronnie Peterson's death at Monza in '78, but later exonerated, the young Italian soon matured into an accomplished performer after leaving Arrows for Brabham, but was outshone all too often by his team-mate Nelson Piquet.

Few will forget the incredible last-lap scenes at Monaco in '82 as he spun his way to a first GP win. But days like that, and his sensational drive at Mexico in 1991 for Williams - where he utterly trounced Nigel Mansell - were few and far between for a man who three times saw his team-mate take the world title

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F1's greatest drivers:

38 france.gifJEAN BEHRA

FRANCE

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Behra could have been France's first title winner, but despite having the talent never won a world championship grand prix.

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A fighter in the Gilles Villeneuve mould, with courage and car control to spare, he became a national hero leading the Gordini team after winning the non-championship Grand Prix de la Marne at Reims in 1952.

His days with Maserati were only slightly less frustrating. In 1955, he had little chance against the all-conquering Mercedes W196s, then played second fiddle to superstar team-mates Stirling Moss and then Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956 and 1957.

Punching Ferrari team manager Romolo Tavoni after retiring on his Ferrari debut in 1959 was a bad career move, and he was promptly sacked. A few weeks later, he was killed after being thrown from his Porsche RSK and hitting a flagpole during a sportscar race at Avus

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F1's greatest drivers:

37 austria.gifGERHARD BERGER

AUSTRIA

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A veteran of 210 grands prix over 14 seasons, Gerhard Berger had the potential to be the fastest driver in F1 on his day. He scored the first and last of his 10 wins for Benetton in two spells with the team, punctuated by stints at two of F1's greatest teams: Ferrari and McLaren.

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Competing with the likes of Mansell, Prost and Senna during that time, he was always likely to be on a hiding to nothing.

His maiden win, at the 1986 Mexican GP, owed as much to clever strategy as it did to his speed, but Berger's 10th and final triumph, in the 1997 German GP at Hockenheim, may go down as his greatest F1 performance. Facing the sack, suffering the after effects of a sinus operation, and dealing with the recent death of his father, Berger took pole, cut fastest lap and dominated the race.

The warm reaction of the paddock said everything about how highly this good-humoured Austrian was regarded within the circles of the sport.

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F1's greatest drivers:

36 switzerland.gifCLAY REGAZZONI

SWITZERLAND

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Two stints at Ferrari and scoring Williams's maiden grand prix victory are the clear highlights of Clay Regazzoni's 10-year Formula 1 career.

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The relationship with the Prancing Horse got off to a dream start when the Swiss driver took fourth on his debut in Holland, while there's nowhere better to take your maiden win in one of the red cars than Monza, which Regazzoni managed later that same season.

He left Ferrari for 1973, but was back a year later, playing the role of number two to Niki Lauda. Despite taking a win each season from '74-'76, he was moved on for 1977.

After two years out of competitive machinery he was playing the number two role again, this time to Alan Jones at Williams in 1979. But it was Regazzoni who gave Frank Williams's team its first win, inheriting the lead at Silverstone when Jones retired.

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F1's greatest drivers:

35 germany.gif STEFAN BELLOF

GERMANY

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This shy German had started just 20 grands prix when he died in the summer of 1985, aged 28, and his best result in F1 was a mere fourth place at Monaco. But the fact that more than 25 years on his peers consider him the 35th greatest talent further establishes the legend of a shocking level of unfulfilled potential.

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Bellof's dumbfounding speed was attributed by many of his rivals to a complete absence of fear, but there are those who believe he played on this reputation and was more calculating than the reckless spirit he projected.

Either way, the results Bellof achieved in Formula 2 and sportscars were spectacular both in form and the manner he produced them. That he died fighting for the lead of a world championship sportscar race at Spa in circumstances that could only be blamed on him, just as his career seemed destined to bloom, is a tragic yet appropriate epitaph for the ultimate 'what-might-have-been' driver.

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F1's greatest drivers:

34 argentina.gifCARLOS REUTEMANN

ARGENTINA

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Given that Carlos Reutemann went on to serve as governor of the Argentine state of Santa Fe, it should come as little surprise that his Formula 1 career was defined by politics.

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Today, his name is immediately associated with a bitter fight with Williams team-mate Alan Jones during the 1981 season - a fallout that began when Reutemann ignored team orders in Brazil, and ended with Jones refusing to lend Reutemann his support in the title-deciding final race at Las Vegas, where Reutemann fell to Nelson Piquet by a single point. Bad blood between he and the team prompted him to quit F1 just two rounds into the following season.

But all of the controversy sells his talent short. Exceptionally smooth behind the wheel, Reutemann joins Giuseppe Farina, Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve as one of just four drivers to take pole on debut courtesy of his effort in the year-old Brabham BT34 at Argentina in 1972. Consistency wasn't Reutemann's strong point, but on his day he was sublime. Plenty of drivers have done worse than win races with Brabham, Ferrari and Williams ...

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F1's greatest drivers:

33 united_states.gifPHIL HILL

UNITED STATES

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America's first world champion, Phil Hill would probably have achieved more had he not switched to the ill-fated ATS operation at the end of 1962.

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Hill, who also carved out a successful sportscar career, demonstrated himself to be a good team player when he moved aside at the 1958 Moroccan GP to enable Ferrari team-mate Mike Hawthorn to take the title. He was rewarded with a full-time drive and took his first GP win at Monza in 1960 after the British teams boycotted the banked circuit.

It's often said that only the death of Wolfgang von Trips allowed Hill to take his title in 1961, but he had been evenly matched with his team-mate and was still a threat when the German made his fatal mistake at Monza.

There were no more F1 wins, but Hill would go on winning sportscar races until 1967.

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F1's greatest drivers:

32 italy.gifGIUSEPPE FARINA

ITALY

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The Italian pre-war ace was arguably past his best when he won the inaugural world championship in 1950 when a month short of his 44th birthday, although a little age gave the driver who was once grand prix racing's wild man the maturity to win a title.

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Alfa Romeo's lead driver in 1950, he fought hard to beat team-mate Juan Manuel Fangio to the 1950 title after winning three of the six world championship grands prix. But the writing was on the wall, and in 1951 he could do nothing about Fangio's speed.

It was a similar story at Ferrari in 1952-1953, when he played second fiddle to Alberto Ascari, although there was a final victory at the age of 47 in the 1953 German Grand Prix before he started to wind down in 1954.

If ever there was a case of the Second World War robbing a driver of his best years, it was Farina.

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F1's greatest drivers:

31 australia.gifALAN JONES

AUSTRALIA

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It might seem paradoxical that a character so stereotypically Australian as Alan Jones remains the driver by which a team so stereotypically British as Williams has come to measure all others.

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But in their shared no-nonsense, tough love approach, they couldn't have been more compatible. The fact that Jones was the driver who turned Williams from middling privateers into world champions didn't hurt, either. Four wins in 1979 with the FW07 gave the team a kick-start, and set the scene for the five victories in 1980 that put Jones 13 points clear of Nelson Piquet to give him the title.

A fierce intra-team rivalry with Carlos Reutemann helped deny him back-to-back championships and he retired at the end of the year, notwithstanding a couple of fruitless comebacks with Arrows and Team Haas.

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F1's greatest drivers:

30 great_britain.gifJENSON BUTTON

GREAT BRITAIN

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Even before he won the 2009 world championship, Jenson Button's economical driving style - ultra-smooth, with minimal input and no wasted movement - had become something of a trademark.

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But it's interesting to consider how history might have viewed the Briton had Brawn not performed the mother of all phoenix tricks and turned the ashes of Honda into an instant race-winner.

The promise was apparent early - an audition for a test role with Williams turned into a shoot-out with Bruno Junqueira for a race seat in 2000. He performed well as a rookie, but a mixture of circumstance and managerial intervention sent the Briton bouncing fruitlessly between Benetton, Renault and BAR until the latter's buyout by Honda. A win came at the Hungaroring in 2006, but as the team went into decline, points became ever more scarce. If nothing else, Button's career stands as a monument to the fine line between glory and obscurity.

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F1's greatest drivers:

29 france.gif FRANCOIS CEVERT

FRANCE

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One of motor-racing's great what might have been stories. The Frenchman was Jackie Stewart's team-mate and protege at Tyrrell, and was ready to take over the mantle of team leader as the 1973 season came to an end.

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But the world will never know what Cevert would have achieved in 1974 after he was killed in a violent pratice accident at Watkins Glen.

Cevert, who was Stewart's choice as team-mate, never saw the end of a year in which he had finally come of age. In 1972, results had been few and far between, with only a couple of second places, but in 1973 he was second six times as he supported the Scot well.

He already had a first win under his belt, in the 1971 US Grand Prix, and he would surely have added to that tally had he lived.

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F1's greatest drivers:

28 united_states.gifDAN GURNEY

UNITED STATES

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The best American road racer of his generation and, of course, the only competitor that Jim Clark truly feared, Gurney was most at home in the 1.5-litre era of the early 1960s where his sympathy with the highly-fragile machinery counted for much.

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Despite winning races for Porsche and Brabham, his greatest triumph was victory in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix in his own car, the Anglo-American Racers-run Eagle-Weslake, making him the only man to take maiden world championship race wins for three different constructors.

Even more significantly, he was the first to fit a small strip of material - now known as the Gurney Flap - onto the wing of a racing car in order to increase downforce, and is credited as the man who kicked off the tradition of spraying - rather than drinking - champagne on the podium.

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F1's greatest drivers:

27 argentina.gifJOSE FROILAN GONZALEZ

ARGENTINA

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The other great Argentinian grand prix driver of the 1950s was nicknamed El Cabezon (Fat Head) and The Pampus Bull tells you a lot about Jose Froilan Gonzalez's physique. That he was able to stun Ferrari team leader Alberto Ascari with his speed as he dominated the 1951 British Grand Prix tells you everything you need to know about his ability.

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Overshadowed by Juan Manuel Fangio, Gonzalez never contested a full world championship season despite being a Ferrari and Maserati factory driver - easing off his racing activities following the death of compatriot Onofre Marimon at the Nurburgring in 1954 two weeks after winning his second British Grand Prix.

He continued to make sporadic appearances until 1960 and he would surely have won more grands prix had he accepted Tony Vandervell's overtures to become a full-time Vanwall driver after his one-off apperance at Silverstone in 1956.

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F1's greatest drivers:

26 germany.gif SEBASTIAN VETTEL

GERMANY

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F1's youngest points scorer, F1 youngest race winner and a championship contender in his second full season. Success has come quickly to Sebastian Vettel, whose youthful, enthusiastic personality belies a steely, focused will to win.

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His maiden victory in torrential conditions in Monza behind the wheel of a Toro Rosso marked him out as F1's latest rainmeister and made the whole paddock sit up and take notice.

But there were still some who doubted his outright credentials as a megastar. These were dispelled in emphatic fashion at Red Bull this year. He trounced team-mate Mark Webber 15:2 in qualifying and his wins at Silverstone and Suzuka were the work of a world-class talent.

Given his nationality comparisons with Michael Schumacher are inevitable. The fact these are proving to be justified is as high as praise comes.

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F1's greatest drivers:

25 finland.gifKEKE ROSBERG

FINLAND

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The first Finn to win the world championship was notable in many ways: he only won one race all season, and he was the last title winner to use the famous Ford DFV engine - before the turbos took over.

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Taking over from the retiring Alan Jones at Williams in 1982, Rosberg's sole victory that year came in the Swiss GP at Dijon, his maiden success in F1. He took the title by five points, and was the only man to outscore Ferrari's Didier Pironi who didn't take part in the final four races of the season due to career-ending leg injuries.

Rosberg came closest to repeating his success in 1985, when he placed third. This included him setting a 160mph qualifying lap of Silverstone, which stood as the fastest-ever lap until 2002. It was also the only year he won more than grand prix in a season.

He retired from his final grand prix, in Australia, while leading for McLaren.

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F1's greatest drivers:

24 great_britain.gif JAMES HUNT

GREAT BRITAIN

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James Hunt captured the imagination of a generation of British teenagers in the summer of 1976, as he swash-buckled and partied his way to the Formula 1 world championship title. But despite the fun-loving playboy side to his nature, he saved a fierce and competitive racing force for his rivals on the track.

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Known as Hunt-the-shunt in his reckless F3 days, when the mood took him, there was no one faster, as he proved at Hesketh from '73-'75. It needed McLaren to hone the champion potential though, and he continued to race on nerves that frequently made him vomit prior to the start of a race. He grew into a match for all of his rivals, save perhaps Niki Lauda.

That the '76 title provided the pinnacle of his career was fitting given the nature in which he fought against the odds in the pouring rain of Fuji, to third, overhauling Lauda's points total - the Austrian having dramatically pulled out because of the conditions.

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F1's greatest drivers:

23 great_britain.gifJOHN SURTEES

GREAT BRITAIN

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Already a multiple world champion on two wheels by the time he made his Formula 1 debut in 1960 in a Lotus, Surtees made an immediate impact. A podium finish in his second race and pole at his third, his services were soon courted by Ferrari.

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His world title in 1964 was a just reward for his efforts, but major injuries sustained in a Can-Am crash a year later threatened to end his career.

His determination to do things his own way probably hastened his amazing recovery, but it also caused rows over technical and management issues at Ferrari and proved instrumental in his decision to quit the team midway through '66.

Further wins came with Cooper and Honda, but not in three years with his own team as 'his way' did not prove to be the way.

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F1's greatest drivers:

22 finland.gifKIMI RAIKKONEN

FINLAND

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One of the sport's great mavericks of recent times, with a reputation for drinking and partying as hard as he raced. Scored a point in his first grand prix for Sauber before making his reputation with a five-year stint with McLaren which yielded total of nine wins.

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He won seven grands prix in 2005 alone, but couldn't overcome a disastrous start to the season, due to poor reliability, that gave Renault's Fernando Alonso a massive headstart. The highlight of that season was charging to victory at Suzuka from 17th on the grid, passing Giancarlo Fisichella at the first corner of the last lap.

A big money switch to Ferrari in 2007 led to world championship success following an amazing comeback from 17 points behind thanks to victories in the last two grands prix of the season.

Turned his back on F1 for rallying for 2010 after being dropped by Ferrari for Alonso.

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F1's greatest drivers:

21 great_britain.gifGRAHAM HILL

GREAT BRITAIN

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A thoroughly British racing driver, who started all 176 of his world championship races in British-built machinery with BRM, Lotus, Shadow, Lola and his own nascent Embassy Hill constructor.

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A 14-time grand prix winner, Hill's two titles came in very different circumstances. He won the 1962 world championship for BRM, completing the team's odyssey from laughing stock to top of the world, while in 1968 he helped regroup Team Lotus behind him after the death of Jim Clark.

He had a laconic style behind the wheel, and is often damned with the faint praise of being a "hard worker" to Clark's "natural talent". He was a hard worker, but he cut it with the best in the 1960s and had far more ability than many credit him with.

He loved driving, plugging on in F1 until 1975 until his embarrassing failure to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix - a race he was king of in the 1960s - before dying in a plane crash later that year.

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F1's greatest drivers:

20 united_states.gif MARIO ANDRETTI

UNITED STATES

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The American dream in driver form, the Italian-born Andretti became arguably the most successful, and certainly the most versatile, racing driver North America has ever produced.

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Andretti was already a paid-up star when he made his F1 debut at Watkins Glen in 1968, raising eyebrows by putting his Lotus on pole position. His F1 career was piecemeal in the first half of the 1970s - although he did win the South African Grand Prix for Ferrari in 1971 - before throwing his lot in with the Parnelli team in 1974-1975.

But it was his return to Lotus in 1976 that set him on the path to the title. His development skills helped hone Colin Chapman's brilliant design concepts, and in 1978, Andertti won six times on his way to winning the world championship.

His final F1 return, for Ferrari, yielded a pole position on comeback at Monza in 1982, and he was still winning Indycar races 11 years later at the age of 52!

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