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Who is the greatest Ferrari driver of all time? Every week during the off-season Eurosport will offer a point of discussion for Formula One fans, in conjunction with our online poll. So let us know what you think.

The shortlist:

Alberto Ascari

One of only two Italians to have won the drivers' championship (the other was inaugural Formula One champion Giuseppe Farina), Ascari was one of Formula One's true greats. After coming fifth and second for Ferrari in 1950 and 1951, he began 1952 with a retirement at the Indy 500, then part of the F1 calendar. Howeer, after that disappointment Ascari was unstoppable, and won the next six races to take the championship in style. Five wins out of eight the following year secured him consecutive titles before Fangio re-established his grip on the sport. Ascari was tragically killed a year later while testing for Ferrari, despite being a Lancia driver by then.

Juan Manuel Fangio

One of the great names in motorsport, Fangio is a Formula One legend, despite the fact he was in his 40s when the championship was first staged in 1950. The Argentine competed in 51 grands prix between 1950 and 1958, won 24 races and finished on the podium 35 times. In the process he won five drivers' championships and finished runner-up in another two. Yet most of his success came with other teams, notably Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Daimler Benz. Only in 1956 was Fangio a Ferrari driver, during which time he recorded three victories and two second places on his way to a fourth drivers' title.

Mike Hawthorn

Yorkshireman Hawthorn drove for Ferrari on and off throughout the 1950s, and with the Italian team never finished lower than fourth in the drivers' championship. His greatest season was his last, in 1958, when one victory, five second places and a third was enough to win the championship at the sixth time of asking.

Niki Lauda

The Austrian spent four seasons with Ferrari from 1974-77. He joined as an unproven driver and at a time when the team's glory days of the 1950s and 1960s had fizzled out into a title-less decade of underachievement. Lauda revitalised the team. During his time with Ferrari he won 14 races and registered 31 podium finishes, enough to win him the 1975 and 1977 titles. He also finished second in the 1976 championship, one point behind James Hunt, despite missing several races with injury. Bernie Ecclestone, then Brabham team boss, poached Lauda for the 1978 season by offering him a $1 million salary, and Lauda would never again race with the prancing horse on his car.

Kimi Raikkonen

The Finn arrived at Ferrari in 2007 having been one of a few drivers to run Schumacher close in his peak. Raikkonen lost the 2003 championship to the German by just two points. Yet after a flying start to the season with victory in Australia, the team struggled with reliability problems and Raikkonen was overshadowed by his McLaren rivals. Back-to-back victories in France and Britain got him back in the title race, and after winning three of the season's final four races Raikkonen did just enough to earn Ferrari their first championship since 2004.

Jody Scheckter

South African Schekter spent two years driving for Ferrari, and won the drivers' championship for them in 1979 before being plagued by problems in 1980 and retiring from the sport. He was the last man to win a title for the team for over two decades.

Michael Schumacher

What can you say about Michael Schumacher that hasn't already been said? The greatest driver of his era won titles in 1994 and 1995 with Benetton before moving to Ferrari, where he spent the remainder of his career. Despite having an inferior car, Schumacher also came close to winning the 1997 and 1998 titles. But when Ferrari's technology caught up with their rivals he was unstoppable. Five consecutive titles from 2000-2004 followed, making the German the most successful Formula One driver of all time. His finest hour is a toss-up between the 2002 season - 11 wins, five second places and a third - and the 2004 season, when he won 12 of the first 13 races of the season. Critics might point to a relative lack of competition when he was at the height of his powers, but the truth is that Schumacher had the strength of will and commitment to make great drivers look ordinary.

John Surtees

The only man to have won world championships on two wheels and four, Surtees moved to Ferrari three years after making the switch to Formula One. After a fourth-placed championship finish for the team in 1963, he had a stunning 1964 season in which he secured a podium place in every race he finished. The following season he remained with the team, but a crash robbed him of any championship aspirations.

So vote now in our online poll and let us know your thoughts on the discussion board below.

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