Talking point: Greatest Lotus driver?

Eurosport - Mon, 29 Dec 17:01:00 2008

Who is the greatest Lotus driver of all time? Every week in the off-season Eurosport will offer a point of discussion for F1 fans, in conjunction with our online poll. So let us know what you think.

1978 Lotus Mario Andretti Ronnie Peterson - 0

Note: Drivers are considered only for their achievements at Lotus, meaning all-time greats such as Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet are not included on the shortlist.

Mario Andretti

One of only two drivers to win races in the four major motor racing categories: Formula One, IndyCar (USAC), World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR, Andretti joined Lotus in 1968 after a successful spell in IndyCar. The Italian-American only raced sporadically in F1 for Lotus over the next four years, before a full season in the sport with the American Parnelli team. However, he returned to Lotus in 1976 and played a major role in their rejuvination, going on to claim the 1978 world championship with six wins, clinching the title on Lotus home soil in Italy.

Jim Clark

There can be little doubt that Clark was the dominant driver of his era, winning two world championships, in 1963 and 1965, and at the time of his death, he had won more grands prix (25) than any other driver - and all the legendary Scot's performances came in a Lotus. His first world title in 1963 also sealed Lotus their first constructors' world championship. After a lean spell in the mid-1960s, Clark took a second world title when the manufacturer began a profitable partnership with Ford-Cosworth. His life ended prematurely in a crash in April 1968 when, during a Formula Two race at Hockenheimring he had only entered to fulfil contractual obligations, his Lotus 48 veered off the track and crashed into the trees.

Emerson Fittipaldi

Like Andretti, Fittipaldi was a versatile and ambitious driver who had success on both sides of the Atlantic, winning the world championships in both Formula One and CART, and the Indianapolis 500 twice. Fittipaldi was somewhat thrust into the limelight at Lotus but, armed with what was arguably the greatest F1 design of all time, the Lotus 72D, Fittipaldi proved unstoppable in 1972 as he won five of 11 races to claim the Drivers' Championship to become the then-youngest champion in F1 history at just 25 years-of-age.

Graham Hill

Father of Damon, Graham Hill is the only driver ever to win the so-called Triple Crown of Motorsport - winning the F1 World Championship, the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hour. His time with Lotus came from 1967 onwards, having previously won the world championship with BRM in 1962. He took over as leader of the team in 1968 after team-mates Jim Clark and Mike Spence were killed, going on to claim the title that same year. He returned from a bad crash in 1969 where he broke both his legs to race for Lotus for several more years, although he never repeated his success.

Ronnie Peterson

The Super Swede was loved by F1 fans, who appreciated the aggressive, attacking style that built him a reputation as being the fastest driver in all of F1 throughout the 1970s in terms of raw speed. He joined Lotus in 1973 as a partner for Fittipaldi, winning seven races over a three-year period, returning to the team after a spell with March. At the 1978 Italian GP at Monza, Peterson was involved in a crash at the opening bend, his Lotus crashing hard into the barriers and catching fire. Although his life did not appear in immediate danger, the Swede later died in hospital due to complications arising from surgery on the 10 fractures in his legs.

Jochen Rindt

Rindt is the only driver to win the F1 World drivers' championship posthumously, after being killed in practice for the Italian GP in 1970. It was during his second season for Lotus, the first having been a fourth-place finish in 1969. Before then, the German-Austrian had been noted for being an exceptionally fast driver with superb reflexes, but he had rarely had a car equal of his talent until he moved to the Italian team. Driving perhaps the greatest F1 car of all time, the Lotus 72, Rindt won five races on the way to building a huge lead with five races to spare - until he became the second Lotus team leader to be killed in two years when he crashed in practice at Monza.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport

Comment 145 - 164 of 164

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. I won't bother voting for the simple reason that­ you don't consider Jim Clark amongst the all-time­ greats. That's your opinion but it certainly­ isn't mine.

    From ronald.davidson, on Sun 4 Jan 9:48AM

  2. ginger_gitt,
    Prost, Senna, Mansell and more are truely­ great drivers, but you should have seen Cevert. Gone­ too soon. A great person who was teaching me all the­ naughty French phrases. I miss him.

    From sdcharger717, on Sun 4 Jan 1:51AM

  3. Jim Clarke must be rated as one of the all time greats­ because in those days it was about driver ability not­ technology pure skill won races when Clarke died­ Britain lost a pure racer

    From jerrymoore777, on Sun 4 Jan 1:06AM

  4. sdcharger717: The 21st Century has slowly begun to­ kill F1 as the technology available outshines the­ drivers. There used to be a time in F1 when the driver­ was the big difference on the track, but since the days­ of Mansell, Senna and Prost that has been ever­ decreasing. I was lucky enough to see those guys in­ their prime, and in my opinion no driver since then­ (not even Schumacher) can be put in the same group as­ any of them or the legends the succeeded because­ we'll never know how much the technology improved­ on their abilities.

    From ginger_gitt, on Sun 4 Jan 12:30AM

  5. Can someone give Marion a ticket to Guantanamo bay or­ another funny farm he's obviously obsessed with­ glock. I thought this page was about Lotus.???
    If it­ still is Jim Clark is the obvious choice.Followed very­ closely by Graham Hill.
    Get well soon Marion.

    From charles p, on Sat 3 Jan 11:57PM

  6. ginger_gitt,
    I have been lucky enough to see them all­ race. You seem to have a great deal of knowledge,­ respect and love for the sport, and for that I give you­ credit. It's just too bad you missed out on the­ greatest years and the greatest drivers F1 has ever­ seen.

    From sdcharger717, on Sat 3 Jan 11:39PM

  7. fake marion below u is thief

    From charles p, on Sat 3 Jan 8:41PM

  8. If this poll is decided by the vote for drivers who­ have won the Drivers' Championship with Lotus, it­ must be between J Clark, M Andretti and E Fittipaldi,­ but Ronnie Peterson and Ayrton Senna must rank highly­ in the reckoning. It has just dawned on me that both­ those great drivers lost their lives in a F1 race, and­ how F1 fans are able to take the dangers of the racing­ much more for granted these days.

    From , on Sat 3 Jan 8:28PM

  9. what about james hunt and the cool looking JPS lotus in­ black and gold.

    From yelnoc, on Sat 3 Jan 6:39PM

  10. HE LOST ALL RESPECT FROM THE DRIVERS
    Then hes team­ mclaren cheat in stealing top f1 secrets in what was­ the biggest spy scandal in f1 history!!
    They should of­ been banned for long Time but continued and so did mr­ hamiltons son continue bashing other drivers out of way­ in hes strive for the ultimate prize the F1 TITLE..­
    Soon came end of season and with all the bashing and­ stealing secrets from mclaren mr hamiltons son had­ blown it all again..OH NO HES FATHER CRY,,
    OOHHH but­ wait a min ,, suddenly out of nowhere from over the­ horizon,
    NO SURELY IT CAN NOT BE!!! YES ITS HIM DADDY­ ITS HIM DADDY!! cried baby hamilton

    YES YES ITS­ FATHER GLOCK DADDY ITS FATHER GLOCK and the little boys­ dream came true...out of nowhare like an ALIEN arriving­ from Mars,,,faher glock had deliverd the ultimate prize­ to Mr hamiltons son....but the cost was so severve it­ ended forever F1 as we no it.

    MERRY XMAS­ MCLAREN........FATHER GLOCK MCLAREN CHEATIN­ S.UM..ANOTHER CHEATIN YEAR FROM MCLAREN

    From charles p, on Sat 3 Jan 6:34PM

  11. I'm too young to have seen these guys racing, but­ some of these names are the real legends of F1.

    From ginger_gitt, on Sat 3 Jan 5:11PM

  12. Mario, more exciting wins,
    USGP of '77, France­ '78
    great wheel to wheel
    Clark ho-hum, few if any­ very memorable
    the Flying scot just drove away into
    the­ distance ...ho-hum.
    Mario brought Louts all the way­ back
    from non contenders to gain the Championship
    that­ is not the case for Jimmy, Rindt, or Emmo.

    From Eric NY, on Sat 3 Jan 3:26PM

  13. Marnio watch out for the men in white coats..... there­ coming to take you away HA HA

    From Jigabyte, on Sat 3 Jan 1:55PM

  14. marnio surely you mean the dave clarke five who sang­ several big hits in the 60,s but needles and pins was­ sung by several groups at the time and the most­ succesfull version was by the searchers the ramones­ also coverd it along with cher also tom petty etc but­ jim clarke ? come on dude get your head in to gear
    and­ use the wiki

    From aormk18200, on Sat 3 Jan 10:15AM

  15. no doubt..Jimmy Clark. He was an extraordinary talent.­ Lotus was dominate with it's speed, but they were­ also fragile and broke down a lot (and crashed, too). ­ Jimmy could have easily won the 1962 and 1964 world­ championships...he missed out with equipment failure in­ last race of '62 and was in the running in the last­ GP of '64.
    If he had not died, he could have easily­ won the championship in 1968 and maybe even another­ one..because the Lotus 72 was very dominate in 1970 and­ we have to asssume he would have continued to drive for­ Chapman. You guys who voted for anyone else must be too­ young (or not done enough research) on Clark.

    From potranco999, on Sat 3 Jan 1:24AM

  16. Sorry, there is only one - Jim Clark

    From Derek, on Sat 3 Jan 12:55AM

  17. HE LOST ALL RESPECT FROM THE DRIVERS
    Then hes team­ mclaren cheat in stealing top f1 secrets in what was­ the biggest spy scandal in f1 history!!
    They should of­ been banned for long Time but continued and so did mr­ hamiltons son continue bashing other drivers out of way­ in hes strive for the ultimate prize the F1 TITLE..­
    Soon came end of season and with all the bashing and­ stealing secrets from mclaren mr hamiltons son had­ blown it all again..OH NO HES FATHER CRY,,
    OOHHH but­ wait a min ,, suddenly out of nowhere from over the­ horizon,
    NO SURELY IT CAN NOT BE!!! YES ITS HIM DADDY­ ITS HIM DADDY!! cried baby hamilton

    YES YES ITS­ FATHER GLOCK DADDY ITS FATHER GLOCK and the little boys­ dream came true...out of nowhare like an ALIEN arriving­ from Mars,,,faher glock had deliverd the ultimate prize­ to Mr hamiltons son....but the cost was so severve it­ ended forever F1 as we no it.

    MERRY XMAS­ MCLAREN........FATHER GLOCK.......MCLAREN/HAMILTON­ CHEATIN S.UM
    LOOKIN TO ANOTHUR CHEATIN YEAR 2009...GOD­ SAVE THE QUEEN

    From charles p, on Fri 2 Jan 10:28PM

  18. This IS a joke, right? I may be the biggest Mario­ Andretti fan in the world, but it's no contest: ­ Clark, Clark, Clark!

    From lmcorson, on Fri 2 Jan 6:30PM

  19. Bernard.................................... this topic­ is about lotus nothing to do with lewis hamilton??????

    From LAWRENCE J, on Fri 2 Jan 6:13PM

  20. I very much agree Jigabyte, Emerson Fittipaldi had a­ stunning record driving for Lotus, but it's the age­ old problem of comparing drivers from different eras­ again, and Jim Clark was a genius in his time. Nigel­ Mansell had a short spell at Lotus, too, before he was­ sidelined to let Ayrton Senna have his seat, so he may­ have to come into the reckoning (but not here perhaps.)­ Ayrton Senna was such a stand-out driver of his era, he­ must just take the accolade. We miss him so!

    From , on Fri 2 Jan 6:13PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account