[Enigma]

I’m a bit bored in isolation, so I was recently thinking about this. How will we remember F1 drivers – by driving for which team?

It’s easy for some – when we think of Mika Hakkinen, we picture him driving a McLaren, as he did for most of his career. I suppose we will always associate Michael Schumacher with Ferrari, despite his success at Benetton and his return with Mercedes.

Let’s make this into a game – name 3 drivers from different eras and the next person picks a team they remember each for. Then name 3 drivers for the next one.

Also, feel free to comment/debate on previous choices.

I’ll start with: Alain Prost, Fernando Alonso, Vitaly Petrov.

[Ben Needham]

A nice discussion idea @enigma.

Alain Prost I always associate with McLaren, probably due to all his World Championship’s with them and the fact that most of his career was there.

For a similar reason, I’d place Alonso with Renault, despite spending much time with Ferrari and McLaren.

Petrov is an interesting one, I remember him mostly in Caterham green.

Here are my three:
Jenson Button
Rubens Barrichello
Giancarlo Fisichella

[Enigma]

@ben-n Thanks!

I like your answers. Alonso really is so tough, given his career. I think of him as a Ferrari driver, despite his two stints with Renault and McLaren, and his success at Renault. Perhaps that would’ve been different had I followed F1 as closely in mid 2000s as I did later. Petrov I’d have easily said Renault. Interesting :)

Button I would have to say McLaren. He did spent 7 seasons at BAR/Honda/Brawn as well, so some might choose that, but when I think of him I see him in a McLaren.
Barrichello I’ll go for Ferari, he was there when I started watching F1 and won several races.
Fisichella is a tough one as well. Easy to forget he finished his career at Ferrari! I would have to say Force India, it’s the most recent memory, despite him winning races elsewhere.

Next three:
Jarno Trulli
Gerhard Berger
Nick Heidfeld

[Tom L.]

I’ll do the next one, then!

Jarno Trulli: another tough one, as he spent several years at several teams. Although some of his most memorable underdog performances came earlier in his career (Austria 1997 for Prost, Monaco 2004 for Renault) I’m going to say Toyota, where he spent the longest period of his career and arguably reached his peak as a driver in 2005. You do wonder what he might have achieved had he not fallen out with Flavio the year before and had had the chance to drive the 2005-06 Renaults. One for the F1 website’s “Alternative Histories” series!

Gerhard Berger: having only started following the sport in the mid to late 90s, I have no memory of watching Berger race anything other than a Benetton. So that’ll be my pick, although I’d assume fans older than myself would probably go for Ferrari or McLaren.

Nick Heidfeld: it’s got to be (BMW) Sauber, as he drove for the team in three of its iterations and achieved the majority of his best results with them. Speaking of Nick, I can recommend his “Beyond the Grid” episode for anyone who hasn’t listened to it yet. He is refreshingly balanced and objective in his analysis of his career and his rivals, neither talking himself up nor falling into self-deprecating humour, as some other retired F1 drivers do!

Anyway, here are three more drivers:
– Pedro Diniz
– Pedro de la Rosa
– Sakon Yamamoto (why not!)

[Author]

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