Top 10 Best/Rejectful F1 Drivers of the 1950s

[Samster]

Post your personal top 10 for both the best drivers of the 1950s and also a top 10 for the most rejectful! To be eligible, drivers must of course have competed in Formula at some point during the decade. Your ranking should only consider their accomplishments/rejectfulness during this decade. I of course encourage you to provide reasoning for your nominations.

In a week, or when voting dies down I shall create an overall top 10 for the two categories then move on to the next decade. Ultimately there will be a top 10 for each decade. Drivers will receives points (using the current F1 points system) to determine the overall top 10.

[tommykl]

Okay then.

Best
1. Juan Manuel Fangio
2. Alberto Ascari
3. Stirling Moss
4. Tony Brooks
5. Mike Hawthorn
6. Jack Brabham
7. Peter Collins
8. Giuseppe Farina
9. Piero Taruffi
10. Jean Behra

This is significantly harder...
Worst
1. Ottorino Volonterio
2. Toni Branca
3. Robert O'Brien
4. Albert Scherrer
5. Leslie Thorne
6. Tony Crook
7. Ted Whiteaway
8. Luigi Taramazzo
9. Leslie Marr
10. Jacques Swaters

[girry]

Fangio
Ascari
Moss
Brabham
Hawthorn
Collins
Brooks
Farina (or do we count 1950? )
Gonzalez
Behra

And this is not a list of the worst drivers per se, but those I remember as Rejectful.

R. Ward
B. Ecclestone
C. Biondetti
O. Volonterio
J. Claes
J. Swaters
L. Piotti
L. Reventlow
M. de Araujo Cabral
O. Karch

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

Fangio
Ascari
Moss
Brabham
Hawthorn
Collins
Brooks
Farina (or do we count 1950? )
Gonzalez
Behra

And this is not a list of the worst drivers per se, but those I remember as Rejectful.

R. Ward
B. Ecclestone
C. Biondetti
O. Volonterio
J. Claes
J. Swaters
L. Piotti
L. Reventlow
M. de Araujo Cabral
O. Karch

Reventlow didn't race in the 50's, his only attempts at F1 all happened in 1960.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Reventlow didn't race in the 50's, his only attempts at F1 all happened in 1960.

I... think you might want to check the dates of the posts you reply to in future, my friend.

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

I was right about one thing at least.

[dinizintheoven]

I... think you might want to check the dates of the posts you reply to in future, my friend.

I went on another part of the internet and indulged in a bit of thread necromancy from 13 years ago. Deliberately. And I'm entirely justified in doing so because it was a relevant comment.

Beat that!

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

I... think you might want to check the dates of the posts you reply to in future, my friend.

I went on another part of the internet and indulged in a bit of thread necromancy from 13 years ago. Deliberately. And I'm entirely justified in doing so because it was a relevant comment.

Beat that!

Tangent, guys, we're going off on one.

Staying on subject, surprised no-one's mentioned Andre Testut, the last Monagasgue driver for nearly 40 years until Beretta.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I... think you might want to check the dates of the posts you reply to in future, my friend.

I went on another part of the internet and indulged in a bit of thread necromancy from 13 years ago. Deliberately. And I'm entirely justified in doing so because it was a relevant comment.

Beat that!

Tangent, guys, we're going off on one.

Staying on subject, surprised no-one's mentioned Andre Testut, the last Monagasgue driver for nearly 40 years until Beretta.

Well, to be honest, what can be said about his efforts? He tried racing a dinosaur Maserati at Monaco, a place that at the time was notoriously low on starting spots. Outside of that, he had a reputation for being pretty decent behind the wheel of an OSCA sportscar, and not much else. There's not enough evidence there to put him on Tommykl's list based on driving ability, or Giraurd's list based on crazy exploits (Bernie's start-and-park Monaco tactics, Ward's Kurtis Kraft midget, Reventlow's ill-fated attempt at building the first American F1 car etc.). It pains me to say this, but he's just faded completely into obscurity, even among the F1 Rejects community. If it weren't for the fact that he apparently held Monégasque citizenship despite being French*, even I would probably have a hard time remembering his name among obscure late fifties drivers.

Incidentally, I have thought about writing a Testut profile in the event Leclerc lands that Sauber drive he's expected to get, but information has proven sparse. What I have found out, though, is that he supposedly appeared in what I can only assume was a cameo role in a rom-com starring the great Jean-Paul Belmondo, so there's a nice reject connection there.

*Driver nationalities from that era are actually a bit hard to pin down. For example, Peter Ryan is consistently listed as Canada's first F1 driver, and while he did live there for most of his life and proudly sported the Maple Leaf on his cars, he was actually an American citizen.

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

That's funny, I only thought of Testut after hearing that Charles Leclerc is in the frame for an F1 race seat next year but once again, Reventlow didn't race in the 50's.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

That's funny, I only thought of Testut after hearing that Charles Leclerc is in the frame for an F1 race seat next year but once again, Reventlow didn't race in the 50's.

I'm well aware of that. I was just illustrating Giraurd's probable reasoning.

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

That's funny, I only thought of Testut after hearing that Charles Leclerc is in the frame for an F1 race seat next year but once again, Reventlow didn't race in the 50's.

I'm well aware of that. I was just illustrating Giraurd's probable reasoning.

We all make mistakes.