Jackie Stewart
Sebastian Vettel
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Sebastian Vettel leads 4 of 5 categories. Our all-time ranking places Jackie Stewart at #8 and Sebastian Vettel at #10.
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The case for Jackie Stewart
Three titles — 1969, 1971, 1973 — and 27 wins from only 99 starts, a 27 percent win rate compiled in the deadliest years the sport has known. Stewart's defining drive is the 1968 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring: in fog and rain, with a broken wrist in a cast, he won by more than four minutes. What elevates him beyond the numbers is that he transformed the sport twice over — as its best driver and as its conscience. After being trapped in his crashed BRM at Spa in 1966, soaked in fuel, he waged a relentless and deeply unpopular safety campaign: circuit barriers, seat belts, full-face helmets, medical facilities, boycotts of lethal tracks. Much of the safety architecture that later saved lives traces to him. He retired at the end of 1973, at his peak, after his teammate Francois Cevert was killed in qualifying at Watkins Glen — walking away as reigning champion.
The case for Sebastian Vettel
Four consecutive world titles from 2010 to 2013, 53 wins, 57 poles and 122 podiums. Vettel became the youngest champion in history at 23 years and 134 days, and his 2011 and 2013 seasons rank among the most complete ever driven — 15 poles in 2011, and in 2013 a run of nine straight wins to close the year, still the record. His mastery of the exhaust-blown-diffuser Red Bulls was genuinely singular: the technique of keeping the throttle open to energise the diffuser mid-corner suited him better than anyone, including teammate Mark Webber, whom he out-scored comprehensively across their partnership. The case against is the second act: the Ferrari years brought 14 wins but title collapses in 2017 and 2018 under pressure from Hamilton, including the decisive Hockenheim crash from the lead in the rain. His first win — Monza 2008 in a Toro Rosso, from pole, in the wet — remains one of the sport's great underdog results.