Sebastian Vettel
Niki Lauda
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Sebastian Vettel leads 5 of 5 categories. Our all-time ranking places Sebastian Vettel at #10 and Niki Lauda at #11.
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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.
The case for Niki Lauda
Three titles and 25 wins, but no career in the sport's history carries more narrative weight per statistic. Lauda bought his way into Formula 1 with a bank loan, made Ferrari champions again in 1975, and then, in August 1976, crashed at the Nurburgring, suffered burns and lung damage severe enough that a priest administered the last rites — and raced again 42 days later at Monza, finishing fourth with wounds still bleeding under his balaclava. He lost that title by one point after withdrawing from the monsoon at Fuji, a decision he never regretted, then reclaimed the championship in 1977 with clinical points accumulation. Retired in 1979, he returned in 1982 with McLaren and won the 1984 title by half a point — the closest margin ever — over his young teammate Prost. The purest embodiment of the calculating, risk-pricing professional driver, and the sport's greatest comeback, twice over.