F1 comes with a remarkable list: Hamilton on P3 in list of fastest drivers

You're obviously wondering how this is possible? How can you compare drivers of different generations and different cars? It has also proven to be difficult, but together with Formula 1, Amazon Web Services has managed to compile a list of twenty drivers who are the fastest in Formula 1.

Formula 1 makes a top 20

The list consists of drivers who have been active in Formula 1 between 1983 and today. To determine the fastest driver we look at qualifying, because it is purely about the speed over one lap. Where in a normal weekend the car can make the difference, this is filtered out of the result during the analysis.

What does this analysis take into account? Teammates must have fought at least five honest duels against each other to be able to draw a comparison. Age plays an important role as well as a possible return to Formula 1 after years of absence. In addition, the system also rewards drivers who dominate within one team for years and beat each teammate.

The top 20 looks like this:

1. Ayrton Senna

2. Michael Schumacher - 0.114s

3. Lewis Hamilton - 0.275s

4. Max Steps - 0.280s

5. Fernando Alonso - 0.309s

6. Nico Rosberg - 0.374s

7. Charles Leclerc - 0.376s

8. Heikki Kovalainen - 0.378s

9. Jarno Trulli - 0.409s

10. Sebastian Vettel - 0.435s

11. Rubens Barrichello - 0.445s

12. Nico Hulkenberg - 0.456s

13. Valtteri Bottas - 0.457s

14. Carlos Sainz - 0.457s

15. Lando Norris - 0.459s

16. Daniel Ricciardo - 0.461s

17. Jenson Button - 0.462s

18. Robert Kubica - 0.463s

19. Giancarlo Fisichella - 0.469s

20. Alain Prost - 0.514s

How accurate is the list?

How accurate this list is can be wondered immediately when you see Heikki Kovalainen on spot 8. The one day fly that was ridden around the ears is very high on the list here and according to this statistic would be faster over one lap than four times world champions Vettel and Prost. It is also striking that of the 20 drivers, no less than 9 are still active. A matter of more data available or actually better than Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet?

At the top, these are the names you might expect. Senna has always been seen as the best man over one lap and Schumacher and Hamilton are the two drivers who top all the lists in Formula 1. Verstappen is handsomely in fourth place, ahead of big champions like Alonso, Vettel and Prost.