Top 10 F1 drivers of the 1980s

Formula 1 gathered more momentum during the 1980s, its leading runners becoming superstars and manufacturer involvement pushing technology forward.

There were many great races and top performers, but we’re continuing our challenge of selecting and ranking the leading drivers of each F1 decade.

As usual, we’ve considered many factors, including level of success, machinery at their disposal, longevity and how highly the drivers were rated by their contemporaries. Success outside the relevant decade is not considered.

10. Gilles Villeneuve

Villeneuve earns his place on this top 10 having just missed out in the 1970s rankings

Photo by: Ercole Colombo

Decade wins: 2
Decade poles: 1
Decade titles: 0

He was only around for the first 33 races of the decade, but Villeneuve had to be on one of our lists in this series. He narrowly missed out in the 1970s ranking but his efforts across 1980-82 meant he was regarded by some as the best driver in the world. That’s why he beats Rene Arnoux and John Watson – both of whom scored more victories during the 1980s – onto this list.

Having established himself as an F1 top-liner and finishing runner-up to Ferrari team-mate Jody Scheckter in 1979, Villeneuve performed miracles in the uncompetitive 312T5 the following year. He trounced Scheckter and managed four points finishes, one of them at the Canadian Grand Prix, which his team-mate had failed to qualify for!

The turbocharged Ferrari 126CK of 1981 was powerful but lacked downforce. Villeneuve conjured two brilliant victories, one after a superb qualifying performance in Monaco and the other holding off a pack of faster cars in Spain, belying his reputation as a wild man.

The Ferrari 126C2 should have provided the platform for a championship challenge in 1982. But things got off to a poor start with two retirements and a disqualification in the first three rounds.

Villeneuve then felt cheated out of victory by team-mate Didier Pironi at the San Marino GP and was still furious when he crashed to his death during qualifying for the Belgian GP two weeks later.

Believed to have been on the verge of a switch to McLaren, Villeneuve is one of the great what-might-have-beens in F1 history. His legacy stretches far beyond his modest stats.

9. Michele Alboreto 

Flashes of brilliance, even if not sustained, given Alberto a place in this list

Photo by: Ercole Colombo

Decade wins: 5
Decade poles: 2
Decade titles: 0

Rarely has Autosport struggled so much to decide on a number nine! Arnoux or Alboreto? Both had mixed performances against team-mates during the decade, their average Autocourse rankings were almost identical and each was brilliant on their day.

Arnoux scored more wins, seven to five, and far more poles in the era: 16-2. But Alboreto came out on top in their one season together at Ferrari, where Arnoux’s relationship with the team soured enough for the Frenchman to leave after just one race in 1985.

Alboreto showed promise in a struggling Tyrrell team in 1981 and his performances in 1982, which included victory in the Caesars Palace finale, moved Autocourse to suggest that he was “one of the most promising drivers to emerge in a long time”.

The Italian was less impressive in 1983, though there was a win in Detroit, but he was signed by Ferrari for 1984. The 126C4 was not one of Ferrari’s finest and the smooth Alboreto sometimes struggled to tease performance from it, but he took a dominant victory on a good day for Goodyear at Zolder. A fine run of form in the final stages of the season took him past Arnoux and into fourth in the championship.

Ferrari’s 156/85 was better and Alboreto put together a strong campaign, taking consistent podiums amid the unreliability and errors of faster rivals. His Monaco GP was superb and deserved better than second after a puncture, while he would later pick his Nurburgring victory as the race of his life.

He led the championship by five points after the German success but Ferrari struggled to keep up with development and unreliability crept in. Alboreto failed to finish the final four races and was soundly beaten to the title by Alain Prost, but he still finished ahead of Keke Rosberg and Ayrton Senna in the final table.

Ferrari was left behind in 1986, though Alboreto still showed his, notably hauling his car to fourth on the grid at Monaco, two seconds faster than team-mate Stefan Johansson. But by the time Ferrari managed a mini-revival in 1987, Gerhard Berger had become Ferrari’s lead driver.

Berger again had the edge in 1988, when Ferrari (like everyone else) had no answer to McLaren’s supremacy. Alboreto’s second place to Berger at Monza on the day both MP4/4s failed to finish was as close as he would ever get to a sixth F1 victory.

Replaced by Nigel Mansell for 1989, Alboreto returned to Tyrrell and took his 23rd and final F1 podium in Mexico. A sponsorship disagreement forced a mid-season switch to the uncompetitive Larrousse Lola and Alboreto had to make do with mediocre (or downright terrible) equipment for the rest of his time in F1, aside for some solid points finishes for Footwork in 1992.

After F1, Alboreto carved out a successful career in sportscars, winning Le Mans in 1997 and then joining the crack Joest Audi squad. It was while testing one of the works R8s that Alboreto was killed following a tyre blowout at Lausitz in April 2001. He was 44.

8. Gerhard Berger

Berger celebrates victory in Portugal in 1989 - one of only three race finishes he made that year

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Decade wins: 5
Decade poles: 4
Decade titles: 0

An exciting new talent of the mid-1980s, Berger never quite made the final leap to title contender but was a consistent frontrunner and enjoyed a long F1 career.

After early outings with ATS and Arrows, Berger joined the fresh Benetton team in 1986. He took advantage of a Pirelli tyre advantage at the Mexican GP to run through non-stop and take his first F1 victory. That helped Berger to seventh in the points table and he was snapped up by Ferrari for 1987.

He gained the upper hand over team-mate Alboreto and finished the season in fine form. Despite spinning away victory in Portugal, Berger won both the Japanese and Australian GPs from pole.

Ferrari’s apparent momentum was destroyed by the sheer supremacy of McLaren’s MP4/4 in 1988, but Berger was often the closest challenger to Senna and Prost. He took the only non-McLaren pole of the season at Silverstone and became the only non-McLaren winner at Monza, just weeks after the death of Enzo Ferrari.

Berger found new team-mate Mansell a tougher nut to crack in 1989 but his biggest problems were elsewhere. He suffered a fiery crash at Tamburello during the San Marino GP, missed the next race at Monaco, and then suffered appalling reliability.

The Austrian only finished three races – taking two second places and a win at Estoril – which left him an unrepresentative seventh in the championship. Berger then left Ferrari to start the new decade alongside Senna at McLaren.

7. Alan Jones

Jones on top of the 1980 Spanish GP podium - a race scratched from the F1 record book

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Decade wins: 7
Decade poles: 3
Decade titles: 1 (1980)

His time at the front was relatively brief but it should be remembered just how good Jones was in the first two years of the decade. Nobody won more GPs than the Australian during a competitive period when multiple teams were capable of victories. He also topped Autocourse’s driver ratings twice, more than anyone else in the 1980s apart from Prost.

Armed with Patrick Head’s Williams FW07, Jones had ended 1979 as the man to beat and carried that into the following season. He won the Argentinian opener and, despite some unreliability, established himself over new team-mate Carlos Reutemann.

Victory at the Canadian GP, albeit after a clash with title rival Nelson Piquet that wasn’t Jones’s finest moment, secured the crown. He had also won the controversial Spanish GP, which was later stripped of its championship status.

At times, Jones was even more impressive in 1981, though things got more difficult with Reutemann, who ignored team orders to win the Brazilian GP after Jones had won the Long Beach opener.

Jones was usually a factor at the front but some bad luck, including being taken out by a spinning Villeneuve at Silverstone, and odd mistake – going off while leading at Jarama – put him on the back foot.

Instead, it was Reutemann who became embroiled in a title fight with Piquet. The Brabham driver took it by one point at the Caesars Palace finale, an event dominated by Jones, who therefore finished third in the championship, just four adrift.

Top 10 Williams F1 drivers: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/top-10-williams-f1-drivers-ranked-mansell-hill-montoya-and-more/6835547/

Jones promptly announced his retirement, only to return briefly with Arrows in 1983 and a bit longer with Haas (the Beatrice-backed team, nothing to do with the current Haas in F1) in 1985. Neither was a success and he left F1 for good at the end of 1986 having added just four points to his tally.

6. Niki Lauda

Lauda took the 1984 title by half a point from Prost

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Decade wins: 8
Decade poles: 0
Decade titles: 1 (1984)

Lauda’s return to F1 is one of motorsport’s most-successful comebacks. Tempted out of retirement by Ron Dennis, Lauda won as early as his third race back in 1982, at Long Beach. He went on to score five podiums in John Barnard’s McLaren MP4/1, including a second win at Brands Hatch.

Was Lauda the force he had been in the 1970s? Hard to say. He was beaten by team-mate Watson in both seasons they worked alongside each other, but the Austrian arguably raised his game when the sniff of a title arrived in 1984.

Lauda had been instrumental in the TAG Porsche engine programme, forcing McLaren to run a turbocharged version of the MP4/1 at the end of 1983, and Barnard’s MP4/2 was the car to have the following year. Lauda knew he had a challenge on his hands when Prost arrived to replace Watson and there ensued a tough tussle for the championship.

Prost came out ahead on almost every metric – 7-5 on wins, 3-0 on poles, 345-168 on laps led – except the one that mattered. A combination of the Frenchman’s misfortune and Niki’s guile meant that Lauda took his third title by half a point.

McLaren’s bad luck seemed to transfer to Lauda in 1985. While Prost romped to his first crown, Lauda struggled to finish races, though his performances were still of a high level. He managed one more win, holding off Prost at Zandvoort, before retiring for good as one of the greats.

5. Keke Rosberg

Rosberg's five wins undersold his talent - while he was fully worthy of the 1982 title despite tragic circumstances elsewhere

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Decade wins: 5
Decade poles: 5
Decade titles: 1 (1982)

The spectacular Finn had been in F1 for four seasons, scoring a non-championship win with Theodore and a podium with Fittipaldi, before getting his big break when Jones quit Williams. Rosberg famously only won one race on his way to the title in a dramatic and tragic 1982, but nobody won more than twice and there was no doubting his commitment.

Rosberg was denied a battling second place in Brazil when he and winner Piquet were thrown out amid the water-cooled brakes controversy. He was second next time out at Long Beach but events elsewhere helped him get into contention.

The turbocharged Renaults and Ferraris were usually the quickest cars, but the French RE30Bs didn’t finish enough races, while the Italian team lost Villeneuve in a horrific Belgian GP qualifying accident and championship leader Pironi’s F1 career ended amid a cartwheeling crash in Germany.

At that point – with 12 of the 16 rounds gone – Rosberg was third, 12 points behind Pironi and, more importantly, just three behind Watson. Rosberg followed that with a narrow second in Austria, failing to pip Elio de Angelis by 0.050s.

Rosberg finally took his first world championship victory at Dijon, taking him past Pironi’s points total and putting him 11 clear of Prost and 12 ahead of Watson. Despite failing to score at Monza, fifth in the Caesars Palace finale was more than enough for Rosberg to be crowned.

The Cosworth DFV runners were overwhelmed in 1983, but Rosberg conjured up a brilliant Monaco GP win – starting on slicks in the wet – and was the top non-turbo runner in the championship, fifth.

Williams got Honda turbo power for 1984 but it was brutal and unreliable. Once again Rosberg showed his class, taking victory at a sweltering Dallas, though he was only eighth in the standings.

The 1985 FW10 was a better proposition, Rosberg being joined by Mansell. Rosberg battled Senna’s Lotus as the fastest of the season and recorded one of the great qualifying laps at Silverstone, averaging more than 160mph to take pole. But unreliability was still suspect and Rosberg was beaten in the points by Prost and Alboreto.

Rosberg joined Prost at McLaren for 1986 and it was a humbling experience, Rosberg struggling to match Prost in the understeery MP4/2C. While Prost took a brilliant title and four wins, Rosberg’s only podium came at Monaco, though he played a starring role in the famous Australian GP showdown in Adelaide.

After retiring from the lead with tyre failure, Rosberg called time on his F1 career, five wins underselling his impact and abilities.

4. Nigel Mansell

Mansell should have won the 1987 title, but ill-timed mechanical failures and his Suzuka qualifying crash denied him

Photo by: Getty Images

Decade wins: 15
Decade poles: 12
Decade titles: 0

You could argue that Mansell’s was a decade of two halves. His first five seasons and 59 races in F1 were with Lotus, and the Briton struggled to make a consistent impact. There were some highlights, including a charge from 18th to fourth in the 1983 British GP and taking pole in Dallas a year later, but his crashing out of the 1984 Monaco GP lead seemed to sum up Mansell’s nearly-man status.

The second half of his decade began when he moved to Williams, joining Rosberg. After the 1982 champion’s initial reservations, the two worked well together and Mansell finally scored his first world championship victory at Brands Hatch’s European GP. He immediately added success in South Africa and finished sixth in the standings, his best result so far.

Piquet joined Williams as number one for 1986 but Mansell’s pace and Frank Williams’s serious road accident fostered a bitter rivalry. Mansell took five wins – more than anyone else – and beat Piquet in the championship, but his infamous tyre blowout in the Adelaide finale meant the title went to Prost.

With Williams-Honda even stronger in 1987 and Piquet suffering following a huge Imola crash, Mansell should have won the championship comfortably. He took eight poles, six wins and led more than twice as many laps as anyone else, but lost two wins to failures – turbo at Monaco and wheelnut in Hungary.

The consistent Piquet, who only won three times, thus held the advantage heading into the final two rounds. When Mansell crashed during qualifying at Suzuka and put himself out for the rest of the season, Piquet was assured of the title.

Williams lost Honda power for 1988 and had to battle on with Judd engines. Reliability was woeful and Mansell finished just two races, though he was often one of the quickest normally aspirated runners.

A switch to Ferrari initially proved a success, Mansell taking a surprise win first time out in Brazil and then arguably his finest victory in Hungary. He was unfortunate not to be third in the points table and topped Autocourse’s driver ranking for the final season of the decade.

3. Nelson Piquet

Piquet may have got the better of Mansell in this list, but not Senna

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Decade wins: 20
Decade poles: 24
Decade titles: 3 (1981, 1983, 1987)

Piquet or Senna? Both Brazilians scored 20 wins during the 1980s and were, at different times, championship rivals to Prost. Piquet took more titles during the decade, but Senna’s impact was greater and he was the more impressive performer given the machinery at his disposal, particularly after Piquet’s serious accident at Tamburello.  

Piquet was nevertheless a frontrunner as the 1980s began, battling Jones for the crown before pipping Reutemann to the title in 1981. Having Hector Rebaque as his team-mate made it tricky to judge Piquet’s level in the BT49 but he got the job done and continued to lead the team when Riccardo Patrese arrived in 1982.  

Piquet’s hard work on the BMW turbo programme paid dividends a year later as he took Gordon Murray’s BT52 to the crown, pipping longtime leader Prost at the South African finale. It was the one season he topped the Autocourse rankings.

Piquet took nine poles from 16 races in 1984 but the BT53 was not a match for the fuel-efficient McLaren MP4/2 in the races. Reliability was also suspect and Piquet scored just two wins on his way to fifth in the points, far less than he deserved.

Brabham was in decline by 1985 and there was one victory in the Pirelli-shod BT54 before Piquet finally left to join Williams.

Things didn’t go as planned as team-mate Mansell proved irritatingly fast and then Piquet suffered his Imola accident. Across their two seasons together, Mansell won 11 times and took 10 poles to Piquet’s scores of seven and six, but it was Piquet who took the 1987 title after a consistent campaign.

Piquet then moved to Lotus but he was unable to galvanise the team in the way Senna had and spent the next two years looking like a spent force. It would take a move to Benetton the following decade to give Piquet his Indian summer.

2. Ayrton Senna

Senna was the start of F1 in the 1980s

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

Decade wins: 20
Decade poles: 42
Decade titles: 1 (1988)

From his attention-grabbing arrival in 1984 to besting Prost to the 1988 crown and the drama of 1989, Senna was an undoubted star of the decade. One of the fastest of all-time, Senna perhaps didn’t quite round off the last of his rough edges until the 1990s and the decade ended with the possibility of him leaving the sport, but his ability and impact were undeniable.

An impressive rookie campaign with Toleman was topped by Senna’s incredible wet-weather drive at Monaco and third at the dry Portuguese finale.

The Lotus-Renault combination gave Senna the opportunity to demonstrate his raw speed and score 15 poles across 1985-86, but it was rarely a race day match for Williams-Honda or McLaren-TAG. There were just four wins, though they included one of the great wet-weather victories at Estoril.

Senna committed to the active suspension on the Honda-powered 99T for 1987. Qualifying pace was weaker but, along with Prost, Senna was often the best of the rest behind the Williams FW11Bs of Mansell and Piquet. Two wins and third in the table were the result.

Senna forged a strong relationship with Honda in 1987 and continued that when he joined McLaren in 1988 alongside Prost. The MP4/4 famously dominated the season, with Senna usually the quicker in qualifying as the pair fought for supremacy. Prost scored more points but Senna managed eight wins to the Frenchman’s seven and took the crown on the dropped scores rule, clinching it with a brilliant recovery drive at Suzuka.

Tensions within McLaren had remained largely under control in 1988, Senna’s aggressive (and ultimately futile) move on Prost at Estoril notwithstanding, but things deteriorated in 1989. Prost felt his team-mate reneged on an agreement the Brazilian had suggested at Imola and that Honda was favouring Senna.

Senna was undoubtedly the fastest driver of 1989, with 13 poles from 16 races, but unreliability cost him as Prost racked up the points. It meant Senna needed to beat Prost at Suzuka’s penultimate round.  

Prost, already heading to Ferrari, led for most of the race until Senna attacked into the chicane. Prost turned in early and the two McLarens made contact. While Prost climbed out, Senna got going again and won the race, only to be disqualified.

Senna crashing into Martin Brundle’s Brabham at a wet Adelaide made that irrelevant, but the poor way in which Senna and McLaren were treated by the sport’s governing body did not show F1 in the best light and left arguably its biggest star considering his future as the new decade began.

1. Alain Prost

There is no disputing the best F1 driver of the 1980s

Decade wins: 39
Decade poles: 20
Decade titles: 3 (1985-86, 1989)

Prost finished the decade with his status as the world’s best severely challenged – some would argue already taken – by Senna, but he was the most accomplished F1 driver during the 1980s.

Quite apart from winning almost twice as many GPs as anyone else in the period, Prost took three titles, including snatching the 1986 crown from under the noses of Mansell and Piquet in faster Williams-Hondas.

With a little more luck – or 21st century car reliability – he could also have won the 1982, 1983 and 1984 titles, plus he scored the most points in 1988 and only lost out on the dropped scores rules.

The reigning European F3 champion, Prost showed promise in his rookie F1 season in 1980, despite the uncompetitive McLarens at his disposal, and joined Renault for 1981.

Prost took his first win in the French GP and finished sixth in the points, despite some unreliability and the odd error. Autocourse placed him second in its rankings and Prost would not fall outside of the publication’s top three until 1991…

He scored a brilliant comeback victory in the South African opener following a puncture and led more laps than anyone else in 1982 but woeful Renault reliability, and his infamous Monaco shunt, prevented a title challenge.

Renault looked to have got it right in 1983 and four wins helped launch Prost into a strong championship lead with four rounds to go. But Renault could not respond to the late charge of Brabham-BMW and, when Prost’s turbo failed at the Kyalami decider, Piquet cruised to third and the title by two points.

After some near-misses, Prost takes his first F1 world title in 1985

After being sacked by Renault, Prost joined McLaren just as it hit its stride with the MP4/2. He battled team-mate and friend Lauda, taking more victories and leading more laps, but missing out on the 1984 crown by half a point.

It finally came good in 1985 as Prost, who was by now combining his speed with Lauda-style calculation, scored five wins on his way to the title.

Williams should have won both championships in 1986 with the FW11. But Prost, by now widely regarded as the best, brilliantly kept himself in contention as Mansell and Piquet battled each other. Prost’s reward was another crown in the dramatic Adelaide decider.

He topped Autocourse’s ranking for the fourth consecutive season in 1987 and surpassed Jackie Stewart’s world championship GP wins record, but the Porsche-developed engine was really showing its age. Prost was fourth in the points, his lowest finish since 1982, behind Honda-powered trio Piquet, Mansell and Senna.

Prost initially welcomed Senna into the McLaren superteam for 1988, the Honda-powered MP4/4 helping the championship quickly develop into a duel between the established master and the exciting rising talent.

Senna established himself as the fastest qualifier, if arguably prone to the odd mistake and overstepping of the mark. The Brazilian brilliantly won the 1988 title but lost out in 1989, by which time the relationship had deteriorated and Prost had signed for Ferrari.

Over their two seasons together, Prost scored more points while Senna took more wins and ended up making McLaren his own, but the battle between the two greats was not over as the new decade began.

The decade ended with a bitter rivalry between F1's top two drivers... giving a clue to how the 1990s would begin

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