The Greatest "Rainmaster"?

[SkullyCollins]

Well, like the title says, who is the driver you consider as the best "Rain Master" of anyone else? When I say "Rain Master", I mean drivers who drive particulary well in wet weather.

'm sure the first names that come to mind are Senna and Schumacher. But for me, it's Welshman Tom Pryce. Mainly because he qualified in Pole, in a car only capable of a mid-field position, for the 1975 British Grand Prix, the qualifying session itself was played out in wet weather. Another notable wet weather session was when Pryce finished ahead of everyone by a large margin during a practice session for the 1977 South African Grand Prix, the same weekend that took the Welshman's life after colliding with a 19-year old marshall at over 170 mph.

In my opinion, Pryce isn't usually considered as a "Rain Master" by many F1 fans in my age group (15-17) because hardly anyone has heard of him!

Anyway, as I said, who do you consider a best "Rain Master"?

[warmandog]

Hi All....
First off.
my Opinion. should be equaled, Schumacher and Senna.
but statistics could ive us an better and acurated idea about whom is for sure.
in fact can somebody post, how many races or qualy under rain or heavy rain occurs.
thats could lead to a better response


regards
Alex Cuevas H
Dominican Republic

[Sawtooth-spike]

I would say Schumacher used to be a rain master.

But it recent Years we have seen a number of Wet race errors from him.

Hugary last year

Spa When he Hit DC

Brazil a few years ago

I know this is just a few but i am sure there is a few more.

Last years Rain master was Button without a doubt, The only wet race of the year and he won it.

[BreezyRacer]

For my money (and I don't have much!) I would have to include Barricello. In fact I think he's the absolute best "mixed weather" driver.

[BreezyRacer]

For my money (and I don't have much!) I would have to include Barricello. In fact I think he's the absolute best "mixed weather" driver.

[BreezyRacer]

For my money (and I don't have much!) I would have to include Barricello. In fact I think he's the absolute best "mixed weather" driver.

[bhall]

Last years Rain master was Button without a doubt, The only wet race of the year and he won it.

Schu won China on a drying track. But it was completely wet in qualifying, and his pace was incredible when compared to the rest of the Bridgestone runners.

[G-Rock]

Senna, Senna and Senna.

Remember Donnington in 93? He started 10th or something and then in one lap was on the gearbox of the leading Prost which he disposed within the next lap like he was standing still (not that Prost is hard to pass in the wet by any means) but it was brilliant. It was like he knew something about the coeffiecient of friction in the wet that no one else knew.
I think that year he made a mockery out of the technically superior Williams package in one or two other wet races almost giving Senna the championship with a outdated Ford V8 (althought that V8 may have given him a handling edge due to the light weight and better packaging for wet races)

[RH1300S]

I think Ayrton Senna put in his application many times and paid his dues at Donnington in 1993.

Earns him #1

Following that - I would argue Gilles Villeneuve for his drive at Watkins Glen 1979 - I believe he took pole by 9 secs to the disbelief of the other drivers.

EDIT: From the little I have read about Tom Pryce - a worthy starter for this thread

[Sawtooth-spike]

Last years Rain master was Button without a doubt, The only wet race of the year and he won it.

Schu won China on a drying track. But it was completely wet in qualifying, and his pace was incredible when compared to the rest of the Bridgestone runners.

Schu Qualifying performace was incredible compared with other bridgestone runners all season. Wet races are differant to wet quali, Wet races last alot long and you have more to do. And in the only wet race he fell off the track a number of time if i remember rightly.

I still say he used to be be Great in the wet, but i think he lost that gift a few years ago. ( i am not saying he sucked in the wet, i am just saying he is nowhere near as good as he used to be)

[BreezyRacer]

Schmi's very good but when you have a superior car you can afford to lean towards a rain setup in qualy. Then when it really does rain you can clean up. The last few years he didn't have that car cushion and had to push in every qualy.

Senna? Well he was just phenominal. Any time you can make someone like Prost look bad you know he was in a league of his own.

[PNSD]

Rubens best on mixxed track?

China 06, Button did extremley well to catch up, pass, made error, catch up again and this time make the pass stick on Rubens.

JB's wet weather and mixxed conditions performance is by far better than most on the grid, bar Alonso, and MS imo.

JB has a great fee for grip, and his smooth style is perfect.

[vyselegend]

Senna obviously. But Fernando's drive through the field of Hungaroring last year will stay in history as a wet track driving lesson. If he were to repeat such drive, I'll definitly call him a rainmaster.

[manchild]

To determine who was "rain master" (title originally given to Senna) do following - add all crashes drivers from your list had in wet conditions and than you'll see that Senna is so far ahead and that Schuey is very average.

Schuey crashed twice in Spa on wet, once in Monaco, once in Brazil, he hit 2 or 3 drivers in Hungary 2006... as I've said put a list of all wet races driven by Senna, Schuey and someone else and than check how many DNF and collisions in such conditions each of them had and everything will be crystal clear to you.

[whiplash]

There is no argument for me Senna was the rainmaster