Senna voted greatest ever

Formula One: Ayrton Senna has received the ultimate accolade in being voted the greatest Formula One driver of all time by his…

Formula One:Ayrton Senna has received the ultimate accolade in being voted the greatest Formula One driver of all time by his peers.

The survey, conducted by Autosportmagazine, canvassed the views of 217 world championship drivers with 9,194 starts and 270 victories between them.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, one of those polled, had to settle for second place behind three-time winner Senna, with five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio in third.

Senna died in 1994 when he crashed his Williams-Renault in the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

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Each driver, which also included the earliest surviving grand prix winner in Jose Froilan Gonzalez and the oldest living F1 driver in 98-year-old Paul Pietsch, was asked for their top 10 greatest.

There are three Britons in the top 10, with Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss fifth, sixth and eighth respectively.

Nigel Mansell comes in at number 11, with Britain’s last two world champions in Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button 17th and 30th respectively.

The top 10 F1 drivers of all time:1 Ayrton Senna; 2 Michael Schumacher; 3 Juan Manuel Fangio; 4 Alain Prost; 5 Jim Clark; 6 Jackie Stewart; 7 Niki Lauda; 8 Stirling Moss; 9 Fernando Alonso; 10 Gilles Villeneuve.

Selected others:11 Nigel Mansell; 17 Lewis Hamilton; 21 Graham Hill; 23 John Surtees; 24 James Hunt; 30 Jenson Button.