Ranking the top 10 Ferrari F1 drivers of all time including Michael Schumacher vs Fernando Alonso

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Ferrari are the most successful team in Formula 1 history and hold numerous records that will be tough to beat.

The Italian outfit from Maranello have competed in every world championship since 1950 and simply by duration, they have the most Grand Prix starts and Grand Prix participated in F1 history.

In that time, Ferrari have secured the most wins (245), most podiums (816), most pole positions (252) and the most fastest laps (261). This incredible success has led them to grab 15 drivers’ championships and 16 constructors’ championships; again, the most of any team in history.

With a staggering 112 drivers across 74 years of F1 racing, there has been a fair share of solid performers and those who have failed to make their mark at the famous red team.

But among those drivers are some standout names that have achieved great success with Ferrari and established themselves among the greats in the sport.

10. Gerhard Berger

• 96 Grand Prix
• 182 points
• 5 wins
• 24 podiums
• 7 pole positions

The Austrian won 10 races in his F1 career, and half of them were with Ferrari two three-year stints with the team.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Berger joined the Maranello squad from Benetton in 1987 and while he did display great performances and results, they were not very frequently due to a plethora of retirements thanks to unreliable machinery.

The Austrian joined McLaren in 1990 before re-signing with Ferrari in 1993 where constant DNFs persisted and hampered his title charge. He recorded a best finish of third in the standings in 1988 and 1994.

9. Felipe Massa

• 139 Grand Prix
• 789 points
• 11 wins
• 35 podiums
• 15 pole positions

Getting his chance from Sauber in 2006 having spent 2003 as the Maranello team’s test driver, Massa played an integral part for Ferrari in their success in the late 2000s.

Winning his first race at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix and becoming the first Brazilian to win his home race since Ayrton Senna that year, Massa came tantalisingly close to winning the 2008 championship, but was cruelly denied by Lewis Hamilton by one point.

Unfortunately for the Brazilian, he could not reach the same heights after his horror accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Massa went on to spend four years with Williams after he left Ferrari in 2013.

8. Gilles Villeneuve

• 66 Grand Prix
• 107 points
• 6 wins
• 13 podiums
• 2 pole positions

He may have only won six races in his career – all of which with Ferrari – but Villeneuve’s skill and talent behind the wheel is still talked about to this day.

Joining from McLaren towards the end of 1977, Villeneuve won his first race at his home Grand Prix in Canada the year later, with the track at Montreal later being named in his honour.

Villeneuve lost the 1979 championship by four points to teammate Jody Scheckter and he continued to show his brilliance with Ferrari until he tragically lost his life at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

His record may not be anything to shout about on paper, but Villeneuve is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers to never be a world champion.

7. Alberto Ascari

• 27 Grand Prix
• 139 points
• 13 wins
• 17 podiums
• 13 pole positions
• 2 world championships (1952, 1953)

Ferrari’s first ever world champion came from one of their first drivers to race for the team in F1, and his success was almost immediate.

Ascari missed out on the 1951 championship by six points to Juan Manuel Fangio and the following year, the Italian completely dominated by collecting six wins in the final six races to win his maiden title.

Ascari’s second title came just a year later in 1953 as he got the better of his rival Fangio to win by six and a half points, with almost half of his Grand Prix starts with the team being victories.

6. Rubens Barrichello

• 102 Grand Prix
• 412 points
• 9 wins
• 55 podiums
• 11 pole positions

Barrichello joined Ferrari in 2000 and would play a huge part of the team’s dominance in the early 2000s alongside Michael Schumacher.

While he was overshadowed by his superior German teammate, he acted as a great number two driver, finishing second in the standings in 2002 and 2004.

The Brazilian veteran went on to drive for Honda, Brawn and Williams before calling it quits on an illustrious career in 2011.

5. Kimi Raikkonen

• 151 Grand Prix
• 1,080 points
• 10 wins
• 52 podiums
• 7 pole positions
• 1 world championship (2007)

Following the retirement of Schumacher at the end of 2006, Raikkonen was called upon from McLaren to fill the void, and the Finn enjoyed immediate success.

Displaying his blistering speed and racecraft, Raikkonen beat Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to the 2007 title by one point. After two difficult years with the team that followed, he briefly retired from F1 before returning with Lotus in 2012.

Raikkonen returned to Maranello in 2014 and while he only won once in his five-year second spell with the team, he showed great consistency with a plethora of podiums and third place in the standings in 2018.

4. Sebastian Vettel

• 118 Grand Prix
• 1,400 points
• 14 wins
• 55 podiums
• 12 pole positions

The once unstoppable Vettel came to Ferrari in 2015 to partner Raikkonen after his four-year dominance with Red Bull came crashing down with the resurgence of Mercedes.

It took just his second race for him to grab his first win with Ferrari in Malaysia and he would prove to be Hamilton’s main challenger after Nico Rosberg’s retirement. But sadly, Vettel could not get over the final hurdle and finished second to the Brit in 2017 and 2018.

Vettel’s spell at Ferrari went out on a whimper with a dismal 2020 campaign before finishing his F1 career with Aston Martin. While he could not reach the same heights as he did with Red Bull, the German has registered the third most amount of wins with Ferrari in their history.

3. Fernando Alonso

• 96 Grand Prix
• 1,190 points
• 11 wins
• 44 podiums
• 4 pole positions

Similarly to Vettel, many have questioned how Alonso was unable to win a world championship with Ferrari, despite showing some incredible speed and racing ability.

The Spaniard moved to Maranello from Renault in 2010 and won on his debut race with the team at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Alonso went on to win four more races that year as he heartbreakingly missed out on the title to Vettel at the final race in Abu Dhabi.

READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2

It would not be the only time Vettel would deny him his third title at the final race of the season as history repeated itself in 2012, before finishing runner-up again in 2013 after the Red Bull driver dominated the field.

The 43-year-old continues to show his ability even now with Aston Martin, but he is yet to win a race since his time with Ferrari came to an end in 2013.

2. Niki Lauda

• 57 Grand Prix
• 242.5 points
• 15 wins
• 32 podiums
• 23 pole positions
• 2 world championships (1975, 1977)

The second most amount of wins by a Ferrari driver is held by Niki Lauda, whose no-nonsense and serious attitude saw him establish himself as one of the F1 greats.

The Austrian joined Ferrari in 1974 and after a disappointing season, Lauda asserted his dominance the following year to win his first championship.

Lauda made an unbelievable recovery from a life-threatening crash at the Nürburgring in 1976 to come within one point of defending his title, losing out to arch-rival James Hunt.

The Austrian reclaimed his championship the following year before leaving Ferrari for Parmalat. He secured his third title seven years after his second with McLaren in 1984.

1. Michael Schumacher

• 180 Grand Prix
• 1,066 points
• 72 wins
• 116 podiums
• 58 pole positions
• 5 world championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

Level with Lewis Hamilton with the most world championships in F1 history with seven, Schumacher is the most successful Ferrari driver by some considerable distance.

Joining from Benetton in 1996, Schumacher was unable to claim the title in the late 1990s, but come the turn of the century, the German went on one of the most dominant runs F1 has ever seen.

Winning five consecutive titles from 2000 to 2004 – with 2002 and 2004 being utterly dominated by the German- Schumacher’s run was eventually put to a halt by Alonso and Renault.

Initially retiring in 2006, Schumacher retuned for 2010 with Mercedes before ending one of the greatest careers in F1 history for good in 2012.